Argh, Part Two. Last night, on a very hot night, a transformer exploded and my neighborhood plunged into extreme darkness. No street lights, no moon, no stars. First problem was, I sleep in a powered chair and I was stuck! I had to climb to the top of the slope and it started tipping over and I fell back and had to climb again. My breathing was labored because of the heat. Eventually, I found a flashlight and got dressed. No phone service, again, so I found my phone list and keys and headed for the car to find a working phone and call the power company. I was greeted in the back yard (now, I'm rural and only expect deer) by a man with a flashlight who called out "Alabama Power, don't shoot." He was looking for the power box in my yard that governs eight or ten houses. So, till 3:00 am his truck was running on my drive with the headlights pointed at that power box. He told me he expected to still be here "in the morning." I haven't checked the condition of refrigerator and freezers yet and know I have lots of clocks and screens to reset, but what glorious sleep I had once the house was again air conditioned. Hey! I'm ready for some normal. It makes you appreciative.
One other thing. I noticed that the granddaddy frogs and crickets and pond noises and other animals making noise were extremely loud in that total darkness. It was like the start of a scary movie. (Ever see Deliverance?)
In Jan 2018 the power was off in our short street for 26hrs but every thing in our fridge & freezer was alright .Considering it was in the high 30Cs both days & we did open them to get food out.The freezer blocks for the esky were still frozen
I heard on the radio today that Sydney has Grade 1 water restrictions - under the restrictions, Sydney residents can water lawns and gardens by a hand held hose before 10 am or after 4 pm, as long as their hose is fitted with a trigger nozzle, but can't hose down any hard surfaces, or use sprinklers. We live 2 hours north of Sydney and we don't have any water restrictions, but we are water wise.
I hope your Power man is o.k. too it must have been a shock for him seeing some light in the total darkness. I was amazed by his comment of "Don't shoot" - us Aussies don't usually have firearms. Love Chris
Residential areas here don't have any wildlife as such, spiders and some snakes but snakes aren't to be found everywhere.
Rural areas might have kangaroos, wallabies, dingoes, snakes, camels, crocodiles, Emus, possums, lots of spiders, but it all depends in which part of Australia they live.
There have been rumours about cougars or similar, in some mountain areas, but nothing confirmed that I know of.
Remembering, of course, that Australia is larger than the United States, so many regions are still unexplored.
I live alongside a river and have wild ducks, a Pelican, Eastern Water Dragons (quite small and harmless), possums and the occasional snake that may come to visit.
We don't have bears or mountain lions or deer, or moose or buffalo or many of the large animals found roaming free in the US.
Hope this is helpful, huge hugs, Meg
I feel for the Power man if he has to call out don't shoot while doing his job getting power back to people. Thank goodness here in Australia he wouldn't be saying "don't shoot" it would be "Is your Dog tied up I don't want to get bitten"