668. Sunday 17th March 2019. Hot days, big storms and riding the ebike…

Monday 11^th March

We are back to summer temperatures. Actually we never left summer although there was a couple of days of sub 30° and a little rain, we are still having hot days of over 30°. Today was expected to be a record around the state. Some towns did have temps around 40° but here on the coast we have those cooling sea breezes. That said the humidity made it feel like 40°. We turned on the AC and hid in the house.

I was up early and rode eBike to Southport Bridge and back. Naturally the only rain which fell during the day was while I was riding. I came home soaked.

Tuesday 12^th March

Up early and rode to the bridge again. The round trip is about 20 Klms

Today WAS a record temp for this time of year. I went to Australia Fair to do a little shopping for a shirt. Whoops, normally I can find a parking spot easily. Today I needed to go to the rooftop parking but managed to find a parking spot under cover. The shopping centre was busy especially the food outlets. It is because of the heat, people just go shopping for three hours. The first three hours of parking is free.

Wednesday 13^th March

At 6.30 am I walked at a fast pace twice around the village. Summer was a bit of a bummer as far as exercise is concerned. I am keen to get back into a routine and even walking along the surf beach during the afternoons. Autumn should arrive soon.

Temp had dropped below 30 today so we did Line Dancing in the morning. It is a good cardio vascular form of exercise for 30 minutes.

Once again we are planning another Rock and Roll night and will do refresher lessons. That is also another good form of exercise.

Thursday 14^th March

Another ride to the Southport Bridge and back.

In the evening, after table tennis, we just arrived home when the heavens opened with what was probably the longest, loudest and constant thunderstorms we have experienced. The house was constantly lit by lightning and vibrated with shock waves. There was not much rain, at least for us but in other locations they had fallen trees, golf ball size hailstones, 50 mm rainfall and power outages. Between lightning strikes we could hear the people in the high rise next door, oohing and aahing with every strike.

Friday 15^th March

Happy Birthday to my Daughter Averyl.

It was overcast and humid all day and a severe thunderstorm warning had been issued. We drove to Australia Fair and parked on a mid level spot

Level 2 of Australia Fair. Most people by now were heading home, hoping to beat the storm.

where we could get a view over The Broadwater

Across the Broadwater as the storm approached.

to Marina Mirage

Looking across The Broadwater to Marina Mirage and Versace Marina

and all the way to Surfers Paradise.

Southport and Surfers Paradise.

We walked all levels to the top and took photos until even the heavy rain was being driven in and making it difficult.

The storm is getting closer. The showers of rain are arriving.

Looking to Surfers Paradise as the storm is approaching.

The lights in the Marina Mirage sails are turned on and Sea World helicopter is making a final flight before the storm halts activity for the day. Actually it was finishing time for the helicopters anyway.

The lights in the sails will take on a bold and bright set of night lights as it gets darker. The lights will become a vivid red, blue and purple,

Naturally we could not get any lightning photos so drove back to The Lagoon at Labrador for more photos. Just as we arrived home once again the rain came down by the bucketful. There was another spectacular lightning and thunder display which went on for hours although not as loud or long as last night.

Before leaving Australia Fair we stopped at the food court. No we did not buy any snacks. We did stop to look at a frozen yoghurt machine which the man had spent all day installing and was just testing it on unsuspecting passers by. Such as Donnis. You select the amount and flavour of yoghurt, then select the toppings and the robot does the rest, delivering a paper cup of yoghurt while displaying a video of each step.

Saturday 16^th March

Another humid day with on and off rain. The humidity was so bad we closed the windows and doors and turned on the AC. Around 5pm the rain started in earnest and rained steadily for a few hours then sporadically for the remainder of the night.

Sunday 17^th March St Patricks Day.

Woke to a lovely sunny morning and high humidity levels. The clouds rolled in and threatened rain. We had a St Pats Day celebration planned at the clubhouse for 48 people. As we walked to the clubhouse we could see the very dark and ugly clouds around Southport to the south. Shortly after we started serving espresso coffee and pikelets the heavens opened to heavy, very heavy rain. Soon the gutters were overflowing and our library which is on a slightly lower floor level (about 100mm lower) looked as though it would be in danger of water build up and flooding the floor and the new carpet tiles laid only a few months ago. As it turns out the carpet tiles did get a soaking. In the meantime we were all comfortable and happy doing silly St Pats Day stuff. We were dry and never in any danger of getting wet or water damage. We had a great Irish Stew for dinner. Meanwhile the rain continued to fall, if anything even heavier than before. News reports and Facebook pots told us about flooding nearby but we have no problems within the village.

 

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