Qingdao - 36° 16' 30" N 120° 22' 29" E

December 1934 and the Great Flood hit Melbourne.  Towns were isolated and 35 people were killed. This event is enshrined in family folklore as it was around these raging torrents my grandparents rushed to the hospital for the birth of my late Aunty Helen.

Roll forward exactly 83 years and Melbourne is once again experiencing a record breaking wet spell.  The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a raft of weather warnings and alerts - flood watch, flood warning, severe weather warning, brown rot advice, warning about sheep (but the cows should be okay!), road weather alert ... A fine day to leave town!


Except...

Rain comes from clouds and clouds make the sky bumpy.  And when there is lots of rain, there are lots of clouds, big clouds that make really big bumps!  In all the flying I have done through my life, this was the roughest and bounciest flight ever.  Trolleys crashed in the galley, the flight attendants stumbled and we had to cling to our meal trays to prevent them becoming in-cabin projectiles. We could almost quote the service announcement in Chinese we heard it so often:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the seat belt sign is on. We are going through an area of turbulence. The lavatories are not used.  Hang on tight"

Things finally calmed down and we discovered we were flying over the Clarence Strait.  Last time we were here, it was at sea level aboard Popeye!

Clarence Strait and The Vernon Islands

Our route heading into Darwin in July

Our flight route