Dry as a pommie's towel

It's so torrid in parts of Australia that one commercial beekeeping association is closing down and a beekeeper has had to move 650 colonies into another state to ensure they have enough pollen.

John Ferguson says just 82 millimetres fell at Thargomindah (SW Queensland) last year - one of the four lowest rainfall years since 1879.

“We moved our bees away last July down into NSW into the Parkes area,” he said.

“They're still down there, they'll be stopping down there until it rains and we can bring them home and it makes it pretty hard.”

Meanwhile the Northern Territory Beekeeper's Association says it cannot continue “After the poorest season in memory involving floods, termites, cane toads and a depressed honey market”.

My blog title -- Dry as a pommie's towel -- for those who don't know refers to Brits' reluctance to shower when in Australia.