Southern Weather - with a Vengeance!

We've had some crazy storms in Melbourne over the weekend. As I walked to work on Saturday morning I remember being quite cheery, looking up at the sky and thinking about the prospect of rain. I definitely wouldn't have predicted what was to happen though. Everything was fine until about 2-3pm when I went on my break and I could hear the rain thrashing heavily on the roof of the building. I was later informed that it was, in fact, giant hailstones. As I went for my lunch break and I looked outside the thunder storm was immense. Melbourne is known for its sudden downpours and I've experienced a few over the summer. It usually happens as the temperature steadily increases over a few days and then a cold front comes in from the south but this one was different. Within the hour the ceiling of our store began to leak. It wasn't a big deal at first but after a while it started to leak more and more until steady streams of water began to plunge downwards and we had to close. On closer inspection it appeared that there was a crack all the way down the ceiling and we spent the rest of the shift moving stock, mopping copious amounts of water in one direction and then the other and finally having to empty our make-shift buckets. Unbeknownst to me, all carnage was breaking loose across Melbourne with many areas flooding - including my house and my street! I stole some photos of around Melbourne from The Age newpaper's website to give you an idea of the carnage.
Some people literally throw themselves at an opportunity when it arises; the size of some of the bigger hailstones that fell on Melbourne.

While I was at work battling with the excess water, my poor housemates were doing the very same at home. Luckily our house is on stilts, but the 'basement' is on ground level. We live right next to Moonee Ponds Creek, which flows into the Yarra and Bent Street itself is in a bit of a dip in the centre. It all flooded, ruining cars and everything else that got in its way. Fortunately there wasn't much damage to the basement and the boys did a sterling job of plugging the gap and soaking up the water with anything they could lay their hands on. I feel bad for Leon as we'll have to take up the carpets that he spent ages proudly putting down there. However, it certainly worked out well for Ken as he finally managed to christen his kayak on Bent St. itself! He's been talking about getting out on the creek for months and it's pretty funny he finally got to use it on our very own street.

A little peak of what our street usually looks like in comparison to Saturday evening with Ken on his kayak.

In other news, I finally received my first paycheck in about 4 months, and a short, sigh of relief was given. Ingrid and I went out to Melbourne in a slightly more subdued storm to our favourite cheap sushi places and for a few beers as well. Partly the reason why I love this sushi place is that it's cheap and it has one of my favourite beers. It's surprising that it would be the Japanese that would make such a clean, crisp and refreshing beer. Ingrid asked me what my favourite beers are but there's easily too many to name.