Nature’s Fury
If there’s one thing I’ll never get used to it’s the weather. Sometimes it has a mind of its own. The last few weeks have seen some bizarre weather conditions across Australia; it was pleasant in Sydney over Christmas, but the other cities sweltered in 45°C heat and for the last week or so we’ve had wild storms sweep across the eastern coast.
The rain’s been intermittent but annoying; it’ll stop quickly, but you’ll get soaked if you’re caught in it. What’s been amazing, though, is watching the gigantic waves crashing against the beaches. I’m not sure how well the picture shows it; some of the waves are up to four metres high. Most of the beaches have been closed for the last week, but they’re still attracting people to watch.
Even stranger has been this sea foam that’s washed up on a couple of the beaches. I’ve seen it once before and apparently it’s a lather of crushed up plankton and seaweed; it almost looks like yeast. A few people tried swimming in it; not sure I’d want to, but it’s amazing to look at. This guy looks like he’s had the bath from hell. 
The weather’s caused a lot of damage but it’s still strangely beautiful. Just reminds me that with everything we can create, there’s nothing more beautiful than nature’s fury.
Amazing what’s happening on opposite sides of the earth, cj! While they didn’t have anything quite as dramatic as your foam, people in southern and northern California are still without power from those recent storms. Many roads were closed, and a lot of flooding ensued near my hometown. This link has a lot of dramatic photos. #9, 35, & 47 are right near places I used to live. I’m inland now, and while we get the coastal storms about 2 days after the coast does, this one is, thankfully, much dissipated, for us.
The photo you have here of the fellow covered in foam reminds me of a high-end spa which offers a sea-weed wrap for $200. Supposed to do wonders for your skin! So, you could save yourself a big fee by going and jumping into the ocean.
CJ: I always find it amazing seeing just how different conditions can be around the world; we’re so connected online now that it’s easy to forget. We’ve been watching your storms as well and they look awful, particularly across Sacramento… glad to hear it’s been lighter near you, Muse.
That picture’s amazing, isn’t it? It reminded me of a cappuccino… so what’s that make this guy, a human biscuit?
I’m still not that keen on bathing in a mixture of rotting fish, but there’s definitely a market for it! I’m sure we’ll see Sydney sea foam products on sale by the end of January. 
CJ, I cannot agree with u more on that one as in Quebec we are having some weird weather conditions too…Last Tuesday, New Year’s Day, we had a huge snow storm and it felt like -30 outside and today the weather is very mild +4 and the snow is almost all melted..This is one of the consequences of global warming…
CJ: Gee, -30, that must have been brutal, CV. And now it’s all melted? There’s definitely something very strange going on with the weather… it’s natural for us to get storms but I haven’t seen conditions like these in a long time. And then there were the recent floods in Bangladesh, as well as the storms in North America… hopefully we’re not too late to make a difference.
Whoops, looks like the link didn’t transfer. Here it is: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/gallery?id=5869626&photo=9
CJ: Amazing photos, Muse. I’m surprised there hasn’t been even more damage; some of the fallen trees and debris look like they could have flattened houses easily…
Btw, I’m keeping emails of my comments now, so if you ever want me to make a change and delete a second comment, just let me know. I thought I’d start doing that from the new year.
OK, thanks for the updates on comments. I shall probably take advantage in future. Have the waves calmed down?
Here’s a strange question: I’m using Firefox at the moment (I switch of between FF and IE depending on what I’m doing) and it appears my first comment on this post is from “Anonymous”. I’ve always been signed on when visiting you, and my avatar shows up in that one just fine. My second comment does show my correct user name AND the same avatar. Very strange. Let’s see what this one does! (BTW, I haven’t seen this happen anywhere else).
CJ: That’s very weird. I see the “anonymous” too and it’s in IE as well as Firefox, but the email has your name on it. I’ve never seen that before! The IP address is different than the other comments… it might be that. Or perhaps Akismet is playing up again.
The weather’s started to calm down now but the waves are still quite choppy. I doubt the beaches will be open properly for another couple of days. And now South Australia’s just had a mini tornado! Life’s never dull in Australia.