The rains have been a long time coming this season, but they have finally arrived with ex-cyclone Esther! We have received seven inches over the last few days, making our total 21 inches for the Wet so far. Our long term average is about 34 inches so we are hoping there is still more to come. Nonetheless, we are thankful for what has come our way.The grass is now waist high in places! It should make for an amazing start to the Dry Season.

The dams are all full and the creeks and rivers have all run high. There may be some fencing to do after all is said and done, but that’s the norm after a decent wet season.

Unfortunately, with the hot, wet weather comes the potential for swamp cancer (Pythiosis), which is actually an aquatic fungus occurring in the tropics. We have already had our vet fly out to operate on three horses, but they are healing well. We hired a helicopter to move the rest of the herd to higher ground the day before Esther arrived. They will remain there until the end of the Wet, so hopefully we won’t be dealing with any more cases of swamp cancer!

After longing for proper rain for months, we are already looking forward to a day or two of sunshine!