Checking the water levels was to help NSW Water with the management of the water flow out of the Menindee Weir, with the July levels expected to remain the same until the peak comes down the Darling – when we left it was passing Wilcannia. The water that is here now is from Queensland, and the coming peak is from rain event that hit south east Queensland in late April.

The daily routine included doing a round of water measurement spots keeping an eye out for any changes in the “high tech” water measuring devices called sticks. I am pretty sure there is a market for these and we could probably patent the process! The “sticks” were stuck on the water’s edge at a number places in and around town to see if the water creeps. Mostly it was not measurable, and the only place of concern was a washed away road.

The café closed for the week we are here, and so we ate around the town (so to speak) the pizzas were good (and although some won’t see this as a bonus – they have Gluten Free!). The pub meal was not so flash, organised a chook for dinner from the supermarket for dinner (ready at 10.30am). You would have been pleased with our accommodation any where, it was great and we can confirm that the issues listed were correct, except the bed – no problems there.

Tuesday saw a caravaner  come into the unit, just wanted some water in his jerry can as bits of his water tank broke and didn’t have any water. The oven door falling out and smashing didn’t seem to worry him as much as the water problem! We did get around the town and say g’day to a few people and let them know we were here helping Water NSW and being available if needed. On Wednesday we dropped the unit’s car (Patrol) into the city of Broken Hill for a service, 2 cars in and one out –  with lunch over 3 hours for the round trip.

It’s Thursday arvo and Gay wanders into the Unit while we were having lunch, she had trouble  getting water from the river, she couldn’t get her pump to start and the water in the tanks were getting low. She mentioned that she normally uses river water for everything in her house apart from drinking water. We reminded her that we don’t normally fix things like pumps but said we would drop in to see if we could do anything. We asked for her address and it was over the bridge and turn left for a kilometre or so and go down the lane…we found her anyway.

We fixed the pump, it just needed priming and had to run the pump priming as it went, when it worked it rained around me. We waited for the tanks to fill – while that was happening I asked how long had she lived here and the answer is since 1983. So what keeps you here these days? The kids, the lifestyle and she still works at the library, and daughter took her job at the school. I said that my brother in law’s brother worked there a fair while back. When I said his name, Gay said that he was there when she started! Later that day we met a tourist from Gippsland who goes fishing with one of my golfing mates in Bermagui. Its a small world!

Friday saw us doing our last rounds and coming back into town we had to go around the 2 goats in the middle of the road. They followed me into the unit grounds and as I was trying to get them out, the service station manager wandered over and  asked if they could stay there until the owners come and get them – why not I say!

Broken Hill Airport for brunch on the way out, the cafe at Menindee was still closed. The cafe at the airport was open, so I asked for 2 scrambled eggs with bacon on sourdough at which point the lass behind the counter said the sourdough had grains – so I asked for one with white bread and the other gluten free. She gave me a strange look and informed me that the scrambled eggs was always 2 eggs, and then worked out that I meant 2 breakfasts and not 2 scrambled eggs on toast….It did get sorted and it was pretty good too – the coffee was is up there as one of the better ones as well.

The plane ride from the Hill was fine, just an hour late in leaving and around 45 minutes late in arriving into Sydney, no big deal just meant a bit more rushing to get to Terminal 2 from Terminal 3 – get the bags, change terminals, check-in the bags, get in the queue to be checked (interestingly no checks at Broken Hill!). Of course, the flight back to Canberra was delayed….

That’s it for this one – back in Canberra to do some grandkid crowd control for a few days then we are off!