Wet and Wild!

We experienced our first major winter storm here the other night/day. Beginning in the middle of the night, a storm swept through Perth and surrounding areas with winds around 50-60 mph with rain coming down sideways. Sam thought the world was coming to an end, Lucas slept through the whole thing and Steve and I lay awake as doors creaked, windows rattled and the earth seemed to shake violently. It was really quite spectacular! The homes here are all made of brick, which is, of course, no accident. They keep things cooler in the hot Australian summer and secure during the windy, rainy winter season. Amazingly we didn't lose power or suffer an ill effects from the storm, except for some sleepless hours in the night.

Temps seem to rise into the 70's each day no matter what. Locals are wearing scarves, jackets and hats with their flip flops, but you do see some boots now and again too. Us crazy Americans have been swimming in the ocean as recently as a week or so ago, and that is lunacy to the locals. We can't help it; the water is warm!