My timing sucks.....

[Crosslander]

So here I am in Brisbane for the Caravan Camping Show..... a few days to myself while I have a look at campers for both myself and Brother in law.... nice leisurely walk around yesterday and today.... blue sky.... all fine and dandy.

Anyway.... get back to motel this afternoon.... call the family saying I'll be leaving early in the morning and will be home tomorrow arvo only to be told no you won't... roads are cut and oh by the way.... our house is about to flood.

Yep we live on the Hastings river and the SES had just been around and sand bagged. Anyway since then been getting 15 minute updates.... as much as possible has been moved upstairs (most living is upstairs but we also have a bedroom, laundry etc downstairs).

Around 6ish water started entering down stairs rooms.... rubbish bins started floating as did the new and non installed 9000 litre water tank sitting in the back yard. Also have my tinny about a metre (in distance not height) away from floating away apparently 

Because the water cam up so quick I believe all my power tools, lawn mower,whipper snipper etc are under water...

Kids are petrified, wife (well ex) is putting on a brave front and I am stuck up here and not able to do anything.

So like the title says my timing sucks. lol

[D4D]

Bloody hell that's crap, how long before you'll be able to drive back?

[gibbo301]

Gerber's did,nt no it was raining that hard down there hope everything is ok

[barneys]

all the best, thinking of you and family

[FZJ]

Its belting down,I just drove from work in Port Macquarie to home in lake cathie and its not getting any better.Hope you dont lose toomuch.......

[Heiny]

Sorry to hear that mate, thoughts are with you and hope everything ends up ok.

[Brett B]

Nothing worse than not been able to do anything
All the best to you and your family

[bullfrog]

Rain has eased a bit here today, belted down from about 2:00am -6:00am. System is now moving down the coast to you blokes on the mid north coast. It doesn't look real pretty for about the next week. Hope all ends up OK Mark@Port, stay safe mate.

[BigJules]

Got insurance Mark? Power tools can all be replaced, in fact it can be fun to pick up new, better stuff. Hope the family is OK.

[Crosslander]

update.... she has abandoned house. Kids were freaking out too much and was worried that the car wouldn't be covered as it is parked in a flood prone area. Not sure about that but better safe than sorry.

As she was leaving water in downstairs room was knee height. Boat not secured so god knows where that will end up. Johhny Trackabout do you do flood repairs to boats?   

So won't know anymore until tomorrow now.... apparently high tide is about 10 tonight so we'll see where it gets too.

The only positive in all this is not more than a week ago we changed our house insurance across to GIO because they covered all flood damage unlike some other of those bloodsuckers insurance companies.

[Crosslander]

Oh and thanks for the posts of support.... I'm sure all will be fine and now i know that the family is safe it really doesnt matter. Will be a clean up needed etc but you can replace material items.

Mind you it is very weird hearing all this and not being able to do anything.

cheers.

[Crosslander]

oh and the first one to chime in with  will get thumped 

[duggie]

You poor bugger, but like I always say good will always come out of bad. God times are ahead of you. take care, duggie.

[BigJules]

It would be unethical to collect all the stuff that get ruined in your neighbours garages, like chainsaws, drill press etc and photograph those for your assessor  .

[Crosslander]

You poor bugger.....

I appreciate the sentiment however to a degree there is nothing to feel sorry for me/us about. I mean at the end of the day we purchased a house in a known flood area and we knew there would be times this sort of thing happened.

Of course now that it ha,s it is hard not to get a 'why me' type feeling - particularly as there has been a string of 'why me' type moments over the past 12 months or so.

Anyhow as mentioned family is safe and warm. Dog is with them and gets to terrorise my brother in law who wouldn't normally let him in the house.

As for me i am bored holed up in a motel in Brisbane so will probably just keep posting away on here lol

[Crosslander]

It would be unethical to collect all the stuff that get ruined in your neighbours garages, like chainsaws, drill press etc and photograph those for your assessor  .

would it...... ahmmmm I mean it would wouldn't it! 

[rellbell]

It would be unethical to collect all the stuff that get ruined in your neighbours garages, like chainsaws, drill press etc and photograph those for your assessor  .

And so if his timing sucks now, hows his luck going to be claiming that then??

[Matto]

That sucks Mark. Glad to hear the family and dog are all OK - everythign else can be replaced. Sounds like you had a good score with changing the insurance, at least that's one thing you shouldn't have to worry about.

Whilst to a degree you are correct that you bought a house in a flood-prone area, no one likes to hear about this sort of thing happening to anyone. It's a calculated risk, but at the end of the day it's still a horrible thing to have to go through. All the best for the cleanup, and hopefully you can get any lost posessions replaced quickly and easily.

You'll probably get a notice from your local council that your rates have trippled, since you're now living on waterfront land...

Chin up mate - you'll get back there soon enough.
Matto

[Redback]

I hope it all gets better, nothing worse than being elswhere and not being able to do anything.

All the best, Baz.

[Bird]

Power tools can all be replaced, in fact it can be fun to pick up new, better stuff. Hope the family is OK.

X ElEvEnty.. nothing is worth risking your life for...
Something we tried to get into peoples heads with the Community Program we had in the RFS in the 90's. The blank and 'save ya breath fool' looks on peoples faces when you told them your families life is worth more than your house...

Hope all works out ok.

Did you find the trailer you were looking for at the show?

[Slydog]

good to hear everyone is safe that's the main thing. as everyone else has also said nothing is worth more than your family...dog included. hope it all works out for you.

all the best Slydog

[Crosslander]

thanks for the well wishes guys..... made it down the coast as far as coffs harbour today. Pacific highway is cut south of here and just heard it could be closed at Kempsey for 5 DAYS!!! 

Alternate route is to make my way up through Dorrigo across to Armidale and back down via the Oxley Highway. problem with that is the Oxley Hwy is cut too 

Latest news is last night didn't get much worse than I Had heard.... wife went home to organise some bits this morning but no sooner was she there got the knock on the door from SES to evacuate... so my goddam boat and a brand new 9000 litre water tank are at the mercy of the water 

Tonight will be a higher peak and I expect the day after to be probably higher again as all the water comes down from the mountains.

So looks like I could be holed up in Coffs for a night or 2. Lucked out on a motel room.... dirt cheap on the highway but just been renovated.... still has the new carpet smell. Least I'll be comfy 

Oh and for whoever asked if I found the trailer at the show.... yes I did. They didnt have the model my brother in law was looking at however they did have the next one down. Was pretty well built as far as I could tell..... top grade stainless that passed the magnet test and finished off well. He confirmed they are brought in from China but said the thing is headed up by an aussie who has pretty strict quality control. Choice of Local or Overseas canvas - they only had the local but apparently the chinese is good quality (not rip stop). They told me the name of another manufacturer to look at as they use the same guy for canvas and it honestly looked decent.

[Bird]

He confirmed they are brought in from China but said the thing is headed up by an aussie who has pretty strict quality control.

"strict on QC - but probably still to a limited budget.
That would be my stumbling block, but that said theres a few campertrailer companies that have trailers made on contract labour in jails in AU.. I know first hand as a mate was telling hes been makin em while has has sometime to think about his errors in life.

[suziq]

We know what you are going through. We live in FNQ so get that every year but fortunately we do not live in a flood prone area. But the automatic flood cover in your insurance is great. We have that with our insurance. Hope all is well with family, you can replace tools etc. but you can never replace you family.
Cheers Suziq.