Coastal Emu - a rare bird

Heading out of town this afternoon to visit friends I spotted this fellow just a few k's out. It's not a top shot but by the time I found a spot to park the car, get the camera out and try and catch him before he got out of sight was quite a feat:). Very exciting and unexpected also, as he is an endangered Coastal Emu see here for details Emus are the second largest bird in the world - the largest is the Ostrich.

In other news, we had another lovely sunny day here today but some of our friends in Roma, Qld, are having a terrible time. M and J have escaped having the flood water through the house yesterday but have had flood waters swirling all around them. J took a home video and put it on YouTube - what is happening out there is quite unbelievable. I am going to endeavour to post a link of the video for any one who is interested but if it doesn't work - just google:- Roma Flood - Feb 2012- YouTube and then look for a video uploaded by jkc 828282. It's really worth a look and keep an eye out for when J shows the blood on the verandah where Mike killed the snake. See flood here

I also rang other friends late yesterday just to see how things were going - not realizing that the whole drama had just almost engulfed them as well. They live out of town on a beautiful farm which has been in the family for generations and in living memory has never flooded near the house. They hadn't been too worried until a neighbour from a farm across the road came over to tell them to start taking precautions as he had heard there was a large amount of water coming from the north. By the time they put things up inside the house, the sheds had gone under and B just got the boat out of the shed in time to tie it up at the back door. They had bags and food packed ready to get in the boat when the water came up over their patio. B noticed that it wasn't getting any higher so they decided to wait and see what was going to happen which was just when I rang. Fortunately, it didn't get any higher but they were up all night watching and checking. The only way they will get into town for about 5 days is by boat and that can be very dangerous because of submerged logs and debris. So many homes have had chest high water through them, and the home we built in 1982 when we lived out there, has three feet of water through it ( when we built, the land was 2ft higher than the 1 in 100yr flood level). I'm so thankful we are not there now but feel for all those who are going through it.