Tour of Waters

You will know from my description of la niña heaven that I love water. Here – in no particular order – are five of my favourite inland freshwater bodies, that appear after rain:

1. The railway crossing lake. Three days of constant rain sees an area five metres squared underwater. It cuts off the track so that people who want to remain dry-footed (why they would, I’ll never understand) have to divert through the trees, or leap more than a metre to the next patch of dry land – hazardous, they say, when it’s muddy underfoot and the dog on the other end of the lead is prone to chasing the next slipstream of water in another direction. Five days of constant rain sees an even larger area on the other side of the track underwater. This is delicious as the reeds tickle my feet and are just wonderful to leap through. Seven days of constant rain and these two mini-lakes become one – glorious!
2. The tailings dam. There is a sign in this one that says the water is not safe to swim in. After all, it’s the hole in the earth left from the mine tailings, after the gold has been extracted out of the quartz with cyanide. This hasn’t happened for well over fifty years, but cyanide is poisonous, no matter how old it. Not that the cyanide was directly used on this very spot … but this is where it leached to, through the earth. I’m allowed to swim in this dam when the water is so high that the sign is covered, because then there’s a lot of fresh water in it. Straight off the bank I’m in deep water, and I swim and swim and swim, back and forth, back and forth, until I’m quite tired! Sometimes there are ducks on the surface, but they are too quick for me. This dam provides a welcome dip when it’s super-hot.
3. The pool and spa. There is a small dip in the land alongside the track that leads to the cemetery. This is not a large pool, but it’s large enough for me to swim in and turn around. The shape of it has a small spot next to a larger spot, like a spa next to a pool. It’s such fun to run up the steep banks, then turn and plunge into the water below. I pat the water with my paws, prancing as I go. Delicious!
4. The whirlpool. This one varies a lot in size, depending on the amount of rain. At its best it’s around twenty metres squared – approachable from two directions – and deep enough for me to go swimming round and round and round, creating a whirlpool on its surface so that I end up swimming into the bubbles I have created from the last five times around. For some reason this one gets lots of slime in it, pretty quickly, so sometimes I’m not allowed to play in it and just have to walk past.
5. The drain. I can’t go past this one, which is directly outside my house. The drains in this town are steep and deep, so quickly form a deep trough like the ones used to watertrain horses. Narrow and long, it’s perfect for a sprint from end to end, and the best of all is that it’s available right outside my gate! So I can take a quick dip there without having to walk for a long time to get there! I have to admit, this one has limitations: as quickly as it fills, it drains, so it’s not there for long.

I hope you enjoyed my tour of waters. Let me know about your favourite waters!