I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of rugged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of rugged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons ......

Australia has suffered its first death by "water rage" as the country confronts its seventh year of crippling drought. Although this info is now front page news in Sydney Australia, it will hardly affect the outcome of our problem. Like most families we are still able to shower once or twice per day, but it is the time spent under the shower which is most important, water saving shower heads to me are a waste of time, more than water saving, seems to me the restricted shower heads take more than twice as long to remove the suds and leave you with that incomplete feeling, whereas a strong jet of water cleans far quicker notably in less than half of the time the trickler uses plus it leaves one with a satisfying fresh feeling.

The grey water from our family washing machine is used to water the garden and lawns. Occasionly the final rinse water is saved for cleaning the cars and boat, although it is permissable to use the domestic water supply for this purpose, we may only use a unrestricted
number of buckets of water; not a hose. (Using the hose to effectively clean the car uses far less water than the bucket method,) but not so according to the Boneheads of the Water Board.
Strict water restrictions have already provoked countless neighbourhood feuds, but this is the first time someone has lost their life over the increasingly precious resource.
Ken Proctor, 66, was watering his lawn with a hose in a suburban Sydney street when a passer by, Todd Munter, 36, made a remark about him wasting water.
Mr Proctor then turned the hose on Munter, drenching him and provoking a fight.
The younger man attacked him, pushing him to the ground while kicking and punching him.
Mr Proctor suffered a massive heart attack and died in hospital.
Munter was tackled by two passers-by, including an off-duty policeman.
The incident happened around 5.30pm on Wednesday, meaning the retiree was well within his rights to be watering his lawn.
Under Sydney's tough water conservation regulations, using a hose is allowed on Wednesdays and Sundays before 10am and after 4pm.
Munter appeared in a Sydney court charged with murder.
He appeared distraught as he sat in the dock and faces a potential maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
He was denied bail and was remanded in custody until Nov 15.
Mr Proctor is "a real knockabout sort of bloke" who had recently become a grandfather.
The drought, the worst for at least a century, has left much of Australia a parched dust bowl.
More than three-quarters of New South Wales is in drought, while neighbouring Victoria has declared 100 per cent of its farmland to be affected.
The "big dry" has concentrated Australians' minds on global warming, making it a key issue among voters as the country heads for a federal election on November 24.

Restrictions on the use of water in Sydney
Hand-held hosing of lawns and gardens and drip irrigation is now allowed only on Wednesdays and Sundays before 10 am and after 4 pm No other watering systems or sprinklers are to be used at any time. A permit is required to fill pools bigger than 10,000 litres No hosing of hard surfaces including vehicles at any time No hoses or taps to be left running unattended, except when filling pools or containers Fire hoses must only be used for fire fighting purposes - not for cleaning.

So its tough going; well not really for my family. We were weaned on water restrictions over the period of more than two years when expats living in Hong Kong many years ago, when the water supply was turned on for three hours every four days. the average consumption was 9 imp Gals or 40 litres per person per day. (True no kidding)

"No worries mate, we all smelled the same".