After many months of laziness and procrastination - interspersed with occasional bouts of swimming, kitesurfing and basketball - we have now joined the Adelaide Running Crew - yay!
This morning was the first time I attended and by 8am it was already 32C. By the time we finished the run - for me a measly 4-5 km - about 30-45 mins later, it was 35C and was forecast to reach 40C later in the day. This being Australia, we fired up one of the public bbqs in the park and enjoyed a couple of hours dossing, drinking, eating and generally reversing all the good effects of the run.
It was a memorable experience in its own right, but that's not where it ends.
About half way through, we heard a massive crash nearby - one of the very large trees in the park, not 50 metres distance from us, shed a half-ton branch from a height of about 10 m and basically totalled three cars parked underneath it. The park was full of people, lots of children in the paddling pool a stone's throw away, so it's a small miracle no one was hurt.
And that's how you learn about life in Australia, trial and error. Never park your car underneath a large tree, especially when it's this hot; apparently the sap can get so heated up it almost explodes and can take down a whole tree within seconds.
See the pics of the crash below. The guy in the foreground is Richard, from our crew, and the unfortunate, forlorn owner of the green and white car, a carefully restored and much loved piece of car history; he was ringing the emergency services. C'est la vie...
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| The tree above, with the stump where the branch came off |
