Tamika Tilbrooke emerges from a diner by the side of the Bruce Highway beneath a pair of sodden and forlorn mango trees, holding a litre of Coca-Cola and two plastic cups. One is for her husband, Bobby, still working hard on their Bluewater home, a few kilometres up the creek that gives this outer suburb north of Townsville its name.
Tamika bought the cups and the soft drink because the house no longer has running water or kitchenware fit for use. And the young couple are thirsty. They’ve spent the day wading through the muck and detritus inside that home, their first, which they proudly bought together two years ago and in which – until a few days ago – they were happily raising their two children: Mia, 12, and seven-year-old Jaxson.
