Hello again from Rainbow Beach Droughtrunners

Well, every month now I hope it may be the last in sending out aid to those still suffering from drought conditions and those recovering from January’s fires down South.

Queensland is such a big state and again this year the Longreach area missed the Wet Season.

I did some checking on the rain received there this year and found they had 92mm in January with 23 days of temps over 39.5 degrees. December had 27 days over 39 degrees. The hottest 45.3.

Since March 9, there has been 23mm with June 0, July 0, Aug 14, Sept 0 so far, so dust is flying.

The forecast for a wet season is good (La Nina) so here’s hoping for those struggling up there.

We are busy packing hampers for the biggest run yet to Longreach in late November with a team of helpers volunteering support.

In mid September we sent another $500 off to the Fencing for Fires group in Victoria and are holding back vouchers at present as our contact in Longreach is not well and we have been consulting through the Mt Isa Branch of CentaCare.

Big thank-you’s this month to Wayne Kerle’s bottle collecting, The Surf Club for their help, Rainbow Waters, Tin Can Bay Bakery for another quick $120, The TCB and Rainbow IGAs for collecting and Drakes in Gympie.

Also thank you to all those with collection tins, and many thanks to Martine and Andrew who have been selling our mango chutney.

Please call if you want to try it and help the Droughtrunners.The last batch of 200-300 jars will be coming soon with the help of Gympie CWA at Cathy House in Tin Can Bay.

This month I was fortunate to have Tash and Steele Johnson (Drought Angels) here in Rainbow for a few days, so we had a good chat about the drought.

It was their first visit here for 20 years when they apparently came on our houseboats.

There are a lot of country people starting to return.

Till next month, Thank you all for the continued support.

Tony Stewart, Rainbow Beach Droughtrunners. 0408 767930.