SYDNEY -- First a devastating drought grips the nation. Now bush fires have begun burning down houses. And the real sting of summer is still months away.
A cruel summer could quickly put paid to the world-beating performance of the national economy. Much as we pride ourselves on being a high-tech, sophisticated economy, Australia still clings to its historic dependence on land-based exports from farming and mining. And right now farms and mines are in the grip of water shortages.
Each morning a water tanker rolls into Coolabah -- the first country town to run out of water -- to refill the town's dried-out water system. Soon a lot more tankers will be shuttling across the drought zone to truck in supplies from the nearest dams that still have water.