Rain

Sydney has double the annual rainfall of London, but fewer rainy days, so when it does rain it doesn't  mess about. Today is such a day. Our neighbours are pleased, as their garden is dry, but they haven't travelled 12,000 miles to escape from weather like this. Our road, Eric Fenning Drive, is currently Eric Fenning River. I have a useful app on my iPad where I can see local and national radar and satellite views of Australia, and all the State capitals except Hobart currently have their own low pressure systems. The good news is that it's going to clear up after tomorrow.

We'd promised John we'd visit his woodwork shed - more correctly the Eurobodalla Woodcraft Guild Inc - which is at Mogo, a few miles from here, so we did. The rain was torrential, with visibility about the same as in a car wash, but we went anyway. They had lathes, belt sanders, sawing machines, all the stuff you'd expect, all financed through membership fees, sales, and odd bits of commissioned work.

Most of the timber they pick up as off cuts or find lying about. I suspect the guild is 50% social club, though, as my keen eye detected evidence of tea and cake.

Mogo itself is an old gold rush town, dating from 1851 when gold was found there. The old part of the town is preserved as a tourist attraction where you can pan for gold (you generally find a flake or two), but the town proper, with a population of 257 at the last census, has become an arts and crafts centre,  with more art galleries than many larger places. There's a pottery, and botanical gardens just along the way, so when it stops raining we'll maybe come back.