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River Of Data.com |
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Sunday, 16 November, Gladstone, QLD, AU to Brisbane, QLD, AU We got up early and went to a wonderful 800 service at St. Saviours Anglican Church, where all were friendly and welcoming and we had tea and biscuits after the service. We headed out of town and found the highway without much difficulty. We made good time down the road past more sugar cane fields. An hour north of Brisbane we stopped at the Ginger Factory for two reasons: first, we needed a break, and second, Gail loves ginger. We bought some cookies and candy and headed back out. From that point on things got crazy. First, we had just gotten onto the four lane section of highway approaching the metropolitan area when we ended up stopped for almost an hour due to an accident somewhere ahead. As we finally got going again we realized the sky ahead was turning very black and lightning was flashing ever closer. We didn't think that much about it, as we've been in thunderstorms before. You just slow down and become extra careful. The rain started hard, and then poured harder than we've ever seen before. We couldn't see 50 feet ahead and couldn't even see the dashed lines to tell if we were in a lane, or which one. Despite some cars continuing by us at 50 mph, we joined the majority who pulled over to a complete stop and put their flashers on. After about 20 minutes it let up enough to continue on, but never stopped. The Brisbane CBD was totally empty, as it was Sunday night in very bad weather. That turned out to be a blessing, as the city is filled with one-way and dead-end streets. After stopping to read the map on several occasions, and stopping to ask a cab driver for directions in another, as well as three U turns, we finally found the hotel. However, when I finally pulled up in front of the hotel, it wasn't the right place to check in, so after going around a block and doing another U turn we finally got to the place to have our bags taken and the car parked. The room was fine, and when we turned the TV on we learned that there was extensive damage all over the city, and one person had died. We were thankful that we'd missed the part where trees were falling on cars and wires were dropping on streets. Room service was the answer for the exhausted two of us at that point. |
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