Wet n Wild

Well this week started with some wild weather which continued throughout the week. On Monday there was the storm which claimed the bug as a casualty and this started a pattern of afternoon storms. Friday night drinks with the neighbours was also interrupted by some rain which failed to put off the hardiest if drinkers! Sunday started overcast and very humid with a trip to a car boot sale (we wanted a DVD player which would actually play DVD's Down Under! Our old UK one proved useless!)although it pretty much stayed dry the temperatures got well into the 30's without actually being able to see the sun.


Later in the afternoon news started to filter through that a storm was on its way up the coast. This is a fairly big deal in Australia with news broadcasts interrupted with warnings etc, there is even a radar on a website where you can follow the path of the storms and read the lengthy warnings advice! There were already reports of golf ball sized hail in Sydney before things started to cloud over here. We had a storm which lashed Newcastle for about 30 mins dumping heaps of rain (thankfully no hail!) combined with high winds and thunder and lightening the likes of which we have never seen or heard before. There was no damage although the wire holding one of the shade sails outside snapped in a gust...

While this was going on our neighbours who had been invited over for something to eat watched their house with some anxiety. The power then failed for three hours which was kind of ironic seeing that I had spent much of the afternoon putting the Christmas lights up outside. luckily we could still eat, good ole BBQ and we lit candles which Alfie seemed to enjoy! Outside the storm moved quickly on leaving the most calm of nights and a beautiful sunset.

We had some games of cards while we waited for the power to return...