Shamu!

After a week of gray and wet weather, the sky cleared up again today and the weather returned to the normal winter day in Hervey Bay - dry, sunny, and warm. I felt like I was coming down with cabin fever after a week of being indoors - I tried to study but I couldn't sit still and had the attention span of a nat. So I went to the pool and had a swim to get it out of my system.

The Hervey Bay Aquatic Centre, with a 50-meter pool open for the summer and a heated 25-meter pool open year-round, is where I go for a splash every few days. A lot of people consider swimming pretty boring. In a way, I guess it is: all you see is the black line at the bottom of the pool, all you hear is water sloshing around, and you don't get to listen to your tunes during the work out. But that's the appeal for me; it's a sort of sensory deprivation that I find therapeutic. Also, you don't get sweaty as your sweat is constantly being washed off. No music? No problem. I just set my mind free and let it wander. At some point, a soundtrack would come out. I don't pick the tunes, it just plays. Today's soundtrack consisted of the leitmotif of Requiem for a Dream, which morphed into Carmina Burana, which then turned into Santana, and then Branford Marsalis popped up, which carried me through the cooldown lap. See, who needs an iPod when you've already got one built in?

Feeling spent after the 2-km swim, I made myself a protein shake, then started making dinner. I know I am going to sleep like a coma patient tonight.

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Dinner: simple but tasty stir-fried lamb and broccoli

Got Their Priorities Straight!

Heard a story on the radio today that gave a glimpse of the quintessential qualities of Australians.

It rained more or less for about two weeks straight along the eastern seaboard in Australia. In many places dealing with the worst drought on record, this was a good relieve. But in some places, it rained just a bit too much. The Hunter Valley in New South Wales, famous for its wines, is flooded. A little town called Hinton, with a population of 400, has become an island. As happens in a lot of natural disasters, many people of Hinton have lost their homes and are now relying on supplies brought to them by the State Emergency Service (SES). The quick response of the SES has helped the locals take the isolation in stride. Now they are just waiting for the water to recede.

So far so good with the story - pretty normal stuff, really. Then a twist in the story just makes it so uniquely Australian. An important event was happening last night and the town needed extra supplies from the SES. That event was none other than the State of Origin - the Queensland Maroons was playing the New South Wales Blues in the annual rugby league series. Ever since the flood water made the town into an island, its beer supply has been steadily dwindling. Beer supply at the local pub, which has become the meeting point for the stranded residents since the flood had started, was now at a dangerously low level! What would the people drink while watching the game?! No worries, just send an SOS to the SES. And what do you know? A dozen kegs were delivered by boat to the pub by the afternoon. a crisis was averted.

Good thing they got the kegs there, because the Maroons beat the Blues at the end of the night. So the good people of Hinton, New South Wales, had enough juice to drown their sorrows. Don't talk to them about their lost possessions, their team just lost the State of Origin, again! Just give them some time...

Water, Water ... Anywhere?

Australia, currently having the worst drought on record for most of the country, is really desperate for water. Water restrictions have been in place around the country for a few years now. Brisbane just started level 5 water restriction yesterday, which means people can only water their gardens during a small window of time on alternate days and there is to be no car-washing. The city council is encouraging people to restrict their daily water usage to 140 liters per person per day. Lake Wivenhoe, the main reservoir supplying Brisbane with drinking water, is down to 20% of its capacity. If rain doesn't come, level 6 restriction will come into effect by September, which is very likely by the looks of it. The summer has come and gone, and there hasn't been enough rain to make much of a difference.

Up here in Hervey Bay, things are a little better. We're only in level 3 restriction. Sprinklers are out, hosing down the driveway is out; but watering gardens and washing cars with buckets are still allowed. That's a such a luxury compared to Brisbane. The way it's going, though, it'll only be a matter of time before the restriction level goes up, especially when you consider the fact that Hervey Bay is the fastest-growing city in Queensland.

While all this is going on in southern Queensland, it's been the other extreme in the north. Only two months ago, northern Queensland got deluged by cyclones. Many regional cities in the north got flooded and crops destroyed. Looking at this juxtaposition of waterworld in the north and cracked lake beds in the south, I can't help but wonder: are we looking at the progress of global warming or is this a coincidence? Either way, we don't have the luxury to wait until we know for sure.