Newcastle Disaster Zone

The long weekend in June has turned out to be rather eventful for people in the Hunter and Newcastle region of NSW with heavy rains and storms causing huge floods, loss of life and property.

Not perhaps the best place to spend a long weekend, but yep, that's where we come in to the picture.

We drove down to Newcastle on Friday to spend the weekend with Phil's sister and brother-in-law, unaware, as were many people, of what nature would unleash over the next couple of days.
As we headed south the clouds became blacker, darker and heavy with rain, the rivers were swollen and dark in colour. By the time we hit Newcastle we were driving through heavy rain and strong winds with traffic slowing and stopping, unable to turn from the highway as roads were being cut off by rising waters.

We travelled through Lambton where only a few hours later a man lost his life when he stepped out of his car and was washed into a storm water drain. A horrible prospect indeed.

We managed to eventually find our way to the accommodation, right beside Lake Macquarie where we spent a sleepless night listening to the storm outside.

We got up the next day to see boats damaged in the marina and our building surrounded by water. We were now in the lake, no longer by the lake.

The car park was under water and our car had about 10 cm of water lying in it from the flood waters that had risen over night.
I spotted an enterprising lady from the area who was catching whitebait in the car park. Now that's turning a challenging situation into a positive. Nothing like some whitebait patties to cheer up the day.

Chris and Annette had friends and relatives in the area and after a few phone calls we were able to find a more suitable place to stay. We spent the rest of the weekend with Kim, Mark and Ethan Gates whose kindness and hospitality was much appreciated

Many roads were closed due to flooding and damage. Trees were uprooted, debris was everywhere, there wasn't much that wasn't impacted by the storms.

Due to blackouts, many service stations etc. were closed and the ones that were open had long queues of traffic and people lined up.

Our return home to Laurieton in our soggy car was rather uneventful with clear skies and clear roads. Upon our return Phil stripped the car out and we have begun to assess the damage done. The poor old car has soggy corroding electrical wiring, which means no electric windows, no heating etc. etc. but it still starts, so hopefully we can dry everything out and restore the Subaru to normal.

Our issues are quite minor really to what others in the Newcastle region are facing, returning to homes filled with mud, water and debris, having to start again or even worse, facing loss of loved ones. Our hearts go out to those who have lost family and friends, stuff can be replaced, people can't. While for us it was an adventure with a bit of inconvenience thrown in, for others it was far more significant.