Sydney's Dust Storm

On Wednesday Sydney had the biggest dust storm that he city has seen in 40 years. It was unbelievable leaving the city completely blind with a thick layer of red dust over everything. So, you'd think that I have tons of pictures and stories, but I actually didn't even know that we were in the dust storm until my dad asked me about it. I knew we were having weird weather but since I missed the actual "dust storm" part it took me longer to figure it out. It started on Tuesday night when we had a huge thunderstorm roll in. The wind was so bad and Clare and I decided to stay in and watch a movie. Before going to bed, I felt so sick with swollen glands and coughing. I couldn't figure out how I had gotten sick so quickly. That night I tossed and turned and really didn't sleep, so I figured I would sleep in on Wednesday. Since I slept in I missed the big storm but realized that my coughing was because my throat was so irritated by the amount of pollution in the air. The reporters said that air pollution was way above harmful levels and asked people to stay inside if they could. Even going out later in the day, my throat was still really irritated and didn't get better until last night. Crazy! It was such a bizarre couple of days and really cool to see the city covered. Below are a few pictures from other people but it gives you an idea of what it looked like.

Monday I went to Manly Beach with Melinda. We took the ferry ride out to Manly which is about 30 mins from the city. We had a great time hanging out on the beach, walking down the trail and climbing to the top of some rocks. Sitting at he top we were able to see some whales that were migrating. It was really cool to see the huge black spots in the ocean and all the birds that were following the whales. It's starting to get warmer and I'm looking forward to actually going and just laying out at these beaches and not just walking around! My goal is to come home tan:)