Our second big blackout of the winter and the first overnight one.
Another set of fierce cold fronts moved through with more dire warnings from the BOM of damaging winds.
Kirsten was the first to know of this blackout. One of the dancers was from Monbulk College and said that a big three had fallen down outside the college taking down the power with it. We have a high voltage line running down our street on the same poles as the 24 volt three phase line.
Looking at the SP-AUSNET website, we could see the power was also out in all the surrounding suburbs except Sylvan, though strangely, the SP-AUSNET twitter feed only mentioned the Emerald blackout.
Arriving in Monbulk on the bus, I found the Main Street bathed in light. However, I found that the darkness started at the Monbulk Primary School and shops immediately opposite.
Our backup plan was now working and in action. We have torches and battery powered lanterns. A fire was lit in the fire place. There were candles on the dining table and in the kitchen. The gas stove still worked for cooking, thought the gas heating does not work without electricity. It was a cold night.
Much to the excitement of the girls, we had dinner by candle light.
Perhaps the worst privation was having to get up and ready for work in the dark with no power.
We had expected to have power by 9am. But at 11 am there was still no power. During the day it was connected, so that even though SP-AUSNET were saying that the power would not be back in Monbulk until 3pm, at our place it was already back.