(attempted) rescue on the high seas

It had stopped for about 30 minutes the entire time since i arrived. At the tail end of the west season, with no dry ground to absorb it and the rivers and lakes already full, this amount of rain can lead to serious flooding very quickly. The cyclone had been heading across slowly from the northeast and creeping towards wyndham, with the rain and winds slowly increasing. Forced with twisted arm to sit inside and watch football with tony all saturday. Outside the water levels rose and the winds howled. Gale force winds were predicted. Sunday morning came and no break to the rain, but the winds had toned down and were apparently going to fall short of the gale force category.

Roads were flooded, just passable, and the supermarket in town had been soaked and was closed. Afternoon came, and i answered a call on mum's mobile from ted, the other doctor in town. Ted was raving about the water levels at "the Grotto", a popular waterhole out of town, bout 25 clicks down the great northern. Said we should go and check it out. Only gets like this once every few years. Water streaming off the mountains.

So the folks and I jump in big tones ute and head down the 95. The deluge had backed off a little, but the water over the road made sure the windscreen wipers were never bored. The old girl had her eye glued to the camera and the old boy with his to the road, muttering about not being to long coz we may not get back. Aint nobody want to be trapped on the 95 in a flood.

Maggie creek, usually about 3 meters wide.

We parked in the grotto carpark, the water rushing over the edge in a fierce barrage. We observed for a while, noticing a couple swimming down below in the grotto pool, which was now more of a toilet bowl mid flush than the tranquil swimming hole it usually is. There was about 4 waterfalls now when ther is usually only one. This one belowis the one you need to cross to get to the stairs which descend into the main swimming hole, where the idiots were swimming.

Big Poppa T

grotto swimming hole

Gnarly water movement.

After a few snaps and some open eyed staring, the olds began to worry about getting home in time so as not to get cut off, as the water was rising rapidly. Then we noticed the couple on the other side on a rock, traying to make their way back across the floodwaters. There were a few trees and plants they could hold  onto but the water was moving mighty fast and if they let got or got swept away it would have been tough to cling on, and they could have got stuck quite easily under a rock or branch. So we decided to wait and see how they went, just to make sure they got to safety.

Edging their way slowly through the water, having a bit of fun as the water hadn't yet hit its peak, they continued across until the middle of the river, where a bit of panic started to creep in as the water levels very rapidly rose and the speed increased. The rock tat mum had been standing on not half an hour before, quite emerged from the water was now copletely submerged. We started to realise that, shit, we might have to help them to get over, its going to be pretty difficult.

So Tony, sensing a possible heroic moment, leapt into the water, or rather gingerley lowered himself into the water, where there was a relatively thin, yet sturdy, still upright tree at the edge. He then proceeded to try and push the tree over, bend it so it was lying flat and the stragglers could maybe reach out and grab it. By now i had also cottoned on to the gravity of the situation and had gone in after tone, who was having a bit of trouble with the ent. After some heaving and shoving, we got the tree down flat in the water, and the couple had got as fa as they could without help. between us now lay the largest gap of their crossing, with water rushing past ready to sweep away any floaters. We lay the tree out in fron of them, and the man, being the gentleman he was, went first. He tried to reach out for the tree as it was in its current position, perpendicular to the bank. This failed as the tree was not long enough, and he got pushed a bit further downstream. SO now his lady was left a couple of metres away and with no way of getting the tree, so mitchy got out of the water in search of further assistance from nature. Found a huge vine climbing the side of the cliff, and thinking i was bear grylls, began to pull it down. Then i wrapped vine around my back leapt bravely once more into the fray, all the while imagining me as the heroic character in some movie and forgetting that this was a serious situation. When once more in the water, we got ready to throw the vine out to the girl.Note the girls resemblance to withers in this photo.

  Then I hurled the vine into the water, with tony yelling at her to hold on and to use two hands, very emphatic with the two hands he was. The girl grabbed the vine and proceeded to advance with only one hand gripping the vine. She was panicking as well at this stage so that didnt help. She made it out about half a meter into the open section before getting pulled in by the water and letting go of the vine, sending herself cannoning downstream into her stationary boyfriend, who im sure was enjoying his relatively stable position. Then they both went shooting downstream, as me and tony just stared at their terror stricken faces as they headed off into unknown territory.

tough

ah shit 

oops

I leapt out of the water with the vine around my neck, about to rush down the banks and help again, when i caught a glimpse of the couple about 10 meters downstream, climbing comfortably onto the rocks, with no help from us at all. Who knows what would have happened if we hadn't been there? i shudder to think.