First Rain

It’s raining. This is the first time I have seen rain since arriving in Australia over a month and a half ago so I think it’s enough of an event to make it blog-worthy. I actually heard it before I saw it – like many houses in Australia, ours has a corrugated iron roof so you can imagine the noise when the heavens open and it starts to bucket it down. It’s immense, a ceaseless hammering from above, so loud you start to worry the roof might just cave in. It’s only been raining for about ten minutes but already the garden looks more lush, the grass greener. The leaves on the bushes and trees glisten with tiny drops of water and the roots greedily glug the moisture in the red soil. It takes effort and constant watering for anything much to grow out here – any green spaces require daily sprinkler-action but water is scarce so, with the first sign it might rain, I went into the shed to turn off the reticulation system for the night. Mother Nature can do its bit and help out today.


As I am typing this, the skies have darkened to an angry charcoal and the room I’m sitting in is cloaked with gloom. The branches of the tree close to the house are whipping away at the wall, driven by a wind that has suddenly picked up. We are past cyclone season but I imagine this is how it starts and I am very glad it won’t get much worse than this now. I’m rather dreading the summer when a cyclone can form at any moment, unleashing its fury onto the town with furious winds and thrashing rain, when sturdy buildings can be damaged and a man can be blown off his feet. A bit of heavy rain and a light wind is all I have to worry about for now. I’m nice and dry and cosy inside the house, congratulating myself for having the foresight to bring the washing in before the rain started to come down!