a trip and a storm.

tuesday morning Lize and I threw some clothes in a bag and buggered off to see our mates Ruddo & Jen in Anglesea. Jen's folks have a little cabin down there in a caravan park and being the darlings they are invited us down for a night. They are some of our oldest friends and hanging out with them is fun and easy. While in some ways we're quite different as couples (they are the most energetic people on earth, its all half marathons and scaling the Andes with them) we get on really well. So we sort of had a compromise day where they dragged me on a walk that seemed to go on forever, that I actually ended up enjoying and then we went to the pub at four in the arvo which is more my pace. Then Jen cooked up some awesome steaks, stout and beer were consumed and a vigorous night of cards, scrabble and a few more ales ensued.

Not having overdone it the previous night, Lize and I bounced out of bed nice and early and packed the car as some gentle rain fell. We said our goodbyes and embarked on the lazy hour and a half drive back to Ballarat. Or at least that was the plan.

The next couple of hours were some of the toughest driving I've ever done. Insanely strong gusts of wind buffeted the car between Geelong and Ballarat, sometimes physically pushing the car half off the road. Branches were being ripped off trees, a dust storm was visibly building and there were sporadic downpours of rain. White knuckle stuff. We made it back home in one piece, but saw a fair bit of carnage from the storm, including a house that had a massive tree fall on it and smash through the roof. By the time Lize went to work at 3pm the sky was thick with dust and the sky was a queasy shade of yellow. The worst seems to have abated now but apparently big chunks of the state are without power and there's plenty of damage to property.