Storm

We had an insane storm in Nimbin last week. There was a power cut, and when I went out with a torch, I saw an overhead electrical cable trailing across the road directly in front of our gate.
The rain stopped, and it turned into quite a social occasion, as people from up and down the street came out to survey the damage, we ended up taking turns to park a car with hazards flashing in front of the cable, and comparing the damage to our gardens, roofs and trees.
The following days saw much chainsawing and lugging of branches and broken stuff to get things back to shipshape. Luckily, the largest branch to hit our house (a 7 metre long chunk of Pollonia weighing in at about 50 kilos) struck the main keel of the roof first, and then just slid to the ground - no damage done.
We finally located the Hanging Rock swimming hole - it's as big as an Olympic size swimming pool, and has a 3 metre waterfall over vertical rocks. The depth of the main pool is effectively infinite, as it sits on an ancient volcanic vent - those with strong stomachs can climb up the side of the pool and rope-swing into the centre from 20 metres up. It's a cool, shady pot for those sticky summer days, and half of Nimbin gathers there on some afternoons. Best of all, the Wadeville store (ice cream, coffee, affogato) is less than 2km up the road.

We have received two bits of good news from the postman:
Our citizenship tests went OK, and we both passed despite a lamentable knowledge of historic cricket batting averages. This means we are now free to apply for passports with pictures of kangaroos on the front (and, somewhat offensively in my humble opinion, tiny little aboriginal flags embossed way down towards the bottom). It also means we are now very near the end of the treadmill of expenses and paperwork that began in London back in 2001.
The other bit of good news was the approval of our solar power rebate for panels on our roof. This means we can go ahead chopping down the offending palm trees, getting the insulation under the roofing sheets, and having the panels installed in time to catch the summer sun.
We have now experienced the weirdness that is the Nimbin fashion show - a bizarre and at times terrifying mix of the local-yokel, Sydney/Byron high-fashion, and latex fetish wear. It made me feel very proud to be a Nimbin local, especially as it became obvious some of the local designers were the most imaginative (and wearable) - I should no longer be surprised at the range and breadth of creative talent around this little town, but I still am.
This weekend we're heading to the beach at Ballina for a couple of days to get away from the Summer stickiness and get some swimming in before Christmas is upon us - it looks as though the new year is going to be busy with guests and family and more building work and overtime, so we're going to chill out while we still can.