Well what a week! The weather warnings were spot on when the predicted gale force winds for Tuesday night. We went outside with the dogs about eight and couldn't stay standing up then...about an hour later the power went off and as we lay in bed, Lyall was saying, "I don't think our roof will stay on." The noises around us were amazing!

About eleven thirty I could hear that sound of flying metal...I looked out a back window to see something flying up and down on our garage roof - I assumed it was the roof, but it turned out to be the flashing instead (much easier to replace :-) The morning arrived fine and fairly calm. There was quite a bit of stuff around the place from who knows where. I pinched Donna's car to head off to work because I couldn't get mine from the garage (yep, I know you can pull electronic door open, but you have to be fairly tall and strong to do that over the top of a 4wd!). As I drove down our road I could not believe my eyes. There were trees everywhere. Whole plantations of trees had just fallen over. We knew there were chickens under one lot of pines - poor chickens didn't survive that onslaught. We have friends who have lost stock - cattle, sheep and in one case a stag. How lucky we are that all ours and our neighbours were fine. Driving to work, I wondered if I should turn back - but with no power, no phone, no cellphone, no interet (the cellphone tower was damaged) I couldn't let anyone know anyway. Up on people's lawns, down driveways, across the odd paddock and to work I went. We shared our storm stories :-) The day was one of thunderstorms followed by sun - a great day for learning about the weather. Home I went, they'd managed to clear a path through the worst lot of trees, so not too much cross country driving to get home. I feel for the people whose retirement money was tied up in these trees. I know of a family whose trees were three years off being harvested and that's what they were going to retire on - a thousand trees gone, just like that. The people who had eggs in incuabators that are now lost. The calves that couldn't be fed because the farms didn't have running water. Our friends in Loburn who had a water tank come through their french doors - and their neighbour who had just brought that water tank. So for the next few days it was moving the generator from one fridge/freezer to another (two at our house, one at Donna's). Unplugging it, and putting it onto the pump (that's how we get our water/the stock get their water). Candles and torches. It's at times like these that those around you pull together. We showered at my workmates house. On Friday I arrived home to find my washing had been taken by a friend (who later returned it washed, dried and folded). Which was great, because I'd planned to head to Vicki's on Sunday to do it all :-) Families at work said to come round, have dinner, have a shower etc...Friday night the power returned, we were the lucky ones, there are still people who won't get there's on till Tuesday. Well I guess that's Spring weather for you! Have a good week.