Duststorm hits downunder.

its been on our teles..it looks awefull. hope it clears soon.

It looks terrible, I sympathise with you on having to clean all your home, it gets every where and lasts for months trying to get rid of it all, I have been under simular circumstances.

It's the health angle that concerns me the most - particularly those people with lung problems anyway.

Goodness Bernieh,never again will I moan when preparing to decorate( actually I bet I do) it looks really eerie,hope it clears soon for you,looking at your pics one can almost taste it..........

I have seen this (on the TV) but I'm pleased to say I have never had to suffer it. It must be awful and quite dangerous too. How do people cope while they are driving?

Wagger - I was visiting my grandchildren in Brisbane when it came through on Wednesday and two of them suffer a bit with asthma ... had to close up the house and keep them indoors that afternoon and all the next day!! Luckily they came through it OK.

Ian - lots of people just stayed at home in Sydney. There was almost no visibility down there - in Brisbane it wasn't as bad.

This is so hard to get rid of..I wish you luck..when Mt. St. Helens dusted us..it took 3 springs of heavy rain before the trees were bright green again..this powdery dust is just awful..the only thing we found that worked at all to clear it off our pathways and porches was lots of rinsing with hose pipe water...and it still fluffed back in...

Yes have seen some pics of this spectacular sight, so glad this is a sort of weather we don't have to complain about in this country! How awful to have it gettting everywhere, hope you manage to get cleaned up soon.

Thanks for the tip Catfinch - that's exactly what we were planning on doing when the dust finally clears. We have a huge verandah on three sides of our house and it will be getting a few hose downs.

Lily2 - I think I'll be cleaning up for quite some time trying to get rid of this fine red dust. My house is made of wood - walls and floors - and everywhere is covered in dust. Despite several cleaning attempts there's footprints everywhere on the wooden floors!!

Gives you a good reason for a couple of cold tinnys to wash it downyour throat though, here I've got to find excuses!!! lol
brill pic of the opera house it looks like the end of the world !!!

Definitely a great excuse for a coldie!! (There's not many occasions when a coldie seems out of place over here Indy!) Have to agree about the opera house photo - it's a bit doomsday looking isn't it? By the time the dust had moved north to Queensland it was more of an orange than that deep red - but still downright annoying!

Oh crickey not much fun for people with lung problems - and to think last year I moaned when we got a bit of sand from the sahara come over and cover the car!

I'm convinced be there in a tick!!!

Looks and sounds Terrible dont envy you all the cleaning up,it must have been awful for people with chest problems, hope it all clears away quickly.

I hope it clears soon for you. I'm glad your grand children were not affected too much.

It's hard to get your head around the size of the dust cloud Bernieh ! Glad it doesn't come your way too often and all the best with the cleaning up !! :- ((

Thanks Pansypotter, Hywel and Sue ... it looks so much clearer today. It's still hazy outside but so far no wind, so serious clean-up begins today.

Oh Bernie what a dreadful mess we have seen it on t.v. but your blog brings a clearer picture (pardon the pun) of how it affects the general public over there
I hope your lovely garden and house are soon dust free How have the wildlife coped with the dust?
Thinking of you

Thanks Neellan - actually the wallabies have not been around at all except for that one mother who's a regular. The birds have been rather quiet too! I'd imagine it would be just as annoying for the wildlife as it is for us. Today seems to be a whole lot better so far - hazy but the winds have dropped and most of the dust seems to have gone out to sea now.

I am most concerned to hear your news - I hope you, your family, native wildlife and your lovely garden are going to be ok. Your comments suggest all is going to be ok with the former but what effect will it have on your garden?

I need some sand for drainage and laying some slabs. Having an unexpected free home delivery like this would not however be very welcome. I mean it is bad enough clearing up after a delivery so to have it dumped everywhere must be truly awful.

It might be out of place to try to cheer you up on this blog so I am moving on to your next blog.

It's mostly cleared now Gardeningfriend. The wallabies have been noticeably absent this past week and there have been far less birds around than normal - so I think they've found it difficult as well.

While there's still dust settling around and in the house, it doesn't seem to have caused any trouble in the garden.

And would you believe today the air was also filled with smoke haze from a large bushfire nearby!!

Bernieh - Wet summer, flooding, drought, wind, dust storms, disappearing wildlife, bush fire, smoke haze and wilting plants - and just as you thought things couldn't get any worse GF turns up on your site - no wonder you are downunder. Surely things can only get better now, but I am sending you a good luck spell just to make sure.

Hi Gardeningfriend - it's bright and early on Monday morning here and Miss Grumpy (me) has got out of bed on the right side today. You magic must have worked. The courtyard plants seem to be a lot happier this morning - I think they're all definitely coming to come through.

Hi Bernie - Dusty Springfield singing "I can see clearly now" - springs to mind.

Thanks Gardeningfriend ... and would you believe - it's raining! Here we are 9.00 pm and it's been raining for nearly 45 minutes ... it's magical!!! (and completely unheard of at this time of year!) I think all your positive thoughts must be working.

Up in Cape York we got the dust also ,it stayed with us for a week .

Oh it was the same here ... we had high winds all during that time and cleaning was a total waste of time. Then we had bushfires break out and there was smoke haze for another week - the awesome power of Mother Nature.