Of course there have been longer drier periods over all those years but not for the above time slot. But then on the 30th day the heavens opened and dropped 6mm followed by 20mm the following day.

The river up here is in a pretty ordinary state having not had a real flood since 2013 and the headwaters missing that big drop in early December. I have seen the level 70mm lower but never witnessed the amount of weed and algae growth. The water temperature taken at 4pm on three consecutive days 300mm below the surface was 31.5 degrees C.

In the past, the cows and loggers would have copped the blame, but with the cows almost gone, the loggers gone and 90 per cent of the catchment to this point being National Park, could it just be in this vast area of habitat our little hairy mates, the koalas, are now out of control and impacting the balance up there?

Jokes aside, it's not the great Koala Park that's going to save the world. Our greatest threat is that ticking time bomb, human reproduction and that neverending cry for more. Some bureaucrat claims in 80 years the human population will have increased from 2 to 8 billion, and in another 80 years without intervention could be 30 billion. A child born today could live to see that.

Imagine Bellingen, interlopers increasing four-fold and 100 coffee outlets. It surprises me that the environmental lobby don't plug for fewer babies, less waste and selfish indulgence, and a reduction in this so-called good life on credit. Car sharing could be a small start, as I witness so many people one car, one person, from the same suburb travelling 40 or 50km every day to the same workplace with the same start and stop time. The recent mini revolution in France indicates that few will take that cut to save the planet.

Darcey Browning

Thora