Green, Green Grass

The Thesaurus is not very kind in its list of words defining ‘arid’.  Obviously ‘dry’ is one of the leading descriptions followed by names such as ‘parched’, ‘waterless’ and even throwing in the word ‘barren’ to add insult to injury.

And whilst Yaraka sits on the edge of this Arid Zone, we are close to the next edge. To the west of us and not far away is where the actual, fair dinkum, ridgy-didge  Outback starts. It’s hard to comprehend that traveling, say from Brisbane and arriving in Yaraka after 1200 km to realise that the great Australian Outback is still further west!  So, Yaraka is in the Arid Zone like it or not, and frankly, we like it; in fact, we love it. However, we can easily slip out of using the word ‘arid’ and replace it by saying Yaraka is out in ‘the Bush’ and ‘west of the Black Stump’. (And, by the way, this Black stump is in Thistle Street, Blackall behind the State School and is a petrified wood memorial stump erected in 1988 to commemorate the bi-centennial of Australia. The site represents the observation point used when surveying was done to gain a more accurate basis for maps of Queensland, back in 1888).

The descriptions used to describe Arid, which, in times of severe droughts, would be correct, but they certainly belie the present situation. If we only had the train still running, we could have Tom Jones alighting from the carriage and we could transport him to the top of Mt Slowcombe where he could bellow out “The Green Green Grass of Home” (& with a spare microphone, Bob Long could carry Tom through the song!).

From the top of Mt Slowcombe, as far as the eye can see, we have this huge green carpet laid out from horizon to horizon. Unbelievable!

What a start to this new year!  But it all started in December of last year when we had a wonderful 90 odd millimetres of rain spread over the month. Then another 25 odd millimetres during January, to freshen everything up.  And – wait for this! Another 90ml so far this month! The grasses and woody weeds are loving the hot humid conditions and growing like topsy. For us locals it was something very different because as the temperatures moved into the mid to high forties we had to cope with high humidity as well. The combination of heat and humidity is not pleasant and causes problems not often experienced. Those of you that have experienced the difficulties of taking off a wet suit after a diving session will sympathise with what it’s like peeling off a shirt/top  that is saturated with sweat and clings to the body like Gladwrap. When the heat is dry, sweat is not an issue, but with the humidity conditions, it is extremely tiring. These conditions make it excellent for moaning and groaning and winging and complaining that one does to one’s self as no one else is interested in listening to you. However, we would not change the situation one bit because we are confidently heading into the cooler winter months with an abundance of feed for the sheep and cattle (and for the kangaroos whose numbers surpass by triple plus whatever our stock numbers around Australia are).

So far, we have been fortunate that here around Yaraka we have had not experienced bands of locusts hatching. When we lived here back in the early 90’s, it had been a good season one year and there had been prolific growth with the grasses. The Mitchell grass had exploded to such an extent that vehicle tracks through paddocks had become invisible and we had to cover the bull bars with fly screen mesh to prevent the seed heads of the Mitchell grasses blocking up the radiator core. (When this does happen, it takes ages to flush out all the jammed in seed heads). Back then we had a beautiful lawn around the homestead which also had benefitted from all the nitrogen loaded rain and was having to be mown every three or four days as the growth was so prolific. Locust bands were a problem and we discovered a large band heading around the house dam and up the hill toward where the homestead sat on top of the ridge. Watching this moving band of locusts was like watching something out of a Walt Disney cartoon. The leading front of locusts, which we estimated to be over 100 metres wide, took the first bites of the vegetation in front of them without stopping, with the following locust army devouring the rest as they travelled through. They reached the garden fence where the lawns started, and before our eyes, we watched the lawn disappear. By the time they had moved through, we were left with bare dirt with a few white roots left. The swiftness of the destruction made it an unforgettable memory.

The graziers of the region are fortunate, unlike the crop farmers currently doing it tough around Central Queensland and the Darling Downs regions. The rains blessed them and crops and grains were planted with great hope for a good season.  But right now Army Worms in Central Queensland are on their destructive path whilst a huge devastating mouse plague has hit areas on the Darling Downs.

But that’s Australia, isn’t it?  Australia, where ten percent of the population live in the much talked about, and at times glamorised ‘The Bush’ and  ‘The Outback.’  And where, it would seem, that at any given time, we can have drought and floods and fires, all happening around this huge continent at the same time.
(This the largest continent in the world covered by a single country, and the driest, if you forget about Antarctica.)

With the upcoming cooler months ahead, we could be in for an explosion of wild flowers forming huge patchworks amongst the drying, silvery, golden grasses.

We do live in a beautiful country, which has a few natural hiccups happening to test us, but would we live anywhere else?  I don’t think so!

By Chris Gimblett