Today was a typical Monday... I went to lectures from (9:30-1:30 straight) and the ventured back to the student village to do a wee bit of reading and work on my resume in preparation for my co-op job search. As I was working by my window I noticed the temperature drop drastically and the skies darken (this all happened within about 5 minutes). Next thing I knew there was a full-fledge storm taking place. I'm talking about hail!!! Yes, in Australia! My flat mate Sara and I watched the storm from our living room. We saw boxes blowing off balconies above us and hail the size of grapes smashing down! The garbage can on the patio was thrown across the patio and it's contents dispersed all over! Our sliding doors on our balcony were sliding.. yup by themselves! The craziest thing we witnessed?!.... Aussies going for a SWIM IN THE POOL!?! I guess they enjoy the "thrill" of possibly being struck by lightning and getting welts in their bodies from hail. (oh Aussies..)

Once the storm calmed down a bit our other flat mate Matt (Australian..) asked if we wanted to come take some lightning pictures with him. So we ventured out in the storm (which was now just a heavy rain with some lightning) to a jetty to take some pictures. The visibility was poor so we pulled over and watched the storm for a bit and then once it cleared up we ventured onwards. The streets were pretty flooded which did not cooperate with Matt's gas-powered car. At one point the exhaust was underwater and I guess it coated the inside and caused the car to stall. We eventually got it going again only to stall a few feet away from our final destination! So we pushed the car into a parking lot and let it "dry out" (in the rain) as we took pictures of the storm and the city of Perth. NOTE: my camera batteries died :( So I will try to post some pictures from Sara and Matt's cameras when I get them!

The adventurous evening ended with us slowly making our way to Matt's dad's place who lived nearby. They took a look at the car while Sara and I enjoyed some good old Aussie hospitality! We ended up staying for an hour or so and even eating dinner! Matt's dad drove us back to the village safe and sound! Let's hope the poor car does alright after a little bit of drying out! What a great, out-of-the-blue adventure! (and it's only the start of the week!)