Good things come to those who wait

After being trapped in an airport hotel in Brisbane, Australia, for two days and two nights due to a “rain bomb” event (someone described it as a “sky tsunami“) our beautiful niece was able to come and pick us up on the afternoon of the third day.

It had been two and a half years since we had been able to return to Australia so it had been bitterly disappointing to arrive at the airport with no one to greet us and unable to see family and friends but now we were leaving the airport hotel and were on our way!

It was wonderful to see our niece’s family in their lovely home and to be making some progress towards our final destination – Ben and Sarah’s (our son and daughter-in-law‘s) home on the other side of town.

By early evening we heard that the main road on the way to Ben and Sarah’s was passable by boat and that there were a couple of young guys who had been ferrying people over the floodwaters in their small vessels.

As our niece and husband both work from home and have three busy and active children we decided that it would be too much for them to have us to stay the night although we were so grateful for the offer.

Our friends Peter and Cathy live on the other side of the flood waters (in the same road we had lived in) and had very kindly invited us to stay until the flooded road between them and Ben and Sarah’s place was passable.

We left our luggage at our niece’s house as we didn’t think two big bulging suitcases would be welcomed on a small craft. When we got down to the flooded road we coincidentally bumped into our nephew who for several days had been frantically trying to save his family’s possessions from their flooded apartment near the Brisbane River. He looked haggard and exhausted when we said our “hellos” in the middle of the main road!

His wife and baby son were safely on the other side of the flood waters before a massive load of water was released into the river system from Brisbane‘s main dam.

A delightful young man called Dan, who had been ferrying people to and fro all day, took our nephew and us across literally on his last crossing of the day.

On the other side waiting to whip our nephew back to their place to be reunited with his partner and baby, were his Mum and Dad (my brother in-law and sister -in-law).

It was a quick but sweet reunion with our extended family in Brisbane. Then we were off to the home of our friends Peter and Cathy who we had last seen in Rome in October 2019. We had such a lovely catch up and despite having been cut off from the shops for several days Peter and Cathy cooked up a storm and we had a lovely meal together.

The next day we heard from Ben and Sarah that the water over the road out from their place had receded but it was still closed until it could be safety checked and the mud cleaned off.

We were impatient to see them but having waited two and a half years to be reunited we didn’t mind waiting a few hours extra.

That afternoon, three and a half days after we had landed in Australia we were finally able to hug our son and daughter-in-law. Of course it was a very emotional and a very special moment.

They picked us up in a very smart looking second hand Subaru Forester which they had kindly searched for and bought on our behalf.

The reason we needed an all-wheel drive was because they were in the process of buying a semi-rural property which can only be reached via an unmade road.

We were very grateful that they had worked so hard to find the perfect car for us at an extremely good price and driven many miles to collect it.

Back at their place we were greeted enthusiastically by our granddoggies and less enthusiastically by our grandbird (unless I was playing Bananagrams!) and met our cheeky frozen-pea-loving grandducks for the first time.

We also saw all the work in the house and garden that Ben and Sarah had undertaken since we had last stayed there in 2019 – including their fantastic bar area under the house.

As I looked out onto their backyard for the first time there were two dear little wallabies enjoying the beautiful green grass. What a lovely welcome!

That evening, as we sat in the bar enjoying a drink, Ben and Sarah received a message to say that the house they’d signed a contract for exactly nine months previously – to the day – had completed! Sadly, the vendor had passed away during the process and although his son had power of attorney, the sale could not be completed until probate had been settled.

So two wonderful things happened that day proving the old adage “good things come to those who wait”!