The One-In-30-Year Storm

Sydney, and parts of New South Wales, were smashed by a massive storm last weekend. The NSW Premier called it a "one-in-30-year storm", which sounds very impressive, and a bit like 'Point Break' but 20 years shorter! Anyway, I'm not going to argue with him as having seen it's effect on Manly from my unit on the beach front, I could tell it was a big deal. The Hunter Valley region (where we went wine tasting) and the Central Coast have been declared a 'Natural Disaster Area'!

The weather turned on Thursday and we knew things were going wrong on Friday when news reports covered the story of a 40 000 tonne tanker which ran aground in 17m waves near Newcastle, which is two hours north of Sydney. The pictures are incredible.

The Manly ferry service was also cancelled all Friday and Saturday. It was the first time the swell size has cancelled the ferry since I've been here. These pictures were taken early Friday morning, and before the commuters could use the service to get to work. No wonder they were cancelled!

The one thing I have learnt about the weather here is Sydney is that it is all or nothing. When it rains, it rains! It's like the end of the world is approaching. It howled all through the night and on Saturday morning I decided to take a walk along the beach and check out the damage and the surf. The sand had been blown all the way up to the wall of the promenade and had covered some of the road. This was a common sight in all the beachside suburbs of Sydney.

Apart from the odd surf movie, It was the first time that I've seen surfers being towed onto waves by jetskis. Crowds of people lined the beach watching those out into the water. The beach had been closed but that doesn't stop some people. Unfortunately this pictures do little to show the scale of the waves but they were massive.

I then took a walk to the southern end of the beach where a few surfers had made it out in the protected corner. Unlike the north end, which took the full force of the swell, the waves were a little more appealing to the surfers as they came round the headland. You can see what I mean here.

The swell over the weekend was the biggest I've seen. These were taken at the Fairy Bower point break, which is just to the right of the photos I took above. These which were were taken on Saturday, at a break called Deadmans, which is behind Shelly Beach and just to the south of the Bower.

Given the bad weather, and the fact the ferries were cancelled, Saturday turned into a local affair. H and I had made plans to go into the city but they didn't happen. Instead, I made myself comfortable in the Shore Club with an old work colleague and lots of Stella. From there we went the Bavarian Bier Café. So having never been out on a proper night out in Manly until last weekend's Wine Festival, I've now been on two! It was a good night as Manly battened down the hatches.

The swell wasn't as fierce on Sunday and I decided to have a go in it. Needless to say, the waves looked very different from my balcony as they did on the beach, and I got nailed. But it's all good experience.

Sunday evening was again spent in the Shore Club. For some reason Australia celebrates the Queens Birthday so we all had the Monday off work. The weather has cleared up considerably and the swell was a lot cleaner, but still pretty big. I went out with my board for a bit, but then changed my kit over and went back out with my boogie board and fins. I managed to make it out the back and stayed there for ages, watching the biggest waves I've ever been in, as they came through. A couple of huge ones came through, which meant lots of whistling and cheering from those out the back. It's quite a humbling experience sat on top a wall of water as it passes underneath you, and then as you watch it knock everyone, apart from those who caught it, out of its path. Next time I'll take the waterproof camera with me.

After the surf I took a walk to check to Shelly Beach, the Bower and Deadmans to watch the the last of the storm swell. There were more great waves and a great cloud formation. You gotta love those Australian skies!