Brisbane

Friday - Stopping off at Brisbane en route to see Chris's aunt, Margaret, and her husband, Tom, who live at St George in the Outback several hundred miles west of Toowoomba, Queensland's largest inland town.
We are staying with the Killen family - Margaret's son, James, his wife, Chris, and their children Kate (12) and Fraser (10).
Arrive at Roma Station. No let-up in the rain, but we embark on self-guided tour of inner city, which takes us a few hours. Jump on fast Citytrain to Nundah, a suburb of Brissie where the Killens live. Chris is at station to meet us and she drives us to her home where we meet Kate and Fraser and, later, James following his return home from work. Enjoy dinner together and getting to know them all.
Learn that St George has been hit by floodwater - the river there is continuing to rise rapidly and could reach a record high of some 6m. Fortunately, Margaret and Tom are safe and out of danger, but the town itself is cut off.
Chris, meanwhile, tells us that she and her children had to turn back as they got within just miles of Toowoomba a few days earlier because continual rain had led to awful road conditions. They had been trying to collect their dog, Sox, from family, but his holiday has been extended for the time being.
Twenty-four hour news channels warn of worsening weather conditions and that a flood alert is imminent. Concerned at this stage that journey to St George - we are due to travel across country on Monday - may not happen, but hoping that situation will improve by the weekend.

Saturday - Despite the heavy downpours there are bursts of sunshine and we make the most of our weekend with Chris, James, Kate and Fraser. Spend smashing day with them seeing Brisbane's sights after enjoying trip down the river on the fast CityCat ferry. River reminds us very much of the Thames in the way it twists and turns through city. Same murky brown colour too.
Shown around South Bank - a green area alongside river. It's full of cafes, restaurants and boasts a 'beach' and large lagoon for swimming. The Bank is also home to a world-class modern art gallery and other significant cultural centres. We enjoy early evening pasta meal at Italian restaurant before returning to James and Chris's home by train.
Still trying to keep as positive as possible about St George, but with the rain unrelenting throughout Queensland we know in our heart of hearts that we won't be able to make the journey.
We are bitterly disappointed. We would have loved to have seen Margaret again (the last time was in Swansea in 2008), and to meet Tom for the first time, while also getting first-hand experience of the Outback. Sadly it is not to be, but we feel we have made the right decision.

Sunday - The morning brings leaden skies and more rain, but the two of us ask Kate and Fraser if they would like to accompany us to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary - the world's first and biggest of its kind.
Kate needs to catch us with some reading, but Fraser is game. James and Chris drop the three of us off - and we have a day to remember. A quick bite to eat in a cafe at the Sanctuary reveals koalas galore (none behind bars or fenced in) busily munching on their staple diet of eucalyptus leaves.
The day also includes a python presentation, sheepdogs in action, sheep-shearing and feeding kangaroos, but the big highlight comes when Fraser and Chris get to hold and cuddle a cute female koala called Crumble. This bundle of fluff and fur is quite simply gorgeous. Chris would love to take Crumble home with her, and we reckon Fraser would too.
Arrive back at Chris and James's home soaked to the skin after kangaroo-feeding session in huge paddock where that hard rain just kept on falling but, despite it all, we are all happy as larry after a cracking day out - and Fraser has lovely picture of himself with Crumble.
Contact former Evening Post colleague and friend Phil Dillon and his wife, Joy, to see whether we can meet up. Phil and Joy are currently living an hour or so north on the Sunshine Coast - at beach and surf town Maroochydore. Hope to spend a day or two with them - weather permitting, of course.

Monday - This is the day we should have been on the road to the Outback and heading to St George. Thank god we decided not to go. Toowoomba has been hit by flash flooding - cars mangled beyond recognition, people trapped on the roofs of their houses and homes wrecked as streets are turned into a raging torrent of filthy brown water.
The single worst affected area, however, is the Lockyer Valley which nestles some 700m below. It has been hit by a massive wall of water, described by observers as an inland Tsunami. Already 12 lives have been lost and there are some 70-plus people missing. It is utter carnage - a shocking tale of death and destruction.
All contact has been lost with the residents there and in the little town of Grantham, and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh declares it a Disaster Area.
We watch the unfolding tragedy on television in horror, so desperately sorry for those who have lost not only livelihoods, but family and friends. And, nagging away in the back of our minds, is the thought that we could have been among those caught up in one of Australia's worst natural disasters.
All we can do is count our blessings that we took the advice not to travel inland. Had we stuck to our original plan we reckon we may have been in or around the Toowoomba area when the water rose and turned a once pleasant garden town into a muddy morass of despair.

Tuesday - Situation just gets worse and worse. Had hoped to travel north by car to stay with Phil and Joy, but the Bruce Highway coast road is now closed north and south as the floods continue to spread and worsen.
Authorities are now warning everyone who does not have to travel to stay at home - and there is increasing concern for Brisbane itself as the river there rises too. They are talking of it peaking at around 5.5m - a staggering and frightening prospect.
James is sent home from work early as the CBD (Central Business District) shuts down. We watch as unbelievalble events unfold before our very eyes.
Premier Bligh is now warning that the river will burst its banks in the next 48 hours and that 32 suburbs and between 20,000-30,000 homes will be affected by floodwater.
Thankfully James and Chris's will not be among them. Nundah is one area not directly in line - and their home is on high ground well away from any creek or gully with the potential to flood.
We have now stayed with this charming family, who have been so kind to us (can't thank you enough for your hospitality), a couple of nights longer than anticipated and now with Brissie about to feel the full force of Mother Nature it's decision time again.
With public transport starting to grind to a halt and traffic going nowhere fast in any direction we'll try to board a flight south to Melbourne as early as possible the next morning.
Brisbane is about to be submerged. It's a no brainer to get out of here as fast as we can before the river swallows up Australia's third largest city in something resembling a sci-fi/disaster movie. Fingers - and everything else - crossed that the airport will be operating normally. Departures here we come.