Over the last two weeks the East Coast of Australia has experienced two 'lows' which in more tropical areas would be known as category 2 cyclones!
These '100 year storms' have caused widespread destruction and even resulted in more than 12 deaths.
We were here at the farm when the storm first hit and though we knew it was meant to rain for a few days, were quite unprepared for the extent of the weather that occurred! Lashings of rain, booms of thunder, flashes of lightning and wind screaming and howling like a band of banshees. The power was out pretty quick and over the following week the 'gennie' became our best friend. Not all were so lucky. People read by candlelight and cooked on cooking stoves on their defunct electrical cooktops. No TV or charge for all their various devices forced people into playing cards or board games and huddling together to share the light of their battery powered lantern. The northern beaches completely sold out of candles and batteries within three days and in fact several suburbs shut down completely. People ran out of food, and flooded roadways or fallen trees prevented many from leaving to get more. Houses were full of water, some had huge trees through them and a friend of ours had their roof cave in due to an uncontrollable leak.
It was intense.
We watched as the water rose in our front paddock and the tension rose with the tide, but luckily our home and property sustained no serious damage.
There was lots to be done. The boys donned their wetsuits and along with Opa John moved the tinnie to higher ground to prevent it washing away. We had to tie everything else down and make sure the animals were OK. There was a huge eucalyptus to remove from across our driveway and several black wattles which had just blown over. Kind of exciting to be honest...
When the worst was passed it was time to clean up and of course have a bit of fun with it all...including riding the Rapids in the river and canoeing back through the paddock!
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