So when Cyclone Oswald chilled out a bit and headed south-east, he headed straight to us.
Fortunately we were in Brisbane for some business and were staying in a hotel that had no leaky roof, plenty of electricity and a wonderful view of the goings-on. I’ve never had very good timing in my life, but we did well this time!
It was so, so grey. Well, brown. Brisbane looks brown when it rains and storms and floods. You can see the Brisbane River there getting ready to break its banks a little, and the palm trees whipped soundly by the unbelievable wind. I remember talking to someone saying “what wind? I hardly notice it”, to that night wondering if the windows of our 22nd storey room were going to implode.
My kids did pretty well in an unfamiliar place with minimal toys without going batshit crazy being cooped up inside. I took Abby to the Lifeline Bookfest for an hour and she was well chuffed with the helium balloon she got there. Pepper unfortunately didn’t enjoy so much being left at home, she hasn’t really got the hang of a bottle and missed her mum. I give good lunch!
She also got to meet her uncle for the first time. She was just delighted with him. I think the feeling was mutual.
Meanwhile, let’s talk about the Bookfest for just a second! It is seriously the best place to stock up. I don’t often get to go to the op shops anymore, too many kids, not pram-friendly for Abby. But here, all the books from every op shop in the land is there for me to pick and choose and take home for our very own! Last year was ridiculous, I went twice in one day, got about 60 books and paid peanuts. This year I was in a hurry but still managed to scoop 30+ books for the princely sum of $16. You could go crazy there, I didn’t even get out of the children’s section. I had some strict rules about what I could get and what had to be ignored… I’d still be on the first row now if I wasn’t so ruthless. Gosh this pile of books makes me happy… and that’s not even all of them.
So eventually we had to go home, struggling at times to keep the car on the highway in the vicious wind. It really did a number on us, and as we drove down our street we could see people’s fences knocked over, trees on houses, branches and debris everywhere.
This tree in Nikki’s yard went over, taking our fence with it. The roots broke through the ground and half the tree was in our yard. We were seriously lucky this was the worst of our damage. So many people were not so fortunate.
The ocean got pretty crazily foamed up with the weather, and it spilled out over the beach, the surf club and the double-lane main road through Alexandra Headland. I rode my bike down to see it the next day and it was still a nightmare. The road was blocked off and everything was filthy. Including the kids frolicking in the foam!
Hi mum!
Three billion lives ended on August 29th, 1997.
The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war “Judgement Day”.
They lived only to face a new nightmare, the war against the Machines.
I probably watched Terminator 2 a few too many times in my youth. You know, Edward Furlong and all that…
Did Oswald visit you too?
sarah says
January 31, 2013 at 5:53 amwe had Oswald come to visit down here, but had plenty of warning. Lot’s of wind and rain, but very little damage. Such crazy times, so sad for the people fronting up to clean the silt from their homes again. :)sarah
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:26 pmOh it breaks your heart, doesn’t it? Absolutely awful for those poor people losing all the stuff they just replaced!
Eva Iezzi says
January 31, 2013 at 6:41 amOswald is my new enemy, because he kept me from coming to you and Abby at the book fest on Sunday! The end of our street flooded (local creek) up to 2 doors away from us, but we’re up hill, so it was never going to get to us. A few banana trees in our yard fell down, but they’re basically made of paper, so no surprise. We were lucky enough not to lose power though!
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:25 pmYes, very lucky! My friend had a creek like that flood his place in 2011… not cool. And yeah thanks a lot Oswald! We drove from underground carpark to underground carpark, never got a drop of rain on us haha
Natalie Stewart says
January 31, 2013 at 7:07 amWe were just talking about T2 last night (spooky). Edward furlong was my teenage crush for soooo long. So very glad that you came through all this crazy weather relatively unscathed!
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:24 pmI wrote about him endlessly in my diary. And had so many posters on my wall. Sigh!
Reannon Hope says
January 31, 2013 at 8:23 amGlad to hear everything was ok for you guys. The news coverage was pretty non stop, even here in WA! I had to marvel at what a strange country we live in. While you guys battled storms, floods & crazy wind Perth was 35degrees, hot, dry & blue sky….it’s like we aren’t even the same country!
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:24 pmOh the rolling coverage definitely got a bit much at times! I get all my news from twitter anyway 😉
Seana Smith says
January 31, 2013 at 11:17 amI braved some serious surf in The Big Swim last Sunday, the tail end I was told. Those foam shots are amazing, my kids would have loved that. But terrible damage, we’ve been watching on the news from Sydney. Hope that no more wild weather is coming.
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:23 pmI hear there’s more wet weather this weekend, but not cyclonic, thank goodness! I’m terrified of the ocean on a good day, you wouldn’t catch me in big surf! But the foam was pretty crazy, and I got it after it had spent half a day receding.
Sharon Alger says
January 31, 2013 at 11:22 amI need to find a good op shop like that for books around here:) There is a good church op shop here, but I’ve only gone in to make enquiries so far, I haven’t had time to check out their books. Nice haul!
So glad you guys mananged to stay safe
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:23 pmYes I wish all the opshops had this many books! I have a favourite a little while away, but always joke I’m going to check out the Noosa ones to see what the rich people throw away 😉
carmen@musingnmayhem says
January 31, 2013 at 11:31 amWell yes he did… I blogged it on Tuesday. 😉 Glad you fared okay!
The bookfest was fun… we were there twice. *sighI
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:22 pmI would have gone twice if I could! silly weather.
Kelley @ magnetoboldtoo says
January 31, 2013 at 11:33 amTotally looks like the foam stuff they used to fill club dance floors with and people would piss in it and skanky girls would ‘lose’ their clothes in. Probably smells the same… Ewwww.
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:21 pmSomeone did say it smelled like anus. (can’t wait for the search terms on that SEO). I went to a foam party once, it just looked like they were shampooing the carpet. LAME.
Miriam@PetitArmoir says
January 31, 2013 at 11:49 amVery glad to see you guys are all OK. We’ve had the total opposite to you down here. Hot, dry and smokey with bush fires. Definitely a typical Aussie summer! We’re due for storms tonight and through to Sunday. My grass and veggie patch is looking very sad so I’ll welcome the rain!
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:20 pmOhh I love summer rain (not quite as much as Belinda Carlisle does, but I try!), it breaks up that hot monotony and the gardens love it x
Mother Down Under says
January 31, 2013 at 11:50 amThe Lifeline book sale is amazing.
I didn’t make it this year but my usual m.o. is just to bring a granny shopping cart and shovel as many books as I can in there and then sort through them when I get home!
And have you seen that video of the car driving through the foam?
Idiots.
I can’t believe the police didn’t at least ticket them!
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:20 pmOh how crazy is it! I was thinking of adding it to the post but got lazy. Imagine that! What if he’d hit them?!!
Lisa Mckenzie says
January 31, 2013 at 1:00 pmCrazy cool pics Stacey the foam one is amazing,but I am so glad the only thing that happened to you was that Nikki’s tree fell down and broke the fence,a lot of people were not so lucky,we live in a crazy country don’t we ,Bushfires one day and floods the next,My nephew and his wife and 3 little kids lost their home in the fires so sad ,they walked away with nothing,I don’t know how people deal with that,I can’t get my head around it.Cyclone Owswald did not visit us in Sydney but we had heaps of rain ,wind and the pool overflowed,nothing compared to up your way ,no power etc .I feel very lucky to live where we do.
Love your books that is one thing I cannot get enough of books,I love them all sorts and have even kept the kids faves for when they have children.
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:19 pmThat’s what I’m doing for my girls! I have kept some from my own childhood, and some that were my father’s. I love books, I can’t bear to be without them. I feel so much for your nephew and his family, it would be awful to lose a family home 🙁
SarahMac says
January 31, 2013 at 2:10 pmCool foam piccies! Oswald did indeed visit us and took out a tree but the tree didn’t do any damage. Such freaking crazy freaky freak out weather. I haven’t been to Lifeline bookfest in gazillion years, your haul is enviable. Next year I must try and remember!!!
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:18 pmI feel deflated and angry when I don’t go! To think of all the books I missed… wah!
Christie Connelly says
January 31, 2013 at 2:46 pmCool view from the hotel!! The wild winds were very scary, but we fared pretty well. Only damage was flooded lawns, palm fronds all over the garden and a flooded baby sandpit. Oh, and some water under the front door. Not bad at all. My poor inlaws lost two computers and the phone system in their office, plus their TV at home due to leaks.
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:18 pmOh that’s terrible! I was a bit worried about leaks, but we seem to have come through unscathed. Though we did leave the bathroom window open… not a good move! I hope your inlaws have good insurance 🙂
casey @ campfirecraft says
January 31, 2013 at 6:40 pmWow. What amazing pictures. No visit from Oswald. Lots of crazy bushfires down here in Victoria. Mother Nature appears to be quite angry at the moment. Those books look incredible!
Veggie Mama says
January 31, 2013 at 8:17 pmOh they are! I sat down and looked through them quickly, but I can’t wait to read them to the girls. I have been hearing about the bushfires, they looked brutal. They would have benefited from all the rain we got!
Lisa @ Greek Vegetarian says
January 31, 2013 at 8:52 pmIt’s been so dry here in Melbourne, no rain since last year. But today. Oh today. The heavens have opened up. It’s not the torrential downpour that you had up there but certainly what our gardens needed! Hopefully my lawn that looks like someone’s just dumped a truckload of toothpicks on to will start to sprout green again soon.
Love that first photo of the rain streaming down your hotel window.
Veggie Mama says
February 4, 2013 at 10:40 amMy garden loved the weather, but I had to remove my cucumbers, they were getting a bit too excited! I left them just nearing maturity, come back two days later and they were the size of baseball bats.
Lynda Rennick says
February 1, 2013 at 6:21 pmOstwald visited us too, we were pretty lucky with only being left with lots of water and some knocked over fences. I blogged about it here – http://homelealass.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/its-just-nice-to-be-at-home/
Veggie Mama says
February 4, 2013 at 10:39 amGoodness me, your grass is so green! And I’m a homebody too…
Polly says
February 2, 2013 at 11:45 amWow that foam
Veggie Mama says
February 4, 2013 at 10:41 amIt was sooo gross!
Alana says
February 2, 2013 at 4:36 pmGlad you and your family are safe and ok. It sure was a wild weekend.
Veggie Mama says
February 4, 2013 at 10:41 amIt certainly was, but I still managed to sneak out for a burrito… priorities.
Katie says
February 3, 2013 at 10:00 pmSo glad you, your family and your home stayed safe! And quite glad Reubs and I no longer live in the little shack we used to rent in Maroochydore. I’m 99% that would have blown away in a serious cyclone… Ha! xx
Veggie Mama says
February 4, 2013 at 10:41 amHa my mum was positive her house was going to blow away! She lives in Flaxton, right on the hill… no windbreak to stop her from zipping off into Oz!