Mooloolaba Thunderstorms

We have spent an enforced, but social week at Mooloolaba, pinned down by strong Southerly winds, pouring rain, thunder and lightning. Sarah managed to come for a visit and we all had morning tea with John and Heather, who live locally on the canals. Did plenty of walking and possibly too much shopping, as Whitworths and RoadTech Marine were just up the road. Had a visit from Les and Di (La Perla) and their teenage kids, which was great, as we hadn't managed to catch them at Rainbow Beach due to dashing down here in a great hurry. Meg and Mark (formerly from S V Grace) came for lunch, which was a lovely catchup as we hadn't seen them for over five years. Spent a lovely Australia Day with John and Heather, managing to get there in the dinghy before it poured. I couldn't remember if we had closed all the ports, so poor Tony dashed back home in the rain - and of course, all was closed up. Paul and Nicole (Perfection) kindly ferried us around to any boat shops we needed and plenty of others they could think of, then took us to their home for dinner. We had such a great evening that we ended up all staying the night. Between all the socialising and shopping, we managed to get some maintenance done and even winched Tony up the mast (between thunderstorms) to replace the main halyard and topping lift.

We were thankful not to have been struck by lightning, with all the storms around this week. While lightning is fascinating to watch, we had a close call when one bolt hit the ground at the park behind us! It was so close that we could hear the crackle, feel the static in the air, and our ears were ringing for ages afterwards.