Carina Moonen · 34 min
Stranded at Warkworth without emergency services, Carina Moonen survived the 2022 Hunter Valley flood only because her husband was home, and the experience reshaped her sense of self, her marriage, and her place in the world.
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Carina Moonen lived in a heritage schoolhouse at Warkworth for over 20 years with her husband Leith, their son, and dogs. The river behind the property had flooded before, but never seriously. On July 5th, 2022, the worst flood in 70 years changed everything. Carina woke to Leith's warning, packed a bag with books and medication, and stepped into water above her knees. Within hours, floodwater breached the house. Everything underneath the bed, her son's baby book, photos, cards she had kept her entire life, prints of their deceased dog meant for tattoos, was destroyed by contaminated water. Two weeks in a camper trailer in winter left her with a stomach bug. Then came eight months of isolation on a remote hill property, separated from Leith, who worked all day and drove through rain and mud each evening to wheelbarrow food and supplies uphill so she could eat and stay warm.
What kept Carina alive was that Leith came. If he had been at work that morning, if he had been at a gig, she would have stayed in the house and waited on the bed for emergency services that never came. The isolation changed how she saw herself and their marriage. She learned she is mentally stronger than she believed, even in moments when she felt weak and useless. She discovered that you cannot do it alone, that you need a buddy and you have to keep that buddy close. A neighbour brought cash so she could buy food and clothes, breaking through her resistance to accepting help. When rain comes now, anxiety comes with it. But Carina also knows this: if a natural disaster cannot destroy a good marriage, nothing can. From the loss, she and Leith made lifelong friends.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses grief & loss, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au • GriefLine: 1300 845 745 · griefline.org.au
“I would have waited for someone to come and save me so the dog and the dog and I would have been on my bed yeah wow because that's the highest point and there was literally no one coming for us.”
“If a natural disaster can't destroy a perfectly good marriage then I don't think anything can.”
“It's not rubbish that was essentially my entire life.”
The hero, today
Carina had complete faith that emergency services would come and tell her what to do, but no one came; if Leith had not been home, she would have stayed in the house and waited on the bed with the dog. The stuff people told her was replaceable was not replaceable: her son's baby book, photos, prints from their deceased dog, cards she had kept her entire life, and the prints she planned to get tattooed with her husband. Carina learned through isolation that you have to have a buddy and keep that buddy close, because as much as they can do on their own, together she and Leith can make it. She discovered she is mentally stronger than she thought, even when she felt weak and useless; she was still bringing something to the experience, even if it was just something small. Everyone's perception of what you should do is different from what actually happens; the best laid plans in life rarely work out as intended.
Yes. Carina Moonen is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.
Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.
Carina had complete faith that emergency services would come and tell her what to do, but no one came; if Leith had not been home, she would have stayed in the house and waited on the bed with the dog.
The stuff people told her was replaceable was not replaceable: her son's baby book, photos, prints from their deceased dog, cards she had kept her entire life, and the prints she planned to get tattooed with her husband.
Carina learned through isolation that you have to have a buddy and keep that buddy close, because as much as they can do on their own, together she and Leith can make it.
John Milham (Host) · 00:00
Kintsugi Heroes brings you the following flood resilience stories in partnership with Singleton Neighbourhood Centre and grant funding from the Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network. To find out more about this podcast, head to kintsugiheroes.com.au. On July 6th, 2022, the worst flood in 70 years hit the town of Broke and the surrounding Hunter Valley region. The The community is still recovering from the trauma the floods brought, destroying their homes and their livelihoods. In this special limited series of Kintsugi Heroes, John Millum sits down with the community who suffered as a result of the floods and gives them space to share their adversity, resilience, and compassion. It's only through connection and empathy that there can be a path to recovery. These are stories of trauma and can be confronting. If you find they have a triggering effect, please reach out to someone who can help keep you safe. In as John takes you beyond the deluge with Kintsugi Heroes. And welcome everybody out there to another episode of Kintsugi Heroes, our stories of manner. And this is the flood series, you know, talking about stories of the broken, uh, Wollombi floods in 2022. Today we are very pleased to be able to welcome Corinna Moonen to the conversation. So thank you, Corinna. Thank you for joining us today.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 01:38
Thanks for having me.
John Milham (Host) · 01:40
And today, Corinna, we heard from your husband Leith and you guys were at Warkworth, which is a little bit out of the, you know, out of the area that most people associated with being impacted by that 2022 flood. But of course, The impact on you guys was devastating and it went all the way through, you know, in what was a very rapid transition. So why don't you, uh, just to, to put some context around it, would you like to just share a little bit, a bit about yourself and what, uh, your story leading up to the, to the 5th of July?
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She discovered she is mentally stronger than she thought, even when she felt weak and useless; she was still bringing something to the experience, even if it was just something small.
This conversation includes twenty years in an old school, the river had flooded before, but never like this, stepping into water above her knees, the house is breached, everything underneath the bed is ruined and two weeks in a camper trailer in winter.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 02:17
Yeah, we were just a standard bunch of people. Leith and I have always worked. I was an educator at a preschool for 16 years and, um, was in early intervention before that. And yeah, just cruising along. We'd had a few dramas leading up to the flood, but yeah, just regular people cruising along, living our life.
John Milham (Host) · 02:41
Beautiful. And of course, it's a beautiful part of the world there. Well, what, just for the people at home, do you wanna tell us a little bit about where you live and maybe why you live there.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 02:54
We live in an old school at Warkworth. We moved to Warkworth. We actually live next door. We moved out here when my son was 18 months old and he's 27 this year. Wow. Yep. So we moved into the school and just, just love to live in here. Such a, you know, such a great spot. My husband plays the drums, so nobody really wants to live too close to us. So just great. We've got the river down behind us. We have dogs, got an only child, so always had pets, just regular people.
John Milham (Host) · 03:28
So regular people in a beautiful part of the land. Of course, the school, you say an old school, it's a very old school, isn't it?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 03:35
It is very old school. Yes.
John Milham (Host) · 03:37
So it's a heritage building.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 03:38
It's a beautiful, it's a beautiful spot with our, our closest neighbors. The coal mine, they make as much noise as we do, so it just works out perfectly.
John Milham (Host) · 03:50
Fabulous. And of course you mentioned the brook nearby, so it's quite close. So, you know, flooding wasn't unknown to you, was it?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 04:00
No. So it spilled over into the— we've got a park in front of us, spilled over into the park numerous times over the years. And to be honest, it was entertaining because, you know, days off school, couldn't go to work. We'd hang out as family and watch the water come up and watch the water go down. It was never, I've never had considered that we would flood as such.
John Milham (Host) · 04:24
So leading up, it had been raining and there was a lot of, you know, water around leading up. And of course, minor floods in March, but leading up to July, the 5th of July, did, yeah. And you said you hadn't considered it coming up. What was it like watching the water?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 04:41
I had gone to bed the night before, very blasé, going, we've been here for over 20 years. It's come up into the park, never had to worry. So Leith was keeping an eye on it. And to be honest, I thought he was making a fuss about nothing. And he, he came and woke me up and he said, oh, I think you should get up. You know, I think this might be something. And I still scoffed at him and went, you know, and Leith sort of said, you probably should pack a bag. You know, you need to go. And that was when I looked out the front steps and thought, oh, it is actually coming quite up. It sort of came around us, which I wasn't expecting. So I clearly didn't take it seriously because the bag that I packed was, um, I never travel anywhere without a book, so I packed a book and a spare book just in case, a pillow blanket, my medication, and my handbag, grabbed the dog. And as we've gone to step off the top step, the dog sort of barked and I've gone, no, no, we'll be fine. This is what we're doing. So stepped off the top step and, and stepped into the water and it was above my knees and I hadn't considered how cold the water would be. Yeah. And how much of a push it would have.
John Milham (Host) · 05:56
Wow.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 05:57
So At the front of our house, we've got a big concrete slab and then a concrete path. So in my mind, I've gone, as long as I keep to the path, we'll be fine. So off we've gone, dog's all but swimming. She was not very happy. Um, and I stepped off the path. So you, so I've dropped down about that much. And that was when I really felt the pull of the water and didn't, wasn't panicking, but I was a little bit, oh, you know. This is something.
John Milham (Host) · 06:24
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 06:25
Um, and yeah, got put up on the side of the road and still didn't really think too much of it. There's people here getting both cars and everything out. My car was out.
John Milham (Host) · 06:37
Mm-hmm.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 06:38
And then, and continued to take photos, had a bit of a joke, didn't really take it too seriously. And then once I saw that it'd come in through the lounge room, which is the highest point, that was pretty much the last photo I took. That was when I went, oh, it's in now. You know, that, that sort of changes things a little bit. Yeah. But before I'd left, Leith had said to me, you know, you probably should get yourself organized. And I had said to him, we don't need to worry, someone will come and tell us what to do. So I had complete faith in emergency services that somebody would come and either get us out or, or give us some sort of information. But nobody came. Whereas when we went through the fires, which were a distance from us, the RFS called in, said be prepared. So I was above and beyond prepared for the fires. Cars packed, houses packed, everything's organized. For this, I didn't ever take a phone charger.
John Milham (Host) · 07:38
Wow.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 07:38
Because I, I just thought somebody would come and tell me what to do. So we moved up onto the hill on the side of the road with the cars. I didn't even take a spare pair of shoes. So as soon as I put my shoes on, I've taken a step forward and stepped in water. Mm-hmm. Had wet feet for the next, God knows how long. Yeah. Yeah. So, and that was it. We, we slept in the car. As soon as the water dropped the next day, we came in and it was just awful. Yeah, it was just, yep, knee-high all the way to the house. We sort of focused on the house itself. So Leith and another bloke pulling up carpets and all this sort of stuff, and I'm walking around because, you know, you keep all your child's stuff through the schooling and all the rest of it. So it was all underneath the bed and it was all ruined. So All of that stuff that you keep from your children, for me, only child, was just destroyed. His baby book, photos, just all of those things, books, just things that meant nothing to other people.
John Milham (Host) · 08:47
Mm-hmm.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 08:48
But for me, they were just irreplaceable. That's all very upsetting. But then you've got a variety of people coming onto the property saying, what do you want us to do? And me going, I've got no clue. It's— and it's still raining. It was still raining. So we're trying to save things that you couldn't dry, you couldn't do anything with. So anyway, we stayed here for 2 weeks, and then, um, Lou said, we can't stay in the house anymore, we're homeless. And I went, oh, didn't love the idea of that. No, no. So we both borrowed, um, a camper trailer from his auntie, popped it out front. The dog's too old and fat to get up onto the bed and my back was too bad. So the dog and I camped for a couple of weeks on an air mattress on the floor of a camper trailer.
John Milham (Host) · 09:43
Wow.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 09:44
Yep. And it's bloody cold.
John Milham (Host) · 09:46
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 09:46
About 4:00 AM, really quite chilly.
John Milham (Host) · 09:49
Well, it's middle of winter in the Hunter Valley. It's not known as a tropical space at that time, is it?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 09:55
And it was a bit, it was a bit chilly. So after the first week of the flood, I actually got a stomach bug. So we, I'm camping with a stomach bug in the middle of winter, trying not to complain. No point whinging. The real estate was trying to organize me somewhere to go to get off the property. And we found a house out in the middle of nowhere. And I've just said, you know what, it's fine. And, and The real estate in the coal mine really did help us out.
John Milham (Host) · 10:23
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 10:24
After about, so we'd been in the house for 2 weeks, been in the camper trailer for 2 weeks. The house up on the hill was ready. Leith said, when you're ready to go, go. And I said, no, I'll stay with you. And then I just got too sick and I ended up going, you've gotta get me outta here. Yeah. So Leith drove me up to the house at nighttime and dropped me off up there. And it was a house on a hill in the middle of nothing. No people, no cars, nothing. So I've gone, no, we'll be fine. It's me and the dog. We'll be good. Asley's going to leave. He's bogged up to the axles in the driveway.
John Milham (Host) · 11:01
Yeah. Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 11:03
Yep. So I was supposed to be up there for 3 months, 12 weeks. Everyone said 12 weeks, you'll be fine. Mm-hmm. Couldn't take my car up there, so I went, yep, that'll be fine. Now I've not lived on my own before. 12 weeks. It went from, I moved out of here in August and I didn't move back till March.
John Milham (Host) · 11:21
Yeah. Wow.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 11:22
Yep.
John Milham (Host) · 11:23
But of course that, uh, you talk about getting sick, um, and spending 2 weeks, uh, that was a biohazard. So, you know, the, the floodwaters were not clean river water, was it?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 11:35
Oh no, no. It was, um, it was not mud. What we were playing with.
John Milham (Host) · 11:40
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 11:41
Yeah. Yeah. But we just, I had no clue of what to do. So, you know, for the old people that you, that say just clean everything up, everything, you know, give it a clean, it'll be fine. Which I think in some cases is true, but our whole septic had gone through the house.
John Milham (Host) · 11:59
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 11:59
And not just our septic, it was, you know, everything had everything downstream.
John Milham (Host) · 12:04
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 12:04
Yep. So, uh, 3 months I, I had a stomach bug for. Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 12:09
Wow.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 12:10
Once I was up on that hill, there was no coming down. So there was no going to the doctor or, you know, I got to go to the dentist.
John Milham (Host) · 12:17
Right. So that's because what the, this house was an old, um, unused, unoccupied house that was available for you to stay in and just in the bush. So you were, you know, quite rustic really.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 12:30
Oh yeah. Yep. Yep. Rats and snakes and bees and yeah, quite the adventure. Wow.
John Milham (Host) · 12:38
Amazing stuff. Of course, at the, you know, you were there 2 weeks, you know, cleaning up, you know, because you're in Workworth and just outside of the sort of area, the operational zone.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 12:52
Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 12:53
Yeah. Were you getting, you know, updated? I know people in Broke were really happy with the level of communication. But was that trickling over to you?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 13:02
No, no, it was— we just was like we didn't exist. And then all of a sudden word must have spread and then we started to get a lot of, you know, the army, the fireys, you know, a variety of people. Yeah. But it was, it was a lot to, to sort of— it was a lot to deal with that.
John Milham (Host) · 13:23
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 13:23
Because they would ask me, what do you want me to do? And I think I have got no clue. Yeah. I don't know.
John Milham (Host) · 13:30
So now you've gone through it, have you created a checklist in your mind? Right. So you've now got, you know, fire, a fire checklist. Do you have a flood checklist now?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 13:39
When it started raining again, and we are supposed to be getting a lot of rain in the next couple of days, and I know the chances of that much water again is slim. Hmm. Um, I did walk around the house yesterday and think like, what will I do? Yeah. And to be honest, I don't think I could start over again. I think I would just walk away. Wow.
John Milham (Host) · 14:03
So the— is that because of everything you lost or the work involved? What, what changed for you?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 14:09
Well, it was, it wasn't just— I found people's perception of it upset me a little bit, just in that people would go, it's just stuff, you know, everything's replaceable. But some things are not replaceable.
John Milham (Host) · 14:25
Yeah, very true.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 14:27
And, um, probably the thing that sticks in my mind the most is we had to put everything out the front for the council to come and clean up, and I happened to be home when the council came to to take that stuff away and the sound of the breaking glass.
John Milham (Host) · 14:44
Oh yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 14:45
You know, as they scooped everything up to put it in the garbage that I really stuck in my mind because it's not rubbish. That was essentially my entire life. Yeah. Wow.
John Milham (Host) · 14:57
What does that, you know, what does it feel like to, to pile up your life in front of your house?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 15:03
It, it's sickening. It's, it, it's sickening to you, you know, to the bottom of your stomach. You, you're throwing away photos because you just, you know, or, or, you know, just all those precious things that you hang on to.
John Milham (Host) · 15:20
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 15:21
You know, and for me, I'm very sentimental. So I am that person that has kept every single card that I have ever been given in my entire life. Preschool photos. You know, birthday cards and Christmas cards that your children make you. I keep all that sort of stuff, you know. Um, our little dog had passed away not long before the flood, and we'd taken— I had taken prints from my dog because we were all going to get that tattooed, and that's gone. And although that might be really small things to people and not valuable, they have no, you know, to me that was just heartbreaking. Yeah. Yep.
John Milham (Host) · 16:02
Throwing away your son's baby book that you've had for, you know, yeah, I can't imagine.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 16:07
Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 16:08
So you say, but right. And you know that obviously this experience has been defining for you beyond that, but is, oh, well, I've gotta keep going on. How do you do that?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 16:21
I, I ended up not doing that. I was here trying to help Leith, but not realizing that because he's still, he's still going to work.
John Milham (Host) · 16:34
Hmm.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 16:35
So I'm here through the day by myself, and I didn't realize that he would be worrying about how I'm feeling, how I'm going, you know. Eventually it got to that point and Leith said, and he, he meant no harm from it, it was It's not that you're useless, it's just that you're not very useful. And he was worrying about me.
John Milham (Host) · 16:54
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 16:55
So it was around then I went, you know, perhaps it is best if I go up onto the hill and, and just get out of everyone's way. So that's essentially what I did.
John Milham (Host) · 17:06
Sitting in quietly by yourself and the dog, with you and the dog on in, in, in a remote bushland location, that's kind of, you know, like not a usual response to, to going, you know, to healing and getting over this kind of dramatic event. Did it work for you?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 17:24
Initially, yes. Initially, I think I needed to get out of this situation because I was just getting more and more ill and I was, I was tired and, you know, my back hurt and all the rest of it. Um, the dog was not. Coping. She was starting to have a go at people. So it, it wasn't a good situation. It ended up being the most stunning solitary confinement that I could possibly think of. I was up there for 23 hours a day by myself. I sort of saw Leif for maybe an hour, maybe 2 hours a day, but most of that was to have a quick meal and he would have a sleep cuz he was just You know, he's still, he was still living in the, the camper trailer, trying to work as well as come up and bring me food. Yeah. So initially it worked well, but long term you forget how to interact with people after a while. Yeah. Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 18:25
Self-imposed isolation.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 18:27
Well, it was.
John Milham (Host) · 18:28
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 18:28
Yep.
John Milham (Host) · 18:29
Yeah. And how do you think you're going now as a result of that?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 18:35
I think these things change people's personality. It changed the dynamic of my marriage a little bit. Um, Leith and I have always been 50/50 decision-making. We both work— we both, we both worked. I don't work at the moment. And it sort of went from that to Leith just making the decisions on on my behalf, which some of them were really bad decisions, some of them not so bad. So coming back has been a challenge. Yeah. I'm not quite sure how I fit back into things as yet. Yeah. Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 19:22
Still in a period of transitioning back from it.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 19:25
I think so. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the problem is that it's coming up to 2 years. It'll be 2 years in July. So at what point do we go, you know, the majority of people that I speak to go, yeah, but that was nearly 2 years ago, onward and upward type thing. So I find that sort of thing difficult.
John Milham (Host) · 19:45
I can imagine.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 19:46
Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 19:47
So there's an interesting dynamic there, like, but obviously the time moves on, but many of the people are still, there are other people who are still recovering or still getting back to their feet. And it was a devast— in what was a devastating event. How do you feel about the village itself? Right. Not necessarily the people. How do you feel about the place?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 20:08
I had always just planned to stay here until, you know, we win the lotto and retire to the beach, really. Yeah. Now I'm not quite so sure.
John Milham (Host) · 20:16
Mm.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 20:17
Yep.
John Milham (Host) · 20:18
After 20-odd years, that's a big thing.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 20:21
Yeah, it is a big thing. Yep. And it's, I think the thing is when you're moving to a home and you're moving with your family, you know, you, you, you're bringing, so my son had his bedroom and all of that sort of thing. All of that's gone now. So it's, it's just different. Hmm.
John Milham (Host) · 20:42
So part of the community, the place, are the people. How do you feel about your community now?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 20:48
Well, so when we were up on the side of the road, yeah, I actually met all of my neighbors, which I had not met them previously, um, other than a wave as you drive down the road. That's the country thing. I had never really met them. We met quite a few of them would come, I want to say, come to see how we were getting on while we were on the hill. A little while after that, um, these neighbors up on the hill, they actually brought down— they came down just to see how we were. And I had no shoes, so all of my shoes were destroyed, all of my clothes were destroyed. We were— I was essentially left with the clothes on my back.
John Milham (Host) · 21:28
Wow.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 21:29
Which I'd been sleeping in for the last couple of days, and a random pair of boots that I found somewhere, uh, no shampoo or conditioner, like just all of that stuff's gone. And although they're very small things, they're still things.
John Milham (Host) · 21:44
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 21:45
So we did, the neighbors came down and she just sort of looked at me and she went back home and she came back down and she gave me some money and said, please go and buy yourself some food. And I was, I was initially mortified.
John Milham (Host) · 21:57
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 21:57
Because we're not someone, we don't ask for help. Yeah. You know, we don't take charity or, or anything like that. So it was a big thing to go, instead of saying, no, no, I'm fine. I'll just wander around in thongs. It's fine. I had to go, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Wow. And since then, the neighbors and us, we're very firm friends. You know, they, they really, really did help us out. They fed us. Basically for quite a while, you know, which was incredibly kind. But I found because there were grants available from the government, so we had to go to Bulga and, you know, walk into a, into a room where there were other people like us, but, and kept, you know, you're entitled to this money from the government sort of thing. And it was horrendous. It was just, it was, I was embarrassed and ashamed that we were in this position. Mm-hmm. And that we would need assistance from the outside. But the hoops you have to go through is you have to find them your worst blood photos. Oh dear. To show them.
John Milham (Host) · 23:12
Wow.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 23:13
So, and of course, you know, they wouldn't transfer or this wouldn't happen or that wouldn't happen. So you just going back through these photos over and over again and it's, it, it was just, it was just awful. Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 23:28
And, and so did, like at that point, right, to get that help. So you, you mentioned the mines and, you know, council and other people were coming in, you know, neighbors were good. So did you feel like the people were good but the system's not working? What, what, what's your thoughts on that?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 23:43
I think we just, I understand why they have to make it so difficult because I, I get that there are people out there who would take advantage of situations. But I also think that the people that are working in these sort of, um, Service New South Wales or whatever it is, they must have some sort of feel for the people that they're, they're literally face to face to. And I, I don't know how they would go about it, but it needs to be a better system because it, it's bad enough being there, you know, it's bad enough being there having to ask for help, let alone You know, you're just going over and over and over it again. Yeah. Yeah. And I was quite, I was a little bit bitter that nobody had come, you know, simply because if Leif hadn't been here, yeah, I would not have left. Yeah. I would've waited for someone to come and save me. So the dog and the dog and I would've been on my bed. Yeah. Wow. Because that's the highest point. Mm-hmm. And there was literally no one coming for us. Yep. So I found that really upsetting after the fact that this had, if this had happened in a different time, if Blake had been at work, mm-hmm, or if he'd been at a gig or whatever else, I would've just sat here. As silly as that sounds.
John Milham (Host) · 25:07
No, not at all. Yeah. It must play on your mind, right? Do you feel like, uh, this is something, uh, that's still around, right? You know, like you mentioned the waters coming. How do you feel about, how's that changed?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 25:22
How, you know, I must admit I am much more anxious when it rains now. I've always loved the rain.
John Milham (Host) · 25:29
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 25:30
But now there's just in the back of my mind going, because after the flood, we had a lot of people that came to the house that said, it's happened once.
John Milham (Host) · 25:38
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 25:38
Within a 5-year period, the chances are it's gonna happen again. So each time it does, this has sort of been the first, our first flood alert. So no, I have been a little bit more conscious than I normally would've been. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 25:54
So yeah, and you mentioned earlier that you were, you know, had a look around of what you're planning to do. What, what do you hope happens, you know, if you, for the community? What do you hope the community has learned?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 26:05
I think just to not forget the little people.
John Milham (Host) · 26:09
Mm-hmm.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 26:10
And it was on my behalf, it was just silly, but the alerts had come through Bulga, Broke, Singleton. Mm-hmm. So for some reason I've gone, Walworth wasn't named, we must be fine. Yeah. It's such a silly attitude to take, but it is what it is. And with the flood alerts that are on now, it's still the same, right? So in my mind, I'm going, eh, it'll be fine.
John Milham (Host) · 26:36
Can I, can I just offer that? Don't eat, you know, if it, if it, uh, you know, Bulgas, uh, you know, gets alert, just believe it's you too.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 26:44
I, I have taken that on. I'm, I have. Yes. Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 26:48
Excellent. Hey, um, what do you hope comes out of all of this experience that you've had? What have you learned?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 26:55
Do you mean for myself?
John Milham (Host) · 26:56
Yeah. What about, what do you now know about you?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 27:00
I am stronger than I thought. Not physically, just mentally. Mm-hmm. Um, I am absolutely petrified of snakes. Mm-hmm. That was a new thing. I'm a country girl, so I've always done that. Eh, snakes are more scared than of you than you are of them.
John Milham (Host) · 27:19
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 27:20
In Browns that I've had up there, there is no one more scared than me. Wow. That's one. I learned that you've gotta have a buddy.
John Milham (Host) · 27:32
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 27:33
Yeah. And you've gotta, you've gotta keep that buddy close cuz you can't do it by yourself.
John Milham (Host) · 27:40
So true. Who's your buddy?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 27:43
Well, like, I think Leif and I worked that out separately, is that as much use as we are on our own, together we can, we'll make it. Excellent. Beautiful.
John Milham (Host) · 27:59
What do you know about Leith now?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 28:01
Um, that he doesn't bloody listen when somebody tells him to slow down and just chill out. That he just loves and adores me and the dog. And the amount of times that I would say to him, don't drive up here after work, it's late, it's raining, you're tired, we're fine. And he would still bloody show up. Mm-hmm. In that ute, put wood, food, water into a wheelbarrow. Mm-hmm. And wheelbarrow that up to me through the mud just so that we could light the fire and have something to eat. I think I admire Ray. Beautiful.
John Milham (Host) · 28:47
How do you see, assuming that the water doesn't go, uh, come anywhere near you today, um, how do you see the future playing out for you in, and maybe the future for the area as well?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 29:00
I don't know. I think, I think it's always going to be in the back of our minds that this could happen again.
John Milham (Host) · 29:07
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 29:08
And that this time it could be worse. But at the same time, I think of people who have been in the Lismore floods and the Mount— you know, that were up to that, you know, that was, that was worse than our situation. But I think loss is loss. And I sure is. Yeah. I think the one thing I have learned is that everyone's perception of what you should do or what they would do are different to what actually happens. Yep. You can go into it with the best plan in the world, but we all know how the best laid plans in life work.
John Milham (Host) · 29:49
And certainly you've had, um, quite a number of, you know, opportunities to test that.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 29:56
So, yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 29:57
Um, looking at that whole process, uh, experience, you know, fires, then floods. And of course the devastating impact that this event has had on you. What's— it might be a strange question, but what, what's, what's something good about it? What's the best thing that's happened as a result?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 30:17
We've made some lifelong friends out of it. I think if a natural disaster can't destroy a perfectly good marriage, then I don't think anything can.
John Milham (Host) · 30:29
That's great.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 30:31
And I think that sometimes you're stronger than what you know.
John Milham (Host) · 30:36
Yeah.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 30:36
Even if you're feeling weak and useless at the time, you're still bringing something to the party, even if it's just something small.
John Milham (Host) · 30:46
And maybe, uh, you know, just thinking that, um, it's been a wonderful chat and you've offered so much open sharing and emotion. So thank you. I just wondered what, what's your favorite things now to do?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 31:01
I've always worked, so the last few years I've not been working, so my days are quite long. Yeah. I am incredibly grateful for my big buffhead dog who has literally not left my side since we stepped off into the flipping water.
John Milham (Host) · 31:17
Wow.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 31:18
Um, and just like, he was just incredible and continues to be. That is what I'd be grateful for.
John Milham (Host) · 31:27
That's awesome. Thank you, Corinna. Is there anything you'd like to tell the world as a result of you traveling this journey?
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 31:34
Stick with your people. They will, they're, they're the ones that will look after you, even if they're idiots at the time, they will still look after you. Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 31:45
Stick with your favorite idiots.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 31:47
Yeah. That's exactly right. Yep.
John Milham (Host) · 31:49
That's beautiful. Hey, Corina, thank you so much. It's been really wonderful to talk to you and I just wanna acknowledge what you've gone through is amazing and I understand that, that will, you know, you still have those thoughts and I think you're very inspiring. So thank you for sharing that story and all the best with any water that's headed your way.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 32:18
Oh, look, I'll be heading straight up the hill. It's fine.
John Milham (Host) · 32:20
Yeah, you and the King Browns and the dog.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 32:23
Yeah. Yes, pretty much. Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 32:26
So fabulous. Thank you very much and all the best, and we'll talk soon. Cheers.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 32:30
Great. Thanks so much.
John Milham (Host) · 32:37
Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Beyond the Deluge about the 2022 floods in Broke and the Hunter Valley. If anything in this conversation has had a triggering effect, please seek support and find someone who can help keep you safe. Please share the show to your friends, family, and colleagues so we can help more people with their recovery from natural disaster. If you'd like to find out more about Kintsugi Heroes and our other podcasts, please head to kintsugiheroes.com.au. Our theme song was provided by Colin Lilly. Thanks Thanks to Matthew Bliss for editing and production, and to John Millum for hosting the conversations. And most of all, thank you to the community of Broke and the Hunter Valley for sharing their lived experience with us. We'll see you next week in Beyond the Deluge.
Carina Moonen (Guest) · 33:29
Only when it's broken. Only when it's broken. When it hits you in the middle of the night and the truth burns so bright, only when it's broken, only when it's broken. Take pride in those cries, it's only for tonight, and then you rise. Only when you're broken. Only when you're broken. Only when you're broken.
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