This is old news to Sydney siders, but last Friday (a week ago) Sydney was ravaged by fierce weather. Newcastle, three hours to the north of Sydney, was hit the hardest, but Sydney itself received a hefty battering. About eight people were killed, and quite a few injured, and many houses were damaged and thousands were without power after powerlines came down.

My high school was right near Sydney Harbour (you could see it from the classrooms). I was lucky enough to be driven to school every day by my mother, who would also drop my father off at Cremorne Point Wharf, and he would catch the ferry into the city for work. I too used that wharf many times, including on school excursions. However, the wharf was hit pretty badly by this storm. This is how the wharf now looks:-

Just a little damaged, hey. They say it will take a few months before the wharf is back in working order, and now our State Government has decided to look at the state of our other wharfs - long overdue. I just think it is awful that it takes something like this to happen for the government to decide that they should do some structural checks that should have been done about twenty years ago. This storm also saw part of a road collapse, killing five people in a car, and only now are they deciding to run checks on the safetyness of the road. Both disasters could have been easily prevented if the proper checks that should have been carried out years ago were actuallycarried out.

On a side note (but highly important) ~ I'm on HOLIDAYS!!!! Five and a half weeks! Queensland, here I come! I need to get away from the bitterness (temperature)of Sydney.