I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. We had what felt like a whirlwind trip back to Melbourne. The three weeks we had there, went so quickly and were very busy. But good busy, catching up with friends and family, celebrating Christmas and enjoying some of the food we have missed. I think I have come home to Hong Kong for a break.
Our Christmas day was certainly one we will not forget in a long time. We were driving home from my Grandma's house, and got caught in the crazy hail storm that swept through the Northern suburbs of Melbourne. Driving in the hail storm was quite terrifying. We had to take a detour on the way home, as some roads were flooded. The noise the large hail stones made on the roof of my mum's car was booming. With some stroke of luck, there was no damage to her car. I really don't know how that happened. My brothers car and some friends cars were not so lucky. This was the scene we had to drive through, with the huge hail stones everywhere and the mist rising off the road, as the temperature before the storm hit had been quite warm (28C I believe). It looked like snow on the road. It was so slippy and crunchy to drive over.
We were dressed for summer and this was what greeted me when I got out of the car (when we finally made it back to my mum and step-dad's house)
This was the hail piled up on their front steps. So much hail. Such huge hail stones!
This is one hail stone in my hand. Huge.
I had to go and put on some more appropriate footwear.
The back garden was covered in hail stones and tree debris. The smell was amazing with all the eucalyptus trees that had lost leaves and small branches. The funny thing is, Zoe slept through all of this in the car. She was still asleep, in the car, in the garage as we cleaned up the front steps and I took more photos.
After all hail and more rain, would you believe it, there was a rainbow. We were on the front porch, watching the flood waters in the creek over the road rise. Very grateful we were up a steep hill.
An hour or so later, part two of the storm hit. There was a lot more rain, by then it was dark and we were happy to be inside, nice and dry. And safe.
So Christmas day 2011 is one we shall not forget in a long time.
Cat
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