Thursday 24 September 2009

Pity the poor farmers ...


We had been warned to expect winds in excess of 100kms per hour, so when the windows started to rattle and doors to bang I knew that the spring pollen would be on the wing and that, being an asthmatic, my early morning walk was probably not a wise move.

However, the eerie glow when I opened the blinds at 5:30 took the wind out of my sails. The sky was pink! Within seconds, I was trying to cough my lungs up onto the pavers, so beat a hasty retreat. My daughter called to check on my stupidity levels as she huffed her way to the station across town.

These images were taken at the front of my cottage on the way to and from work. Have a look at the photograph that I have added to Tuesday's post.

30 comments:

Lois said...

I thought about you when I saw pictures of this on the news this morning Julie!

BlossomFlowerGirl said...

Standing on the balcony early this morning was quite a sight - the sky was a brilliant orange/pink, and I recalled Mum and Dad's words of wisdom 'Pink sky at night sailor's delight, pink sky at morning sailor's warning.' The water at Balmoral Beach was emerald green.

J said...

I think if I saw that first thing in the morning I'd be worried the world had ended!

Sean said...

Incredible...

Marcel said...

Amazing, I have never seen something like that before. I just red about it on the other Sidney blog, hope you guys will be allright.

James said...

That top picture says it all. Simply amazing.

Anonymous said...

I just heard about this! It looks so eerie, and Tuesday's photo is amazing. (Your daughter knows you well.)

brattcat said...

Take care. This too shall pass.

Z said...

You came to mind immediately when I saw the first reports about the condition. I hope things get better soon.

Tash said...

I heard about it on the Wiki news clips. It is really spooky. Hope everyone manages OK.

Virginia said...

That is an amazing photo. I thought at first you had done some razzle dazzle with photoshop!
V

Stefan Jansson said...

Been reading about this, quite amazing. It's heading towards New Zeeland now.

Joan Elizabeth said...

Yesterday I thought how different your Tuesday post would be ... thanks for being so smart and doing a comparison shot. I think the really red stuff must have gone through here overnight because it was nowhere near as red up here ... dusty all day but not that eerie red ... though I was not up early enough to catch it in the early morning glow.

Jim said...

It really was freaky. Great seeing the contrast, at the same location.
Sydney - City and Suburbs

Julie ScottsdaleDailyPhoto.com said...

wow, amazing photos including Tuesday's post. stay where you can breathe especially if you have asthma.

Unseen Rajasthan said...

Some really amazing shots !! Great..Unseen Rajasthan

VP said...

Quite worrying sight opening the blinds one morning...

Lowell said...

I had read about this terrible dust storm and also thought about you immediately.

We had some bad dust storms in Arizona, but I don't think anything like this.

Hope it's all blown over and that things are back to normal.

Benikos place said...

Looks to be terrible, we see it today morning in the german tv.

Bergson said...

I view images on TV news; impressive

Leif Hagen said...

Awesome before and after photos! Glad we don't get sandstorms here! Phew!

cara said...

really enjoying all these dust storm pictures. Just quietly, while we're checking on stupidity levels, I took my daughter out on her scooter in it (so I could get a few snaps).

Unknown said...

I've seen it on the news and I was amazed! Hope everything is back to normal now as I haven't heard more about it.

Mirela said...

I saw the news photos of the storm... WOW! I'm glad you quickly retreated to your house, but also glad you snapped this photo.

Firefly the Travel Guy said...

Heard on the news about this, but something else to actually see.

AB said...

Pity the farmers and the people whose roofs get blown away, but the shots of Sydney covered in dusty red are amazing.

Reader Wil said...

Thank you so much for this post and for your comment! This is straight from the ... mouth! Anyway you have been there and I was just trying to find an Australian newspaper to get the news and the photos. My daughter lives to far in North Queensland to have taken photos. How are you now? Hopefully you can breathe again!

Janice / Dancing with Sunflowers said...

We had news coverage of this and I've seen several images on blogs this SWF. I hope you've recovered from the effects on your lungs and I'm glad it's all over for you - but it certainly was a magnificent sight to experience and thanks for sharing the photo.
Janice.

Ann said...

That's incredible. I was hoping you had some shots of this. Saw it in the Herald.

CaT said...

wow, yes, thats how it looked. it was the weirdest thing i ever experienced...
i was glad we were not driving with the windows open, haha