Dam good news

Australia’s incredible Summer of extremes continues unabated. In recent days the Sydney basin has experienced its heaviest two-day rain spell since 1992 and soggiest four-day stint since 1990. Almost 400 millimetres of rain has fallen across the city since Friday, with more forecast later this week.

The image above was taken at an intersection near home on Saturday. I’ve lived in the area for almost 25 years. In all that time I can’t recall this particular location flooding so dramatically. The apartment has also sprang new leak. Annoyingly, it’s occurred in a location we successfully repaired 13 years ago.

However, the weekend’s extreme weather does have a silver lining. Sydney's dams have been filling rapidly after years of relentless decline. Warragamba Dam, the largest catchment area, is sitting at 62% capacity, up from 42% a week ago. Once the last of the run off is captured, Sydney's overall dam levels may ultimately exceed 80%. It’s incredible to think that a four-day deluge delivered the equivalent of Sydney’s annual water consumption.

The heavy rains have also brought renewed joy for firefighters. The giant Gospers Mountain fire - which has burnt more than 500,000 hectares this Summer - is among 30 fires formally declared extinguished.

UPDATE: 10 April

Sydney's dam level have continued to hover above 80% since February's drought-busting rainfall.  All water restrictions were finally lifted across the entire city on 1 March.

A bush fire season to end them all

Australia's record-breaking bush fire season continues unabated. Record after record continues to fall including the largest fire ever witnessed from a single ignition source in Australia.

This satellite image published by NSW Rural Fire Service on 1 January says it all really.  Smoke from the NSW bush fires completely covered New Zealand's South Island for several days.  It's a striking testament to the amount of vegetation that ultimately burned in the final days of 2019. Some of the smoke and ask rising from the fire's extraordinary pyro-convective thunderstorms has even reached the troposphere.

Our light home from Tasmania on 4 January passed over the massive Currowan fire. This blaze is burning out of control south of Sydney. It covers more than 264,000 hectares. Overnight the fire moved into the iconic Kangaroo Valley area.

As you can see from this image several bush fires are now so large they’re generating their own weather system including large cumulus thunderstorm clouds. This image was taken about 4000m and shows just one fire front covering almost 40kms.

How much of Australia’s East Coast has burned as of 14 January? This map in the New York Times says it all. It shows Brisbane in dark grey at the top, then Sydney midway down the coast before ending with Melbourne in the south. When you look at it remember that the distance between Brisbane and Melbourne is approx 2000km.

The areas shown in red have burned in the last 2 days, dark orange in the last 7 days and light orange since October 2019.  The nation hasn't seen anything on this scale in more than 30 years. When will it end? Bush fire season typically winds down in March (so we have another two months to go).

Bush fire fallout

Three weeks ago I shared a map that showed all of the fires burning across the state of New South Wales. Unbelievably the latest map is even worse as a ring of fires is now burning around the entire Sydney region.  Compare the latest map with the one I published last month. The coastline shown stretches almost 1000km from the southern outskirts of Brisbane to Sydney's northern suburbs.

Yesterday the Rural Fire Service (RFS) said there are 120 bush and grass fires burning in NSW, 50 of which are yet to be contained. More than 2 million hectares of land has now been ravaged by fire (that's 5 million acres for the imperial measurement folks) - and we're only four days into Summer.

For four days now the heavy smoke haze has left us feeling like we’re live in the twilight zone. Every day the sky takes on a surreal orange hue. It gives everything a freaky amber glow while casting ominous orange shadows. Then, in the final hours before sunset, the sun slowly turns a bizarrely vivid pink. Sydney's skyline increasingly resembles the notoriously drab and gritty conditions I've always associated with Delhi and Beijing.

We’ve also been waking to the bizarre sight of thermal inversion layers across the Sydney skyline. The horizon has dirty smoke haze bands appearing at ground level and high altitude; which are then separated by a band of clear blue sky.

Last night these layers were enhanced by swirling fringes of grey ash clouds. The cloud then settled overnight and we woke this morning to find black ash and ghostly grey grit covering every external surface.  The paving image below is the same area shown in the orange shadow image above. These images were taken three days apart.

UPDATE: 1:00pm.  6 December
This afternoon a combination of dry conditions and difficult terrain has resulted in several large fires joining together north of Sydney.

The Rural Fire Service said the Gospers Mountain fire, which has burnt more than 250,000 hectares, has merged with the Little L Complex fire near Singleton and the Three Mile fire at the Central Coast.  The merged fire is now up to 200,000 hectares wide, large enough to engulf the entire city of Sydney, from the coast to the Blue Mountains.

Furthermore, without an extremely strong westerly change, Sydney could be blanketed in smoke for weeks or months as fires continue raging to the north, east and south of the city. At 1:00pm today more than 40 fires state-wide are still burning out of control (i.e. classified as not contained).

UPDATE: 10 February
As of 14 January 2020, fires this season have burnt an estimated 18.6 million hectares (46 million acres; 186,000 square kms), destroyed over 5,900 buildings (including 2,779 homes) and killed at least 34 people. An estimated one billion animals have been killed and some endangered species may be driven to extinction.

Catastrophic fire warning!

New South Wales is currently experiencing its worst start to the bushfire season in more than two decades. Today's fire warning map is a real eye-opener. Fire warnings and active fire zones now stretch almost 1000km from Brisbane to Sydney (that's the coastline visible in the map above).

More than 3000 firefighters are currently on the ground across the state, supported by 60 aircraft. There are 71 fires burning along the coast. Eight are at an emergency level, 10 at watch and act rating and 40 remain uncontained. One fire alone, west of Coffs Harbour, was 150,000 hectares in size, with a perimeter of 1000 kilometres.

Today's weather forecast is predicting highs of 38C and winds of up to 80km/h for the Greater Sydney region. Fire authorities have issued a "catastrophic" rating fire warning for Sydney. This rating effectively means that if a bushfire breaks out today any home or structure in its path won't survive the firestorm that engulfs it.

So far this month three people have died in bushfires in the state, more than 100 homes have been lost and thousands have taken refuge in regional evacuation centres. Sydney has been engulfed by smoke haze and smog on and off for weeks as bushfire smoke is blown hundreds of kilometres along the coast. At times the haze has been so thick it's obscured our stunning view of the city skyline. On other occasions, the sky has taken on a bizarre sepia shade.

We last saw bushfires this destructive and pervasive in 1994. During that year, bushfires closed every road out of the greater city basin with the exception of the Hume Highway. Multiple bushfires raged within bushland around the harbour, in the Blue Mountains and across the Hunter Valley.

This year much of the state is entering its fourth year of intense drought. Dry conditions have left hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest, bushland and farmland littered with deadly levels of Dry, combustible fuel. Already this season we've seen normally moist and dense rainforests burning in Queensland; a phenomenon never recorded or witnessed since European settlement began more than two centuries ago.

Fingers crossed we have a boring day!

UPDATE: 8.00pm 
Temperatures in our suburb hit 37C today. The sky was transformed into an eerie lavender and sepia haze this evening as the winds slowly swung south. No major fires broke out in Sydney and a few flare-ups in the Blue Mountains were quickly brought under control. Tomorrow’s fire rating remains at a “catastrophic” level.

UPDATE: 19 November 
This morning we woke to another day of incredible smoke haze drifting across the city.  This photo published by Reuters shows just how pervasive the haze is throughout the inner Sydney basin today.

UPDATE: 21 November 
This morning we woke to another morning of extraordinary smoke haze.  Here's the view from our balcony. As you can see the city skyline has simply vanished.  Our outdoor furniture also smothered by a growing film of gritty brown dust.

UPDATE: 29 November 
Overnight the Australian Bureau of Meteorology released its long-range forecast for Summer. The bureau says it's likely to be much hotter than the nation's normal "average" temperature of 27.5C; with drier than average conditions. The following map highlights in red those areas where the probability of this forecast exceeds 80%.  We've also woken to yet another day of smoke haze across the city skyline. 

The world's coldest heat wave

Melbourne has been in the grips of a heat wave for the last three days. I flew into the city for business on Wednesday morning, landing shortly before 8:30am. As I left the airport the thermometer had already hit 35C. It subsequently peaked mid-afternoon at 43C.

Temperatures on Thursday's reached 44C, while today's high was a modest 42C. Yesterday, the heat was so punishing that play was suspended for several hours at the Australian Open. Officials called for the unprecedented halt after tennis players and ball boys began dropping like flies.

It's therefore somewhat ironic that I found myself wearing a long sleeve shirt in the office today. Yesterday, while wearing a short-sleeve shirt the occasional cold shiver had run down my back. It seems that building management responded to the soaring temperatures by cranking up the air-conditioning to near-Arctic conditions.

• Posted from my iPhone

• Location: Marker Road, Melbourne, Australia

Wet, wet, wet

The apartment directly under our rooftop balcony has suffered water peneration problems for more than a year.  Nurmous attempts have been made to solve the problem.  This included lifting balcony tiles in several locations and repairing the protective water membrane unerneath.  These efforts proved fruitless. 

The building's Body Corporate has finally decided to resolve the issue by replacing our balcony's entire water membrane.  However, sitting on top of the membrane is tonnes of terracotta tiles and supporting scree.  The scree a solid mix of sand and cement. It keeps our tiles stable and provides an optimal incline for drainage. At it's highest point it almost 15cm thick. Removing it requires a jackhammer.

As a result, our balcony became a building site last Monday. Furniture, plants and accessories were transfered to the smaller balcony at the back of our apartment.  For four days, three workers jackhammered away.  The rubble they created was then scooped into sacks and precariously winched down the side of our building.

By Friday we were left with stark grey concrete shell. All was proceeding to plan. That is, until 8:00am on Saturday morning when the heavens opened. A large high pressure zone has stalled off the coast of New South Wales trapping wet, moist air over Sydney. 

As a result, rain has fallen continually and is forecast to fall for another two days. As of 8:30pm this evening almost 83mm had fallen. That's more than two thirds of June's average rainfall in 36 hours.  By the time the sun appears again on Tuesday, more than 80% of the monthly average is predicted to have fallen.

Without doubt, its the sort of weather you don't want when your roof's protective water membrane is missing.  We think our neighbours are dripping wet.

UPDATE: 8.00am June 24
Overnight rainfall reported over the last 24 hours rose above 50mm.  This means that more than 106mm has fallen in 24 hours with more to come. Since records began June's rainfall has averaged just over 120mm per month.

UPDATE: 9.30pm June 24
It's official. Since Saturday morning we've had June's entire average rainfall dumped on Sydney.  So far 123mm of rain has fallen in less than three days.  The forecast predicts more rain ovenight.

Help, help! I'm melting!

Sydney has endured its hottest day on record today.  The mercury hit 45.8 degrees in the city at 2:55pm, while temperatures at the airport soared to a staggering 46.4 degrees.  Our apartment sits mid way between these two locations.  It would be safe to say we probably sweltered through temperatures of at least 46 degrees on our apartment balcony. 

Sydney's previous high of 45.3 degrees was recorded in January 1939 at Observatory Hill.  It's hard to believe this record was broken by at least half a degree.  The heat was incredibly intense at its peak.  Although, as early as 9:00am this morning, the heat pouring through our east-facing windows already proved unbearable.  We eventually closed the blinds and cranked up the air-conditioning.

Some of our plants on the balcony are looking decidedly unhappy.  The sunward facing leaves have dried up and many others are looking a droopy despite an emergency burst of water from the garden irrigation system. However, the washing dried in record time.  We reckon it was probably faster than the dryer we normally use.

It also comes as no surprise to learn that electricity consumption hit an all time high this afternoon.  No doubt every serviceable air conditioner in the city was cranked up to high today as temperatures soared.

Flying into Summer

Summer is off to a roaring start in Sydney.  The first official days of Summer were marked by a brief, but searing heat wave.  Temperatures in the city’s Western Suburbs soared to a scorching 39°C, while on the coast, the mercury hovered in the slightly more merciful low 30s. As luck would have it, I’d chosen Friday to schedule a series of business meetings. As a result, it became a feat of true endurance, wandering the CBD’s streets in a suit and tie.

Yesterday I caught up with friends who’ve recently relocated from the USA.  We met for lunch in the International Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay.  The harbour looked spectacular.  The Opera House literally sparked in the sunshine, creating the perfect backdrop during lunch.  Days like this remind me why I wanted to be back in Sydney.

Returning to Australia has also seen me clock up a few new experiences.  As I mentioned in my last post, I flew to Melbourne last month for a business engagement. I decided to book my flights with Virgin Australia. This was the first time I’d flown the airline since its launch more than 12 years ago.  My decision was prompted in part by Virgin Australia’s offer last year to match my Qantas frequent flyer status in its own loyalty program.

This let me try out the airline’s lounge, priority check-in and boarding benefits and complimentary luggage allowance.  The verdict?  Check-in was seamless.  The lounge in Sydney was a little lackluster.  Melbourne’s lounge was much better.  However, neither was on par with the Qantas Business Lounge.  However, the real delight was the aircraft I flew. 

I found myself flying south on one of Virgin’s new Boeing 737-800 airplanes.  The Boeing Sky Interior is simply gorgeous; artfully curving panels, backlit by a warm, iridescent glow. The interior is beautifully complimented by translucent bulkheads Virgin’s installed between business class and the rest of the cabin.  The cabin crew was also wonderfully attentive.  Sorry Qantas.  Virgin’s onboard experience won hands down.

I also flew Air New Zealand across the Tasman for the first time in almost a decade.  This was also an eye-opener.  The interior was clean and new, with an impressive seat-back inflight entertainment centre.  I was also impressed that staff knew I was a Gold Status member with Virgin. Best of all, I got to experience the airline’s Lord of the Rings inspired safety video. I’d already seen it on YouTube, but it’s never the same when you're sitting in a plane on the runway.  Air New Zealand is also giving Qantas a run for its money.

Finally, while in transit at Wellington Airport I got to see its latest tribute to the Hobbit trilogy.  The first installment received a world premier red carpet launch in Wellington last week. The airport's retail food court has been transformed into a super-sized underwater diorama.  A giant Golum is depicted plunging his head into the terminal, reaching for a quick marine snack.

 

What a welcome!

We flew into Sydney this morning to be greeted by stunning blue skies and sunshine.  The view from our apartment balcony was a welcome sight.  The forecast from tomorrow is for a week of sunshine, with temperatures peaking at 27C on Wednesday. It'll be as warm back here as it was in the USA.  Spring has arrived.

A picture perfect Christmas!

Christmas Day began with clear blue skies, plenty of sunshine and not a breath of wind. Above is the view that greeted me at 7:30am as I rose to check the weather.  What a perfect start to Christmas!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Bananas for everyone

The Summer solstice has come and gone. The longest day of the year was marked by rain, and plenty of it. The regular bouts of wet weather have been a boon for our garden. Everything is looking lush, healthy and growing like crazy. I cannot recall a time when our balcony foliage looked better.

The wet weather has also had a surprising impact on the price of fresh fruit and vegetables. Prices for most produce is well below those reported for the same period last year. It seems that the cooler, damp conditions have reduced demand for many traditional Summer fruits and vegetables. As a result, supermarkets had been purchasing only half the quantity of product at the wholesale markets, leaving the rest to sell at heavily discounted prices. Bargains abound. For example, you can buy twice as many mangoes this year compared with last Summer.

The price of bananas has also plunged in recent weeks as new crops mature following the havoc wreaked by Cyclone Yasi in February. In the wake of this disaster, the price of bananas soared, peaking around $15.00 per kilo in June. This month prices have plunged below $2.00. Bananas are once again making a weekly appearance in our fridge.

Finally, as we finalise preparations for Christmas Day, the weather bureau has confirmed that weather on the day will be dry with regular bouts of sunshine.

English weather Down Under

Tommorrow we celebrate the first anniversary of our departure from London.  I cannot believe it's been a year already.  I know everyone says that but honestly, it really does feel like only a few months have passed.

It seems Garry and I returned just as a La Nina weather cycle began sweeping across Australia. La Nina typically brings a greater chance of clouds, rain and humidity which has certainly been our experience. Since January we’ve seen Brisbane stuck by record floods and the nation's largest cyclone in memory strike Queensland.  Meanwhile, Sydney has been regularly doust by rain and cooler than average temperatures.

Last week Sydney recorded its coldest start to Summer in half a century. For the first seven days of December temperatures struggled to rise above 20°C. December 7 proved the warmest day when temperatures peaked at 22°C. The city's long-term average maximum for this time of year is 25°C. It was 1960 the last time Sydney was this cold.  It's hard not to compare this experience with London which recently enjoyed its warmest October on record.

UPDATE: December 23, 2011
The wet start to Summer has had a noticable impact on one iconic measure of tlocal weather conditions.  Today's news was filled with reports that water levels at Warragamba Dam, Sydney's primary water source, have exceeded 80 per cent for the first time since June 2002.  Dam levels fell as low as 33 per cent as recently as February 2007.  According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the last time dams in the Sydney region were technically full was 1998.

Rena hits home

It’s been heart-breaking in recent days to watch an environment disaster unfolding along the coast of Mount Manguanui in New Zealand. The beachside city where my parents live has seen its pristine white sand beaches fouled by oil and debris from Rena, a container ship, that ran around on Astrolabe reef. The reef, roughly 20 kms offshore, was first marked on maps by early European explorers more than three hundred years ago, so its location is well known. Naturally questions are being raised as to how a modern ship ran into such a outcrop, at 17 knots , in broad daylight on a relatively calm sea.

Within days of running aground rough seas hit the region, stressing the vessel to the point that frightening large cracks have appeared along its midsection. The swell also left it leaning at a precarious angle, resulting in the loss of 88 containers so far, 30 of which are currently unaccounted for. This tally is expected to rise as more foul weather descends on the area.

For days now I’ve watched photo after photo published of a beach littered with cargo from burst containers (which include frozen meat patties and animal skins). Most distressing is the realisation that these images were shot from the beach metres from my parent’s home. This is the same beach that Garry and I were frolicking on as recently as January this year. Regular readers may recall we made good use of our jetlag one morning to venture down to the shore to watch the sun rise.

The opening image on this post was captured by Katie Cox earlier this week and published by the New Zealand Herald.  The other images are also taken from the Herald's files.  It's grim stuff.

Hot as all hell

Take a look at the outside temperature as we drove through Phoenix, Arizona.  The previous night's television forecast had warned of deadly highs which I naively accepted with "a grain of salt". Wow! That's 113ºF, or 45ºC, showing up on the car dashboard.   I'm sure this is the highest outdoor temperature I've ever experienced.

Our polar neighbours

Having regularly critiqued English weather in rather unsavory terms, it’s been fascinating to watch a “once in a generation” weather event unfold in New Zealand. The entire nation has been smothered by frigid polar air sweeping in from Antarctica. On Monday snow fell briefly in downtown Auckland, something last witnessed in 1939.

Weather historians say that the 1939 event dropped 5cm of snow on top of Mt Eden. Snow also fell in suburbs like Ponsonby, Remuera. In 1939 it also snowed at the lighthouse at the very top end of the North Island. There was also three hours of snow in Gisborne, while Banks Peninsula and Otago witnessed snow drifts up to 10 metres deep.

On this occasion snow didn’t settle in Auckland. However, the city did record its coldest temperature ever yesterday; a chilly 8.2°C. Snow also fell for two days in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Even the hills around Whangarei in Northland got a dusting. It also came as no surprise to read that a record load was recorded across the national power grid yesterday. Demand peaked at 7098MW shortly after 7.30am; the nation’s third such record in less than a month. It’s clearly been a very cold winter in New Zealand.

New Zealand’s weather was definitely a factor that encouraged me to migrate as an adult. I felt the cold every winter and hated every moment of it. Throughout my entire childhood I wore a winter uniform consisting of shorts and socks held up by garters. This meant that I'd find myself walking to school in the midst of winter across playing fields covered in thick, crunchy frost.

I also recall school being cancelled when more than an inch of snow fell in Dunedin. It only happened once, in 1973, but my brothers and I enjoyed a day building snowmen on the front lawn. My artwork melted overnight. However, my brother Hamish packed his snow so firmly it took almost a week for his iceman to disappear. Of course he now lives in Austria and enjoys permanent snow cover for almost six months of the year.

Meanwhile, Sydney was blessed with bursts of sunshine and afternoon high of 18°C last weekend.  However, our overnight temperature is forecast to drop to 8°C by Friday.  Maybe London weather wasn't all that bad.

PHOTO SOURCE: NZ Herald, August 17, 2011

Five days of sunshine!

The last few weeks have been an extra-ordinary period for weather in Sydney. While I was travelling for business Garry says we had a week of extremely heavy rain. The downpour was the perfect test for leaks repairs recently completed on our apartment. The repairs have passed with flying colours. We’ve had no repeat of leaks we've typically experienced during previous episodes of heavy rain.

The wet weather has subsequently been replaced by a blast of warm, sunny conditions that have left Sydney basking in the warmest end to the month of July for six years. Temperatures hit a minimum of 20°C over the last four days. Tonight the forecast is for the sunshine and warm temperatures to continue until Friday. Today we enjoyed a high of 23°C, tomorrow is forecast to dip to 22°C before rising to a high of 24°C on Thursday. Other parts of Australia are also enjoying some of the warmest July weather for more than 100 years.

Did I mention that temperatures soared above 37°C for several days while I in New York?  I arrived in town at the perfect time.  For several days almost 50% of the US population found themselves sweltering under a heatwave advisory.  The heat in mid-town Manhattan was incredible.  Stepping outside was like walking into a giant sauna; with the heat just as oppressive in the shade.  Thank goodness I packed a few short sleeve shirts.

I’m sure regular readers will have noticed my often unhappy musing about the UK’s weather. Sydney’s current bout of winter sunshine has done little to dispel these memories. On several occasions last week temperatures in Sydney were warmer than those I was enjoying in London.  The forecast for London on Thursday is 22°C, two degrees cooler than Sydney.  Sadly, this constrast is isn't as unusual as it seems. 

Last week The Times newspaper noted that the last five years in the UK included some of the wettest July months on record. In particular, June 2007 was the wettest on record as was July 2009. In fairness, the article also noted that July 2006 was the hottest on record. Sadly, this abnormal July gave Garry and I a rather distorted sense of the UK’s regular weather pattern during our first six months in London.  The contrast did little to prepare us for the next four years.

UPDATE: August 2, 2011

I've just read that published weather forecasts celebrated their 150th anniversary yesterday.  According to the BBC on 1 August 1861 the Times newspaper published the world's forecast.

UPDATE: August 5, 2011

Today’s temperature reached 25 degrees today, seven above the average for August. It was also the ninth consecutive day of temperatures at 20 degrees or higher. Forecasters are predicting a top of 22 degrees tomorrow, equaling Sydney’s winter record of 10 consecutive days at this level.

Winter returns

Sydney's just had its sunniest week in six months. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that an average of 10 hours sunshine has graced each of the past seven days, making it the sunniest week since January, when one week averaged 10.5 hours of sun.  In fact, we've had the sunniest start to July for at least nine years.  Tonight the sky is extraordinarily clear making our city view more spectacular than ever.

Sadly, the wonderful weather is forecast to come to an end as scattered rain is predicted for tomorrow.  Its likely to stay this way for the next week or so.  Thank goodness I'm off to New York for business on Friday. The Big Apple is forecasting sunshine and highs approaching 30°C while I'm in town.

Winter takes its toll

We’ve enjoyed another weekend of blue skies sunshine. However, temperatures struggled to rise above 16°C today, unlike last weekend when the high hit 21°C. With sunshine almost every day for the last two weeks even my daily walk to work has been rather pleasant. In fact, I felt uncomfortably warm at least one morning while simply wearing a leather jacket. The sunshine is forecast to continue until mid-week with highs reaching 18°C.

We’ve put the sunshine to good use potting around on our main balcony making minor repairs outstanding since our return. This included tying down irrigation pipes, repairing the outdoor lighting and staining an old teak bench. Today’s endeavours saw us applying a coat of marine varnish to the bench before the sun slipped behind nearby building.

Earlier in the week wind warning were in effect for much of the region. Despite our apartment’s location we only saw the odd gust from our balcony. However, the hills surrounding Sydney were hit hard. In the Blue Mountains west of Sydney trees were blown across rail tracks. One tree even struck a passing train. Nobody was injured. We later heard that winds had been gusting up to 70 km/h during the day.

On Wednesday morning I also witnessed a tree being toppled while working to work. My attention was initially drawn by a loud crack barely 50 metres ahead. I glanced up in response and was stunned to see a spindly pine tree gracefully descend across the pavement in a shower of needles. As I watched it slowly came to rest on the back of a parked car. Again, nobody was harmed while I was left to marvel how I'd found myself in the right place at the right time to witness such a rare event.

Trees aren’t the only things coming to grief at the moment. In the last few weeks we’ve had three appliances fail. First, our Italian coffee machine broke after seven years of faithful service. Second, our iron began blowing fuses around the house. Then finally, our new toaster’s release mechanism stopped working. Winter is clearly taking it toll.

Sealing the deal

We purchased our Sydney apartment more than seven years ago.  At the time we were aware of several water leaks that had plagued its early years.  Over the years numerous repairs have progressively resolved each leak, with one exception. Despite several attempts nobody has found the source of a persistent leak that appeared during unusually heavy rain. That is, until now.

Earlier this year, the building's Body Corporate finally agreed to undertake a series of extensive leak tests. Specialists were called in to spend the day dousing our external walls in a curtain of water. Two separate leak sites were subsequently identified. Everyone's confident that the source of the problem has finally been found.

As a result, this week we've been woken to the sound of builders hammering away outside.  Brick by brick a series of faulty water seals are being removed and replaced by new, modified alternatives. By the time they've finished we'll be ready to take on Noah's flood without so much as damp patch to show for it. 

The repairs are an impressive affair.  A temporary hanging scaffold platform has been swung from the roof of our building, giving the builders access to the entire outer wall.  We've watched them chiseling away as their platform gently sways seven vertigo-inducing floors above the courtyard below.

However, their good works got off to a bad start.  Garry returned from a job interview earlier in the week to find that the glass skylight in our bathroom had been broken by a careless scaffold labourer.  We've now got a second repair to endure before our home is finally waterproof.  We've waited seven years for these repairs, what's another month?

UPDATE:  September 7, 2012
It's been more than a year since our leaks were repaired.  I'm pleased to report we've absolutely no water penetration problems since despite Sydney recording one of its wettest Summer's on record in the months that followed. Our home is water-tight and we're loving it! 

The Banana Republic

Cyclone Yasi ripped through North Queensland in early-February this year. It was Australia’s most powerful cyclone in living memory, recording wind speeds reaching 225km/h at its peak, and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The nation’s banana crop was hit particularly hard. In the months since, the fruit’s price has soared. As of yesterday, our local supermarket was selling bananas for a staggering $13.98 per kilogram, or more than $30 per pound. Elsewhere I've seen them selling for at much as $15.00. Prior to Yasi’s arrival bananas were going out the door for less than $5 per kilo.

However, the soaring price of bananas, while understandable, isn’t the only retail price that’s stunned us since our return from London. In fact, almost every price tag has been something of a shock, regardless of the retail category. For example, our cable television bill has doubled, our internet bill is almost three times more expensive and our first utility bill was mistaken for an accounting error. In short, Garry and I are beginning to appreciate that fresh food and most retail items were significantly cheaper in London.

Nationwide, Australia's retail prices are becoming a contentious subject. As the Australian dollar rises in value, offshore online shopping has began increasingly popular, and frequently cheaper than buying locally. We’ve already noticed identical items online that are significantly cheaper than prices we’ve seen in local stores, even after shipping costs are added to the invoice. Given the tyranny of distance and its impact on freight costs you’d expect price tags to differ. However, the difference has become so extreme that it’s clear something else is driving up local retail prices.

Numerous theories abound. Retailers claim that commercial rents are three or four times higher in main street Australia. The minimum wage, and thus the cost of labour, is also higher. There may be some grain of truth to these claims. Commercial rent typically represents up to 25% of revenue in Australia, while global brands typically pay less than 10% in the United States. Last week the minimum wage was increased by 3.4%, or $15.51 an hour, to $589.30 a week for a full-time employees. By contrast, the current minimum wage in the UK, set in October 2010, is £5.93 per hour for adults aged 21 or older; less for younger workers. That less than A$9.20 per hour.

However, higher commercial rent and labour costs cannot account for the entire price differential. Analysts suggest that Australians, use to higher prices generated by a weaker dollar, are still willing to pay the same retail price even though the wholesale cost of imported goods has fallen 40% or more. Personally, I’m waiting for the new banana crop to mature.