Going with flow

We had to travel interstate for a funeral recently. The funeral was on the Sunday of a long weekend so that was good, only 1 work day would be lost. Or so we thought.

The rain fell solidly for the first three days of our trip. On the day of funeral we woke early (we were staying on a farm some distance from the city where the funeral was to be), and decided to drive around to see what was happening. One crossing, over a creek that flows from town, was already cut and it was only 6.30am. We decided to drive to town to see what was happening and, not unsurprisingly, there was water over the road at the only exit out of town. Quickly driving home we packed and left with minimal goodbyes, which felt wrong. If we'd left half an hour later I doubt we would have been able to get through town and make it to the city.

The weather that day was appalling. As our good friend said in his eulogy for his father "it felt like nature was screaming". People had travelled from interstate to be at the funeral and were unable to make it from the capital up to the inland city. We knew we couldn't make it back to the farm, so booked into a hotel.

That evening we went to a fabulous Turkish restaurant for dinner - possibly the only restaurant open in the city on that wild Sunday night. We toasted our friend and ate delicious food. Returning to our hotel we were told there was no power. The power didn't come on at all that night so, after a restless night, we got up early and headed back through thick fog to the farm.

We were meant to be heading home the next day, but we already knew we couldn't make it back to the airport. Flights were changed (someone was looking after us - I'd purchased fully flexible fares so no cost to change), car hire extended and we waited out the deluge. Come Tuesday morning we did a bit of a drive around looking at the swollen creeks, marvelling at the power of nature.

It was a weird break. We were sad that we had to attend a funeral, but looking forward to spending time with family, all tempered with anxiety about the weather. Not relaxing. Our sleep patterns were all over the place - going to bed early, waking early. Perhaps the greyness made our bodies think it was winter?