Streak Busters Go Home

Imagine going on an extended holiday with certain assumptions of weather. You plan to go to Australia, where there's been a decade long drought, with empty water reservoirs. Then you go to Tasmania, where it's generally warm in the spring. Then on to New Zealand, where it usually pours insanely every few days through the spring season.
Enter our friends Bob & Karen, who did exactly the above on their 3 month tour of the southern hemisphere. During the trip, they witnessed somewhat different weather. In Australia, the decade drought ended with a flash, monsoons rolling through almost daily. Purple and red on the radar and flooding swept across the south and east of the country. Drought over. 2 months later, the rains continue. They flew to Tasmania and had frost and cold winds. Hopping over to New Zealand, the south island was entering drought for the first time in a looong time. Literally less than 10mm of rain fell across the island. Our friend Serge told us fish on one river lost a lot of weight on one back country river as fish shut down feeding, with low oxygen and warm temps. Stress took its toll on these fish.
Finally, with our friends Bob & Karen in a week's sight of heading home to Red Deer, where the early snow has made for amazing early cross country skiing - which they've missed thus far - finally the weather here is changing to normal! Enter the following forecast for the west coast of the south island... you couldn't find this anywhere in NZ for the last 6 weeks!

So the New Zealand drought ends, with our friends leaving for home.The trout are rejoicing at the return to normal flows. But - Everyone in Red Deer get their t-shirts out... it should be above freezing and no skiing for the rest of winter... Bob & Karen are coming home!  ;)