Surf's up in Coogee

There's been one of those wild winter weather events this week along Sydney's coastal strip. It's involved 10m waves and closed beaches of course.

But surfers don't do closed beaches, at least not the intrepid ones. They were there again at Coogee.

On Wednesday there was one fewer than on Tuesday. One had gone out and gone missing. Even the Virgin Mary couldn't help. (She was famously seen here about 20 years ago.)

Above: there's nobody in the normally placid rock pool!

More stormy weather stop press: mammatus!

This afternoon Sydney experienced a rare and dramatic phenomenon: mammatus clouds. Also known as mammary clouds, because of their shape.

I'm in the habit of looking up, being a bit of an astronomer, plane spotter, and ornithologist! So I wasn't going to miss this.

There were fierce storms going on in the Blue Mountains and elsewhere, and mammatus clouds are apparently associated with stormy weather, though they don't necessarily mean it's about to come to your particular location.

Stormy weather and a demolition derby

Sydney had sunshine and blue skies today, following several days of very stormy weather.

A perfect day really for Narrabeen's family fun day demolition derby! The heavy rain had washed away the foundations of a house on a hill, and it was teetering on the edge of collapse, endangering other houses nearby.







There had been lots of media attention, and with a promised pubic demolition today, we decided it was the perfect destination for a little outing.

There were dozens of police and firies. There were camera crews from all the TV stations, seeking out the locals from within the crowd for interviews, there were media helicopters hovering overhead, and one sightseeing seaplane even diverted from its usual route for a better view.

Unfortunately we had to leave before the magic moment. They were attaching a heavy cable to it at the time, and warning people with babies and dogs about the loud noise that was to come. After we got home we were able to witness the big moment over and over on all the TV stations anyway.

A nice little day out somehow!