Part 4.
To those not familiar with floods, (and I include myself), they are devastating and affect every part of your life and you are powerless. 3.30am and the rain is battering the roof relentlessly. I decide to check the garage room, as it’s lower than the rest of the house. Two inches of water cover the floor but as long as it doesn't enter the house, we should be fine. My hopes are dashed by 7am when it starts to enter the house through the doors, and in no time at all has risen to unacceptable levels. Previous to this, Angie and myself have lifted the settee onto two dining chairs and put TV’s and DVDs onto beds just to get them up to what we believe will be a safe height. Angie moves the camcorder from the bottom drawer into the next drawer up. Fat lot of good that did as the water went to about drawer number 4.

As the water starts entering the house the guy next door comes over and invites us over to his house as he lives in a Queenslander. Angie and the kids run over and watch from a height as the levels become dangerously high. I decide to stay, like the captain of a sinking ship, and am as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. Nothing like a drop of water to make you feel small against nature. After it hits my knees, the guy from next door comes over and shouts for me to get out the house and go over to his, which by now is seeming like a good idea. Holding the laptop up high I wade across, everything else will just have to die a lingering death apart from our dog Jinky. He's suffered enough and was virtually abandoned when I had my heart attack so now he’s fêted and he deserves it. I retreat to next door and watch the levels rise and rise until they're now hitting the handles on the doors of my car. With the car drowned, it shorts the electrics and switches on the headlights and brings the windows down. Quite surreal to see your headlights on under water but we venture to the car to get my wallet from the glove box. Nope, its not there. It must have floated out as it was posted to me anonymously months later with everything intact.
Myself and two of the boys from next door swim over, (its easier than walking), to the neighbour on the other side. An old woman of 81, I shout to see if she's ok, as the power has gone down, her house is in darkness and its still morning. She comes to the window and assures me she's ok as the water is only up to her knees as her house is built on concrete stumps. God love her thinks I. It’s easier to leave her there until waters recede. Not great but the best option. Boats are now going up and down the street to help people. Angie and myself venture back in to our house to view the damage and see if we can salvage anything. Two neighbours approach my bedroom window in a canoe. The water is up to the bottom of my chest and we're standing at the window having a conversation with two people in a canoe.

We spend the night at the neighbours and next day the waters have receded but leave behind utter devastation. You talk to people in the street and they burst out crying. Apart from their houses being battered, it’s the personal things that are causing the most pain. Photos and videos which were not high up have all been ruined. People’s memories and mementoes have been washed away. Personally, videos of when the kids are small are gone, never to be replaced. Money can't get them back unlike a cabinet or TV.

Mackay starts the clean up and stories start to emerge of a community pulling together. Everyone who wasn't hit personally has a relative or a friend who was. Nobody in Mackay is unaffected by this catastrophe. People I don't know offer to help. I was telephoned by a woman I had never met, (got my number from the school), offering me a car until my insurance was sorted out. Gestures like this restore your faith in your fellow man. Everybody bends over backwards to help and thank god we had understanding employers.

We move into a 4 star hotel as accommodation is scarce, which is understandable. After two weeks we move into a unit owned by a lady in Angies work and although very small will have to do. Back to sleeping on a blow-up bed but the locality is ideal and we can take our dog Jinky which we couldn't do in a hotel. We are close to the house and can oversee much of the work and iron out any problems quickly which I have to say are plenty when dealing with builders from Mackay.

To cut a long story short, builders came and went. They have left me with a beautiful house and insurance got me a brand new car, (the other one was only 6 weeks old but I never liked it). Mackay slowly got back on its feet, although some people are still waiting to have their houses fixed. There are the usual gripes about builders and insurers but thankfully ours weren't too bad, probably because we were around the house every day and never gave them a minute’s peace. Sometimes even getting to the stage of threatening violence if something wasn't sorted. Our project manager was a fellow Scot which did help slightly, (although he did support Hearts).

So in just two years, I have moved to Australia, died and been flooded out. Personally, I still love it here and even bought a barbie last week, I suppose that’s me turning into an Aussie, but under no circumstances will you catch me saying awesome, lol.

Its been a bumpy ride but we're still dancing and jabbing and hanging in there and I'm now applying for PR. Bring on year 3 but whisper it, I want it to be boring.