Orange Oz

What would you do if you went to sleep in an oceanside suburb of Sydney, Australia, and woke up on. . . Mars?

I caught the end of the story on the late news the other night about a dust storm in Sydney. I hadn't heard anything about it previously but, since David and Amy live there, I checked the story out online, then fired off an e-mail to David and Amy to see what was going on Down Under. Amy sent the pictures below, the first bunch she had taken and the others she forwarded from her friend, Murray Fraser.


These two shots are from the kitchen area about sunrise looking southwest through the glass doors to the balcony: the first suggests a fire in the street below and the second, using the flash, suggests the problem is at least still outside the apartment.




This picture is taken from the balcony door looking south-southwest at the beach, just barely visible through the acrylic panels of the guardrail.


These two were taken from the other end of the apartment looking northeast. The first, over the top of the parking garage - or car park, I suppose - directly across the street and the second, down the street a little bit to the right.

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That's about enough to convince yourself that you and your world have somehow been transported during the night to Mars. But taking a breath on the balcony and tasting the grit would bring you back to Earth. I guess it would be kind of like a surprise snowfall - do I go to work or do I lay out? David and Amy both went to work but I guess Murray did what I would've done - he got his camera out and started shooting. . .

Amy said when she sent these that they were taken in Manly on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour.

The two pics below are on the promenade just above Manley beach.

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Following another flurry of e-mails last night, I learned that the orange cloud had blown out to sea and things were returning to normal. These two pictures, looking south-southwest and southwest respectively, show a more normal view from David and Amy's apartment.

I'm glad it's all back to normal for them but this got me thinking... how awesome would it be if Mack Brown could flip a switch down at the D K Royal Memorial Stadium and turn Austin's skies that color?

Hook 'Em, Horns!