Wet and wild

Looking out the windows of the Penghana B&B where we stayed in Queenstown on Tuesday night, we saw a spectacular storm, the first real cracker of a storm we've seen in Tasmania. Thunder, lightning, high winds and rain pelting against the windows. Then the lights went out. I fished my hiking head torch out of my bag and the owner showed up with an extra torch for us. We were in bed not long after 8.30pm! The power came on again some three hours later. The drive home from the west coast yesterday morning was wet and windy. There were many trees down along the Lyell Highway and leaves, sticks and rocks everywhere. When we arrived home, it looked like our place had escaped damage, but later I spotted a patch of sky where there had been none before - a large wattle has come down.

We are lucky. It's very little damage compared to people in other parts of the state, especially in the Burnie area where we were this time last week. It's still pouring. Our 40,000 litre water tank is overflowing not just from the lower overflow pipe, but back out the top as well. And snow is forecast for tonight. The weather is always guaranteed to be entertaining in Tasmania.