Here Comes the Wet Season

   As some of you may know, we recently found out that we were staying here until April.  Well, apparently that was the thought the whole time but we were never privy to such information.  Surprise!  Anyhow, miscommunications aside, the wet season here should be something to experience; the heat, the storms, the flooding.  Already it’s pretty damn hot here during the day, with temperatures getting above 40C (105F).  Luckily it’s more of a dry heat but that will certainly change, and you can already feel it.  With the onset of the wet season you have the months leading up to the real rainy times.  This is known as ‘the buildup’, for those of you who do not reside in the wet/dry tropics.  Basically, these are the months where you wish it would rain since the heat and humidity are enough to boil anyone’s brain.  A nice breeze is hard to come by because even those are hot.  Oh and a sure sign that the rains are coming… ANTS.  Our latest ant wars are making the earlier battles look like playground charades.

The flooded homestead a few years ago

   With our sweat glands getting a workout, we have started to plan for the coming rains.  Since the Wilton River is right near the homestead, it has been flooded before, and apparently our house is one of the first buildings that go under.  With no plans for a second story on the horizon, we’re planning to keep most of our gear on the top shelves of our one and only shelf, pack away our clothes in our big waterproof bin, and park Frank some ways away on higher ground (maybe even in Katherine).  If the river does get high enough that we need to evacuate, we’ll hopefully be ready to grab everything and go, unsure of when our house will be habitable next.  However, I don’t think the potential floods will be sudden, more like a gradual rise until we wake up one morning and our back door opens on to the river.  Which reminds me, we should really update our insurance.   

  We’re already nervously anticipating the first storms so we can watch the water rise with a mixture of panic and excitement.  At the moment, everything is so dry and dusty that it’s hard to think of the place getting wet anytime soon.  Each afternoon when we look to the sky, dark threatening clouds seem to be on the horizon, but seem to be raining everywhere but here. I feel like I’m doing the earth a favor if I pee outside.  Walking around in the bush is like stepping on an earth covered in tin foil since everything crackles with every step.  The rivers are getting lower and lower, every scrap of water is drying up as we speak, and the birds and other wildlife are clustering around whatever patches of wet ground they can find.  The number of wallabies that encroach on the homestead each night is staggering, but having the only green grass, and tasty vegetables around will make anyone come in for a taste (more on that later).

   But as we get ready for the apocalyptic storms that can occur here, we’re still expected to trap cats, and we may be getting more rats to look after.  That will be our wet season activity, if we can actually drive to the enclosures without getting 1) bogged or 2) drowned.  Chopper anyone?