The prayers of graziers in Queensland's central-west have been answered after the region received its biggest drenching in more than 10 years.
Unforgiving dry weather and an absent wet season meant things were getting dire for cattle farmers who had started selling off stock to cope.
Now, record-breaking rainfall has filled rivers and dams, bringing sweet relief to the drought-stricken area.
Between 50mm to 100mm fell across the Hughenden and Richmond region overnight, with Hughenden picking up 107mm, the heaviest rainfall recorded there since February 2009.
"We are just over the moon. It's absolutely terrific," said grazier Corbett Tritton, from Silver Hills north of Richmond, who recorded 59mm.
"It's a beautiful, steady rain. Our country has been so dry, you don't want one big hit which causes those devastating floods."
Richmond grazier Rob Ievers said the steady nature of the rain meant it was soaking into the soil, not running off as can happen with big downpours.
Eleventh-hour bailout
The wet weather has provided relief for most farmers at the eleventh hour.
Mr Ievers was looking at selling his entire herd at Winchester Station this month.
"Things were getting very dire. Had it not rained by the end of this month we would have had to sell our entire stock."
Kerry Davison from Nocoleche, south of Hughenden, said she was starting to give up hope after recent storm cells didn't deliver.
"Our last fall, we only got 3mm, and I was feeling a bit ripped off. Looking at those dark clouds yesterday, I thought to myself, 'Come on, Hughie, deliver this to us'. And he sure did."
Deputy Mayor of Flinders Shire Council Clancy Middleton said the dry was driving farmers into desperation.
"At this time of the year, when you're nearly to the end of January, and you still haven't had any rain, you start to get nervous," he said.
"I was talking to a bloke out in Richmond this morning, he got two and a half inches, and that's the first decent fall he's had in years.
Now that the tide has turned, Mr Ievers said there would be no need to sell off his herd.
Meteorologist Helen Kirkup from the Bureau of Meteorology predicted the wet weather would continue.
"We are starting to see a real establishment of the monsoon through northern Australia, so I think we are going to see continued rainfall for a few days, and then we do think it will start easing off towards the end of the week," she said.
