At the end of last week we had a downpour of 150mm of rain (6 inches for those who are still in the dark ages). And that much rain on our black soil runs pretty quick, so we had a mini flood. We haven't had rain like this for about 10 years. The area I live in is farmland producing mainly cotton so the rain is like liquid gold and is so precious to the farmers. Each property has 1 or 2 big dams and these are all interconnected with ditches and drains that harvest the water off the paddocks. They use irrigation pumps to lift the water up over the dam walls and move water from different parts of the farm. So for my dad, my brother and I who are the districts mechanics, it was pretty hectic screaming around to get engines running and fix problems when the engines stopped running. Because some of the engines haven't been run for the last 8 years no-one knew if they have any problems. So we were zooming around like chooks with their heads cut off checking engines making sure the murphy shutdowns were working ect. It's a fun time tho, slogging around in mud that glues itself to your boots and I often tried to walk and my boots stayed in the mud while my leg pulls right out. One property just down the road from us had 25 irrigation pumps running at one time. A guy was full time driving around in a JD8600 tractor pulling a fuel trailer and filling up all the tanks. The fuel tanker trailer couldn't handle the mud that well and the axle broke after only a day. I thought you guys might like to see some pictures. The first few may not be interesting - you probably see flooding water all the time. But at the bottom is something you wouldn't see very often. This John Deere didn't like running anymore and it decided it didn't want to live. You can judge for yourselves but I reckon it's pretty awesome. Unfortunately the conrod has flogged the block so its' beyond repair. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5200631029/" title="P1070387 by iconindustries, on Flickr"> View attachment 153187 "640" height="359" alt="P1070387" /></a> This shows a dam wall. The owner is so grateful of the drought breaking rain he has put up a cross. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5201224416/" title="P1070396 by iconindustries, on Flickr"> View attachment 153188 "640" height="224" alt="P1070396" /></a> Dad and I entering a property to get some new batteries. That day we picked up 12 brand new batteries to start the pump engines. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5201223784/" title="P1070393 by iconindustries, on Flickr"> View attachment 153189 "640" height="480" alt="P1070393" /></a> The local church got a bit wet. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5200633067/" title="P1070403 by iconindustries, on Flickr"> View attachment 153190 "640" height="480" alt="P1070403" /></a> Fellas house. Even tho his house is like this he still has a smile on his face because his dam is nearly full. And that means he will have a bumper cotton crop this year. ( if it doesn't get hailed out) <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5200634291/" title="P1070408 by iconindustries, on Flickr"> View attachment 153191 "640" height="480" alt="P1070408" /></a> Driving down to the pumps on a dam in a tractor towing a vac trailer. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5201224900/" title="IMG_0068 by iconindustries, on Flickr"> View attachment 153192 "640" height="478" alt="IMG_0068" /></a> He's the Johnny engine that spat the dummy. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5200635519/" title="P1070429 by iconindustries, on Flickr"> View attachment 153193 "500" height="375" alt="P1070429" /></a> I think what started the problem was the head of the exhaust valve broke off and started smashing up the piston and then it just kept self destructing. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5201228176/" title="P1070435 by iconindustries, on Flickr"> View attachment 153194 "640" height="480" alt="P1070435" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5201229002/" title="P1070442 by iconindustries, on Flickr"> View attachment 153195 "640" height="480" alt="P1070442" /></a> Smashed the liner (Bore) to smithereens and the conrod's a bit wonky too. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5201228588/" title="P1070437 by iconindustries, on Flickr"> View attachment 153196 "640" height="480" alt="P1070437" /></a> Here's me looking at the creek that has drowned out the bridge we use to get into town. It had us blocked out for a few days. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5201227152/" title="P1070422 by iconindustries, on Flickr"> View attachment 153197 "640" height="480" alt="P1070422" /></a> Most of the water has drained off the newly planted cotton and it should pick up within a few weeks. There is a world shortage of cotton at the moment so it's driven up the price to over $700 a bale. As the farmers put it 'they've planted wall to wall' even in the gutters on their roof:smile: Thanks for looking at my veeeeryyy long post. Hope you enjoy it. icon
Hi Icon, Thanks for the post, interesting insight into your area of the world. Is this what I believe is called "The Wet" (from a Nevil Shute novel set in your part of the world) or does that occur a bit further north. Recalls the time I was on night shift on a diesel power plant in the middle east and a 500kw diesel threw a con rod out of the crankcase, it kept running on 11 cylinders at somewhat reduced speed with the rod flailing around until I hit the emergency stop. Keep them coming, "Akulya" kindly called one of my wordy posts a stroll-umentary, thanks for joining that club. Barrie
A great photo story Icon. A couple of years ago our caravan was stuck at Blackall for a week waiting for the 'black soil' to be firm enough to pull the van out of the caravan site.
I started life as a mechanic working on irrigation engines in the rice fields of Louisiana. I would say that the gungalator shaft bearing seized in the wobblin hole and shear the kinibbling pin.
Icon, I've missed your stories. First, I'm glad you are all so happy about the rains and hope your wall to wall cotton harvest brings great value to you all - and to all of us who need it! I'm so glad you've embedded from Flickr, so that I am able to click on your photos - just added you as a contact, by the way. Your photographs need to be seen larger - to be fully appreciated. By clicking on them with the magnifying glass icon on Flickr, one can get a much better taste. In particular your second - the one of the cross overlooking the field - well, it really is fantastic, Icon and needs to be seen in its full glory to be appreciated. I'm with Barrie - keep these posts coming! And happy spring/summer to you down under!
