The Northern Thaw

This report includes some interesting photos highlighting some of the flaws when it thaws. Photos mostly by Andrea, whilst Peter is up to his neck in it ;-)

The thaw in Japan is underway

The wood peckers are busy in the forests

The skies look more like rain-bearing than snow-bearing and the snow looks goopy

The thaw is causing the snow pack to break apart

Ooops - a snow bridge collapse

Peter surveys the situation

The shovelling begins

Lesson #1, always take a tow vehicle with you

The boys wring out of the wet gear

The after-crater

I wait with bated breath for the next exciting instalment from Rusutsu :-)

As for news from Thredbo, well, the entire region (from Cooma to Tumut) was the victim of a major power spike last Monday evening. First my lights went bright, then really dull, then extremely bright, then out. When the lights (well some of them) came back on some 45 minutes later, the only other thing that was working in my apartment was the oven. No TV, no computer, no microwave, nothing. Mild panic set in at this point.

I went to the power box to find that the safety switch had turned off - probably saving thousands of dollars of damage. After a reset, all my appliances and computer were operational. I was lucky, in as much that, I only appear to have lost a down-light transformer. Others were far worse off as the horror stories emerged over the next few days. Garage doors not working, internal lifts not working, electric door locks not working, power boards blown up, smoke and fire, ovens, washing machines, fridges and the list goes on.

I was told, by someone in the electrical trade that the spike came from Victoria and none of the suppliers could prevent it spreading through town after town. Trying to get a sparky for a minor repair is just not happening yet.