Well we hope the drought that has held for a decade has been broken here in AUSTRALIA . The first 8 months has seen great rains in the north --eastern and southern states.
Rivers flowing into lake eyre are still flowing after 4 months coming all the way from queensland 3000ks away , here in South Australia all our reservoirs are full and its still raining , Victoria are having floods 4 towns evacuated and its still raining but easing , and they will have snow melt later on.
The country is looking the best i have seen in years , the----COCKIES (farmers to you lol) reckon they are going to have a good year and we have an old saying here ---that if the cockies are going well --so's the rest of the country ---blimey we even have a new Prime Minister 3 weeks after the election, snuck in by one seat and its our first female in the job , dare say she'll be over to see your president sometime .

Julia Gillard is her name ---and she is not married --but lives with her partner who together will shift in to the lodge shortly.

------------------------NOW FOR A FUNNY
One day an Irishman, who had been stranded on a deserted island for over 10 years, saw a speck on the horizon. He thought to himself, "It's certainly not a ship". As the speck got closer and closer, he began to rule out even the possibilities of a small boat or a raft.

Suddenly there strode from the surf a figure clad in a black wet suit. Putting aside the scuba tanks and mask and zipping down the top of the wet suit stood a drop-dead gorgeous blonde! She walked up to the stunned Irishman and said to him, "Tell me, how long has it been since you've had a good cigar?"

"Ten years," replied the amazed Irishman.

With that, she reached over and unzipped a waterproof pocket on the left sleeve of her wet suit and pulled out a fresh package of cigars and a lighter. He took a cigar, slowly lit it, and took a long drag. "Faith and begorrah," said the castaway, "that is so good! I'd almost forgotten how great a smoke can be!"

"And how long has it been since you've had a drop of good Bushmill's Irish Whiskey?" asked the blonde.

Trembling, the castaway replied, "Ten years."

Hearing that, the blonde reached over to her right sleeve, unzipped a pocket there and removed a flask and handed it to him. He opened the flask and took a long drink. "'Tis nectar of the gods!" shouted the Irishman. "'Tis truly fantastic!!!"

At this point the gorgeous blonde started to slowly unzip the long front of her wet suit, right down the middle. She looked at the trembling man and asked, "And how long has it been since you played around?"

With tears in his eyes, the Irishman fell to his knees and sobbed, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Don't tell me that you've got golf clubs in there too!"