Australia Day = No internet!!

The weir at Riverside Gardens

Earlier in the week we were invited to go camping over the long Australia Day weekend. The holiday always falls on the 26th, but since that is a Saturday this year, we get Monday off as well.

However, a cyclone had started its way down the coast, and by Wednesday and Thursday we had torrential rain. The cyclone was out at sea, so we just caught the edge of the rain as it passed.  As it migrated its way down  the coast the cyclone turned westward as it neared Brisbane.

The rains caused flooding and power outages in Rockhampton and Brisbane.

We gave a brief thought to those people who were dealing with floods and then went about our normal life. Late Sunday afternoon I noticed that our internet seemed to be playing up, but I ignored it and read a book instead.

Monday morning we decided to take the kids on a long walk around town. We stopped about half way and decided to buy a drink at a convenience store. Bad news...all Telstra services (i.e. the main phone company) were out from Brisbane north to Cairns. Townsville is in the middle of that length, so no phone service.

But what was the most annoying is that all electronic banking services were out as well. So, no using a debit card, credit card, just good old fashioned cash. Both Dave and I didn't have any money on us, so Chloe and Connor footed the bill for the drinks.

Also, the ATM services were down and early on someone went the rounds of the area and drained $3000 from the ATM machines. It was their money, but its considered bad form to take so much money that no one else can get any.

So this taught me that we need to make sure and have some cash on hand for when these things occur.

It also brings to mind how fragile our infrastructure is in north Queensland. Every year we get flooding rains, and every year the roads and electricity get cut, sometimes for days. We have a generator at the house, but it is noisy and expensive to run.