Well, Mother Nature still finds ways to surprise us, doesn't she? ‘A Winter Wonderland’ in September wasn't on our Bingo card, but Castlemaine turned it on for us anyway.
Six inches of icy hail blanketing the footpath at Mostyn and Barker Sts was the aftermath of a spectacular storm on Wednesday evening. Our norm
al meeting venue, the Cumberland Hotel, had succumbed to the onslaught so we had to cancel our regular Club meeting. Frantic phone calls and text messages managed to alert most members, although a couple of hardy souls did turn up — and dealt with the cancellation with typical good grace. Five kilometers away in Campbells Creek there was an impressive rainstorm, but no hail. It must have been ‘interesting’ to be in the eye of the storm with all of that ice cascading from above.
The scene pictured was captured roughly two hours after the icy downfall around our town’s retail and business district, and patches of hail remained clearly visible on the ground well into the following afternoon despite a calm and sunny day.
Earlier in the day, Castlemaine Rotarians had cooked a BBQ lunch for a host of Primary and Secondary school students from schools near and far who were competing in Castlemaine Secondary College’s Chess Tournament. Fortunately we were well packed up and resting on our laurels before the storm arrived.