Mother Nature's Fury

Mother Nature let us know that she is not happy again on the Australia Day long weekend....she has been giving us fair warning all year. It started to rain...and rain....and rain. The first night we heard the rain on the roof as we were falling asleep it was bliss, a respite from the horrid heat we have been having. About 2 am I woke up in a cold sweat, I thought SE QLD was flooding again. Silly right, 2011 it had rained for months before the cyclone triggered the floods - it couldn't happen again. Well it did, towns have been evacuated, sand bags were filled, houses and business were flooded for the 2nd or 3rd times in 2 years. It was heartbreaking. 

Ex Tropical Cyclone Oswald was nasty as he traveled down the east coast of Australia, tornadoes ripped through towns destroying everything in their path. My friends in Burrum Heads had this misfortune of being in the firing line, a house a few doors down from them was lifted and landed on their garage. I know she wont mind that I share her photos. The lovely little town where I spent a wonderful weekend with friends whale watching and photographing was destroyed by a tornado, old beach houses damaged beyond repair, caravans blown apart....lucky no-one was killed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rqqzy/sets/72157632647034942/

I remember as a child being in Cyclone Anthea when living in Townsville, I was about 8, we waited out the cyclone in the bathtub with a mattress over us. At the time it was scary and exciting at the same time. As a child you don't understand the terror the adults are feeling. I know better now and I appreciate how my parents sheltered us from the damage and the grief. 

10 years ago a tornado ripped through Glass House Mountains, I understand the terror RQQZY went through, although there was no damage to us 10 years ago, we lost trees and the house 2 doors down had a huge gum tree through their roof. The noise of the wind and the tree screaming as they break and fly around is something you can't imagine unless you have heard it. 

Sunday night the wind was a bad as I have heard it in 10 years, after hearing the reports from Burrum Heads and the other 5 tornado's leaving a trail of destruction  I did not sleep well. I expected to get up to a similar sight of carnage in my little town. Luckily we where spared, a lot of trees came down and there was leaf litter all over town.  

Then the power went out, we have had blackouts before, they happen all the time, we can cope for a few hours with out power....it is 8 am, still 12 hours before dark. The girls were great, they got out board games and cards and played all day. We planned a BBQ dinner and set up some candles. When the power was still out the next morning I called Energex for an update, 'yes we are aware of a power outage in your area it will be restored as soon as possible'. My phone is running out of charge, the 3G internet is no longer working, I am relying on text messages to keep me up with the events of the floods and storms. We went to town to get some more ice and were surprised that the shops had power, we asked when it had been restored to the town, we were told it had never gone out....it was only our little pocket of streets. 

52 hours without electricity, enough to drive you crazy. The girls were missing their computers, HWMBO was missing the mindless TV he watches to unwind. I was missing out on my new work station. For months I have been begging for a place to work and call my own, I was sick of setting up on the kitchen table only to have to pack up every time we wanted a meal, so I got my office space....I edited one photo before the power went off.

I am so pleased to have electricity again. I take it for granted most of the time but I love that I can.

I don't have many photos to edit as I haven't taken many with the weather being crap and my health being worse.

This is Daughter #3 after helping HWMBO move anything that could be problem in the wind. She is very happy to get wet so it was had to get her to pose and look longingly out the window. I need to get at least one photo over the weekend for my 52 week challenge.

Week 4

My Big Day Out

For those who do not know what the The Big Day Out is, it is an annual music festival  held late January around Australia and New Zealand, there is usually 1 headline act with a few well know bands and a lot of alternative bands. 
http://goldcoast.bigdayout.com/ 

This years headline act is the Red Hot Chili Peppers.....I am a huge fan and have been for years, I listen to the music, read the books, follow the blogs and often Google for random information. 

I have never had the opportunity to see them live in concert, when I missed the tour in 2007. I decided 'next time nothing was going to stop me'. So this old lady went to BDO with Daughter #1. HWMBO would have hated it.

It has been a hundred years (ok 25) since I have been to big festival and this was a festival on steroids, 40 000 people, most of them aged between 17 - 25  wearing as little a possible, shorts so short they could have been underwear, bikini tops and singlets for the girls. The boys preferred either no shirt or ripped singlets.

There was a cacophony of sounds to assault the ears when we entered the grounds, rap music, techno, alternative music and some mainstream. There was beautiful food smells making the choice for lunch difficult. Everything for deep fried carnival food to gourmet tapas and burgers. Bars were plenty full and water was free, we munched our way around the stages and market stalls enjoying the atmosphere, watching the people and enjoying the random water cannons cooling us down.

4 hours before The Red Hot Chili Peppers were due to start we went to suss out the stage....a crowd was already starting to form so we found a spot and decided to stay, our water bottles were full, the ground was the perfect place to sit. I suffered though a few bands I have never heard of....2 that I would prefer never to hear again. 

The crowd is building and space is getting limited. I gave up stopping people from pushing in and went with the flow. 2 hours before kick off there was a surge of people all wanting to be at the front. I was pushed, shoved, trod and and generally just smooshed. Daughter #1 and I held on to each other and supported ourselves on the guys closest to us. *** thanks to the surfer dude and his mates who kept us on our feet and let me keep a death grip on his arm*** once I realized there was no way I could fall because there was bodies pressed on all sides of me, I planted my feet and went with the flow.


The Killers played before RHCP, surprising me by how much I knew and how much I liked them. The had an amazing light show, glitter cannons and fireworks at the end, I was a little distracted during The Killers set watching the stage being set for the MAIN EVENT, I love watching the riggers climb the ladders to reset the lights, then 12 crew shimmied up for the follow spots. I was getting so excited I felt like a 12 year old waiting to see Justin Beiber.

I expected another crush of people before RHCP started and was surprised when it didn't happen...although I don't think anyone could have moved if they tried we were that jam packed.


The crowd went wild when the band came on stage and to my amazement there was room to breath, it was like a massive sigh and everyone relaxed and tension left the mosh pit. I had room to jump and wave my hands in the air. I sang on the top of my voice, screamed at the top of my lungs and behaved like the 12 year old in me. This is what I waited 4 hours for (and most of my life), it was soooooo worth it.


I had a point and shoot camera with a battery going flat....I am super pleased with the photos I got.

count the heads in front of me.....sooooo close

The experience was incredible, I can honestly say I will never go to The Big Day Out again.....I will never go into another mosh pit again.....but given the chance to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers again live. I am there with bells on.


Being in the right place at the right time, I managed to get a copy of the play list. Hand written by Anthony Kiedis.

After a 2 hour trip home, I was so ready for a shower, my sense of smell had come back and I stank. When washing my feet it took me a while to understand that the stubborn dirt was not dirt at all, it was bruising....

Anniversary

This week marks 23 years together with Hubby, we came together 3 January after year of being 'just' friends. Today he is still my friend but also my lover, my husband, the father of my children and my rock.

April 1990 I moved to Melbourne to be with him, leaving my family and friends in Queensland, 3 months after moving to freezing cold Victoria we had tickets for the theater to see Les Miserables, this was the most amazing stage performance I had seen (still is). HWMBO had booked a hotel room in the city and had arranged for  dinner to be served when we arrived. Over casual dinner conversation when talking about visiting my family for a holiday he said he would prefer to go on a honeymoon rather than a trip to my parents. This was his way of asking me to marry him. I think I cried for hours. (possibly only minutes) I had been in hospital the week leading up to our theater date, I had tried a new face cream with nasty results - big red blotches, I was also not in the most romantic of moods and looked like shit yet he still wanted to be with me for the rest of his life. 

We have never had the chance to see Les Miserables live again for a 'do over' so this year as we celebrated our 23 anniversary by seeing the movie. OMG this was the most amazing movie, I was expecting good things as there had been no bad reviews. What I didn't expect was how amazing it would be. I have never been to the cinema when there has been total silence, there was no rustling of chip packets, no soft talking, no coughing, no phones - followed by choruses of 'turn it off' only the soft sniffles and occasional nose blowing. The most amazing thing about the quiet was the group a teenage boys sitting in the row in front of us never moved or fidgeted. They were as engrossed as the rest of the audience. You know it is a good movie when applause breaks out at the end. It was a 4 tissue movie for me and I knew the story. I am looking forward to going again.

I heard a review of the movie on morning television, I will take some creative license with my retelling as I was getting ready for work when I heard it.

A friend took me to see a foreign film, something miserable,(not a good way to sell me on it). They must have been giving the tickets away, coz there was a huge line up. I was surprised to see Wolverine singing in the first scene too Gladiator! Then Cat woman did something and had to get her hair cut off. Wolverine spent the whole movie being chased by Gladiator (while singing). Borat and the witch from Harry Potter were annoying Wolverine and the brat from the Abba movie (the one that proved Piers Bronson couldn't and shouldn't sing). It finished with a huge fight, a happy ever after and more singing.

I hope the movie wins the awards it is nominated for, I loved it.

This is a picture I found on the web, a copy of the illustration used for promotion.