Hello from hot and sticky Coquette Point,

Like an unwelcome visitor the monsoon surged and dropped down on January 17. Two lows formed on the trough, one in the white-hot waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria and was destined to become tropical cyclone Oswald on the January 21- but only for 12 hours. The weather system soon reverted to a tropical low and danced in the Gulf for a week before beginning its move south. The BOM computer models gave conflicting forecasts on Oswald's movement and at one stage had it sitting over the southern Atherton Tablelands for a couple of days.

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 WILDWATCH,  by ANNE WILKINSON.

It never rains but it pours.

How true that old saying was in the Cassowary Coast this last week, then the rain left us and moved south with disastrous results.  

Such heavy rain always seems to come as a shock, but in reality it happens quite regularly. It is a wonderful boost for the water table and makes everything, including the grass, grow fast. It also leaches nutrient from the ground and causes untold problems for human mobility.

Yet wildlife seems to take it in its stride. In the silence following the drumming of the rain when it finally eased, it was really good to hear the birds begin to celebrate what must have seemed a release as they set out to catch up on their feeding and, for those with young families, hunting for food for them.