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Certainly is a good idea, can you imagine us lot all with our sick bits and ailments, I reckon we could make maybe 2 complete fit workers between us all. Do they have medical insurance and an ambulance on site? I would be willing to give it a go if I wouldn't be a burden.

I will be home early February so could give it some consideration.

George

There is a lot of different jobs to do with Blazeaid, and after a while you get used to the work and you will find it one of the most rewarding things you will do in your retirement. You work at YOUR pace and no one will push you. If you get tired you either stop for a rest or return to base. I have done many months over the years, and only wish I could still get out there. As a group you will have the chance of working in groups mainly of your friends, or you can just split up into what ever groups are going out. There are many jobs beside fencing, such as general cleaning around the camp and tool maintenance as well as preparing meals and cooking and doing the washing for the workers. Don't worry there will be something for you to do. Normally there is camping at the base and all meals are communal meals in a special area. Some sites have groups come in and supply the night meals which I found great as we had several groups at Kilmore that supplied great food that I like, such as Asian and Indian, and there is always sweets etc so you will need some work to keep the weight down. You only work when you want to. If you need a rest then take the day off.

One big ticket item is washing the mud/silt off everything as the water recedes.
Yesterday I ferried Chris onto his houseboat & one job I helped him with was to pull in his walkway that he had left on the front of his boat. All portions of the ramp that were under water were covered with muck about an inch thick & even a dozen dunking wouldn't remove it. He had to fire up his onboard water pump to squirt it off. The muck was so sticky like the clay potters use of the wheel.
We are going to need a portablee genny & a power washer to clean up roadways, sheds & all the electricals around the marina.

Bruce, what some of the locals should be doing now is getting the right stuff required for the clean up. A wide squeegee type of thing and some decent brooms as well as a decent pressure cleaner will prove invaluable after the water goes down. After the Brisbane floods it was almost impossible to find anything suitable up here. Same thing goes for electrical cleaning spray, but I reckon your electrician will be onto that already.

even the petrol driven pressure washers.

something like this.

https://www.edisons.com.au/jet-usa-4800 ... 630-gen-iv

The Edison water pressure washers would want to be better than the mowers that they sell Jon, family bought 3 different self propelled mowers, one still just in use, would never buy anything from them again, very few spare parts available.

A wet/dry vacuum that is strong enough to pick up mud, or a vac truck type unit or a slurry pump would do the job better. The problem with trying to hose off or sweep away mud is there is no where for it to go, the mud is the same level across the whole area. Adding more water is only going to result in the mud flowing back in when the water backs up because it has no where to go. With the collecting it up with some sort of suction pump, the mud can be transferred to a holding area for it to settle the water out of it. Besides the salt content, it would make great top soil, but as land fill, once a layer of grass grows over, it is excellent because it self levels.

I'm hoping, when the flood levee is dismantled, they make the bags of dirt available to anyone who wants them. I'd use them to build a wall at the normal river height and then back fill to the road edge to make a grassed area beside the river in front of the house.

T1 Terry

What a lot of the cleanup teams up here did, was to start cleaning up as the water started to recede. Then little by little push it back to the river. It will stink and goodness knows what is going to be in it. You would hope, that with the benefit of having seen how those up north have done their cleanups, that the powers that be down south will have some sort of a plan. Kinda like the organisers of the Qld mud army, as it was called.

What areas are we talking about for the clean up? inside houses or bigger areas like streets? Would those street cleaning trucks be of benefit? the trucks that sweep and suck type? gunna be a big big messy job for sure.