It's been a little quiet here this week. With the tragedy unfolding throughout Queensland everything I thought of posting seemed trivial and a little ridiculous. As one of my cousins wrote on Facebook earlier in the week, "You can't complain about the rain when you're moving house when other people are having their house moved by the rain. Good luck QLD!!!"

But life does go on and it has been awe-inspiring watching people start the clean-up as the flood waters have receded. People who weren't affected are out helping their neighbours, young couples whose first house has been almost destroyed by the water have shrugged their shoulders, put on their wellies and dug in to start cleaning. I'm sure there are many tears being shed but the message coming across is one of strength and unity. It will take months for Queensland to get back on it's feet. In some cases, it's fair to say it will take years. But with nearly $50 million in donations from Australian people in just a few days, the support of politicians, the manpower of the army and of course the strength of the Queenslanders themselves one thing you can guarantee is that it will be rebuilt.

I was planning to donate to the flood appeal but have had a different idea instead. I'm going to buy gift vouchers for a group of nation-wide stores to the same value as I would have donated and send them to a friend in Queensland who knows some people badly affected - one of her friends had water three meters above her roof. She has a three year old child and their house is uninhabitable and Felicity is going to pass the vouchers on to her for immediate use.