What the Hail!

We had a glimpse of spring earlier this week with warmer temperatures, but yesterday a big hailstorm came through Melbourne. I was waiting at a tram stop on my way home from teaching when the dark clouds rolled in. Then the thunder started. Then the rain began, which was fine because I was under an overhang. It got harder and turned into hail-big chunks of it. It almost looked like it was snowing. The trouble began when the wind picked up, making the hail blow sideways directly into the shelter. All of us who were huddled there yelped; it hurt! I took out my umbrella and used it as a shield to protect myself (and the girl next to me) from injury. Luckily, my tram came soon after, and I made it home alive. Zack got this picture of our back porch. Is winter over yet?!

Winter Festival

It's winter here in Australia, though you wouldn't know it from the sunny 70 degree weather we've been getting in Sydney.  On Saturday night, we headed out to the Winter Festival.  It was held in front of St. Mary's Cathedral, as you can see in the picture.  This is in downtown Sydney, between Hyde Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens.  I think it was the third year they've had this event, and they have similar ones all around Australia.  I think there might even be one in Melbourne in August.

The whole area was set up with German/Austrian food booths, little Christmas trees, a blow-up snowman, and color-changing plastic ice cubes you could use as tables or chairs.  The yellow things on this tree are advertisements for Lipton chai latte instant packets.  They were giving out free cups of this deliciousness.  I had seen a commercial for this stuff a few weeks ago and bought some at the store.  It is so good; all you have to do is add hot water!  Do they have this in the States too?  It sure beats paying $3.50 for chai latte at a coffee shop (I don't like coffee).  Yum.

After getting our fill of free chai latte, we watched the ice skating demonstration.  The skaters were pretty darn good, considering the fact that Australians probably aren't really known for their ice skating skills.  This was kind of evident when it was our turn to skate.  Everyone got on the ice SO slowly and tentatively.  It was funny.  After a bit, everyone pretty much got the hang of it though.  It was an 80s theme night, so there were fun Michael Jackson and Madonna songs playing.  We had a good time speeding around the rink in the funky orange rental skates.

Not our feet!

After skating, we got some Gluhwein in our souvenir mugs that came as part of our skating package.  This is a spiced wine that Zack said tasted like cough syrup.  We couldn't remember what it was called or how to say it, so we called it Google-wine.  I also enjoyed a brat for dinner, which was delicious.  Maybe two winters in a row isn't so bad after all!

P.S.  Hooray for Zack writing a blog entry!  He did it while I was asleep, because he knows I'm a control freak and would correct his grammar and punctuation with every sentence.  After our awesome day in the Blue Mountains (blog entry to come), he's up late working tonight-poor guy!

Freezing Fall

Pretty Fall Leaves in Front of a School

In Australia, it is autumn.  Actually, we're heading into winter very soon.  And I'm not going to lie-it's cold here!  Yesterday, the high was only 8 degrees Celsius, which is 47 degrees Fahrenheit.  It also rained on and off throughout the day, and the wind never stopped blowing.  Today's not supposed to be much better...about 52 degrees.  I'm not complaining, because I know people will be thinking, "You're in Australia-poor baby-just be quiet."  But I'm just reporting the facts.  I know people will also be thinking, "52 degrees is not that bad.  You lived in Denver for Pete's sake."  However, it's different for a few reasons:

1.  Denver has sun.  300 days of it every year.  Sun helps it feel warm even when the temperature is cold.  It's pretty darn cloudy here every other day or so.
2.  Rain makes it feel colder.  There's a wet, damp coldness to the air that you just can't shake.  In fact, our bath towels never get completely dry from day to day-only when I do laundry and they come out of the dryer.  My umbrella has seen more use in the few weeks I've been here than in my entire seven years in Denver.  Seriously!
3.  My body is craving summer.  I like all four seasons, but in order.  Coming from winter in Denver back into fall/winter here is a bit brutal.  We're hoping to start traveling around Australia soon.  Maybe we'll get to somewhere warm for our anniversary in July?
4.  It is really windy.  Maybe it's because we live right on the bay, but there are some serious wind gusts going on these past few days.  That makes it feel colder too!
5.  I didn't pack all of my cold-weather gear.  Sure, I've got my sweaters and sweatshirts (or jumpers as they would call them here).  And I have my North Face fleece jacket, which is pretty warm.  But I only have one light set of a dressy hat/scarf/mittens.  Maybe I should have brought my snowboarding get-up!

You can all remind me of this post when I'm writing about how hot it is in the summer, but for now, I'm curled up in bed, and I don't want to move from this nice warm spot.  However, there are some killer mid-year sales going on right now, so maybe I'll do some shopping today.  The stores should be warm, right?