I'm Not in Kansas Anymore...

Early Wednesday morning at approximately 6:30 AM, I was woken by the sound of a floor mate screaming down the hallway, “THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING!” What the heck? Am I dreaming? More screams, “SANDSTORM!!!!!!” Sandstorm? The techno song? Huh? What is gong on? Then about 30 seconds later my room phone rang, “LOOK OUT YOUR WINDOW, YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT!” Alright, that’s it. That was enough for me to drag myself out of bed and pull the curtains. The color orange flooded into my room. Everything out was orange. The sky was orange. The air was orange. The ground was orange. I think I rubbed my eyes a few times because I didn’t believe my eyes. This was crazy! So what did I do? I ran outside to take pictures of course!





The moment I stepped outside, I felt like I was IN the Wizard of Oz movie, or any old movie at that. Not only was the air thick but it was heaps windy; I thought I was gonna blow over. It felt like a big storm was brewing. What’s going on? What’s going on? I asked all the Aussies. This was The Dust Storm of 09.



Being outside felt like the feeling you get after you just slide into home plate on the baseball field. You could taste the dust in your mouth and feel it in your eyes. Apparently Sydney got hit the hardest. This was a picture I found online of the Opera House on Wednesday morning. On the news, they advised people to stay inside and even suggested that students not go to school. Dust Day? Is that possible? After a few hours you could begin to see layers of dust on people’s cars and on the sidewalks.



I’ve been told this was the worst dust storm in Australia’s history. However, the news articles online say it was the worst dust storm in 70 years. The last dust storm that hit Newcastle was 6 years ago, but not nearly as bad. When I went back to my room to go back to sleep, I realized that I foolishly left my window open and there was dust ALL over my desk and everything on my desk was on the floor. Whoops. Luckily, I don’t have Uni on Wednesdays, so I didn’t have to venture out into the orange world. By mid afternoon the sun was out and the orange had toned down. Well, at least I can say that I survived The Dust Storm of 09!