Newcastle and the Hunter Valley was hit with extremely bad weather last Friday resulting in a coal freighter, the "Pasha Bulker" being beached at one of Newcastles best beaches "Nobbys". Then the continuing worsening of the weather resulted in absolute havoc in the Hunter region with flash flooding, trees down, and countless power lines damaged. Then finally the inevitable major flooding as the river(s) try to cope with the massive rainfall we have had.
Our own experience has been the loss of power since the early hours of Saturday Morning (about 1:30-2:00 am) until it was finally restored to our suburb about twenty to five this afternoon(Monday). This brought about some challenges , but we managed to get by with candles and the trusty portable gas powered camping stove! (that I've had for over 25 years!)..and sponge baths as our hot water is normally electrically heated...
"Cabin Fever" as the locals dubbed it set in on Sunday so we set out to do some "rubbernecking" , checking out the Pasha Bulker and other storm damage around the area.
The Pasha Bulker aground at Nobbys Beach NewcastleThe lack of power for 3 days certainly made the weekend drag out, especially with the "potholes" being without TV, Computer, Playstation etc... The good aspect (for the adults anyway) was the excellent radio coverage provided by the local ABC radio station 2NC, their continual coverage of the events of the weekend has been hugely appreciated by the residents of the Hunter region. Keeping us informed of all aspects of the aftermath of the big storms from rescues to the restoration of services and more...well done 2NC!
Perhaps the next long weekend we get will be less eventfull , we may even be able to enjoy it and relax!
Cheers
Cecil
