Queensland's weather is hot! This makes the winter delightful but sometimes the summer becomes a bit excessive! Yesterday was one of those days - 38 degrees (100 degrees F.) under my verandah and 33 degrees (91 degrees F.) in the family room before I turned on the air conditioner. Added to that we have had no decent rain for five months. I have watched thunderstorms build around me - (and taken lots of cloud photos!) and then move somewhere else before they started dropping rain. Nevertheless, I would rather it remained dry and the clouds moved elsewhere than have the troubles that have happened close-by in the last couple of days. Two days ago a thunderstorm had been hanging around the south of Fraser Island. There was one very big lightning strike on the Island and then without any warning the lightning struck right in the middle of a group of holiday makers on Inskip Point. One man was killed instantly and his son was tossed up and thrown down a few meters away. Here is a link to the news article and a video from the site. Then last night something similar happened on the Sunshine Coast but this time the lightning struck a caravan and two men were lucky enough to only need taking to hospital.
(I frequently post about going out to Inskip Point to see shorebirds - but NOT between Christmas and New Year! I don't know how many campers are there this year but it was reported a couple of years ago the numbers were going to be limited to 3,000! That must hardly leave room to walk! AND I have heard that there is always a BIG party for New Year's eve! I don't think any birds would stay around with that kind of noise!)
The bush around here is also very dry. I don't know how the fruit-eating birds are managing. This male Koel came down and tried to make a meal of cherry tomatoes that had self-seeded in a weedy patch of garden. I have a number of these hibiscus shrubs in the garden. They are the old fashioned kind that grow if you just poke a cutting into the ground! They are also the only things that are flowering at present. These little White-throated Honeyeaters (Melithreptus albogulans) were on the flowers the other afternoon. These birds are only 13-15cms (5-6 ins.) and some of the cutest that come into my garden. For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.
[null, {"document_url": "http://sandystraitsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2013/12/queenslands-weather-is-hot-this-makes.html", "unformatted_src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vlgDeBMmX1M/UsDoUfSrfiI/AAAAAAAAHNI/4e_BIl2lj6M/s640/CC1.jpg", "src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vlgDeBMmX1M/UsDoUfSrfiI/AAAAAAAAHNI/4e_BIl2lj6M/s640/CC1.jpg", "formatted_filename": "CC", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 424}, {"document_url": "http://sandystraitsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2013/12/queenslands-weather-is-hot-this-makes.html", "unformatted_src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lyHEziG-rtg/UsDoZo0IohI/AAAAAAAAHNQ/cH2M2m8zvBA/s640/CC2.jpg", "src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lyHEziG-rtg/UsDoZo0IohI/AAAAAAAAHNQ/cH2M2m8zvBA/s640/CC2.jpg", "formatted_filename": "CC", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 424}, null, {"document_url": "http://sandystraitsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2013/12/queenslands-weather-is-hot-this-makes.html", "unformatted_src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eEo8KNTQ-Ms/UsDsnnKAo4I/AAAAAAAAHNc/vzFf1wHi09A/s640/CC3.jpg", "src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eEo8KNTQ-Ms/UsDsnnKAo4I/AAAAAAAAHNc/vzFf1wHi09A/s640/CC3.jpg", "formatted_filename": "CC", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 444}, null, {"document_url": "http://sandystraitsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2013/12/queenslands-weather-is-hot-this-makes.html", "unformatted_src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-02TLq3T6-k8/UsDvetb90mI/AAAAAAAAHNo/Bej6B_x0qxg/s640/CC4.jpg", "src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-02TLq3T6-k8/UsDvetb90mI/AAAAAAAAHNo/Bej6B_x0qxg/s640/CC4.jpg", "formatted_filename": "CC", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 474}, {"document_url": "http://sandystraitsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2013/12/queenslands-weather-is-hot-this-makes.html", "unformatted_src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hmZ5-3l_lZ0/UsDvkq04jRI/AAAAAAAAHNw/3YY6Vv_lyeI/s640/CC5.jpg", "src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hmZ5-3l_lZ0/UsDvkq04jRI/AAAAAAAAHNw/3YY6Vv_lyeI/s640/CC5.jpg", "formatted_filename": "CC", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 502}, {"document_url": "http://sandystraitsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2013/12/queenslands-weather-is-hot-this-makes.html", "unformatted_src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PyLB6pjb9OA/UsDvpGENSFI/AAAAAAAAHN4/Iqk9aFOgCk4/s640/CC6.jpg", "src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PyLB6pjb9OA/UsDvpGENSFI/AAAAAAAAHN4/Iqk9aFOgCk4/s640/CC6.jpg", "formatted_filename": "CC", "rendered_width": 548, "rendered_height": 640}, {"document_url": "http://sandystraitsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2013/12/queenslands-weather-is-hot-this-makes.html", "unformatted_src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Ncw82pQnbk/UsDvuYv4cjI/AAAAAAAAHOA/ESGpTbHk8mU/s640/CC7.jpg", "src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Ncw82pQnbk/UsDvuYv4cjI/AAAAAAAAHOA/ESGpTbHk8mU/s640/CC7.jpg", "formatted_filename": "CC", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 512}, null, null, null, null, null, null, {"document_url": "http://sandystraitsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2013/12/queenslands-weather-is-hot-this-makes.html", "unformatted_src": "http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4055/bestblogfriendwhite.png", "src": "http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4055/bestblogfriendwhite.png", "formatted_filename": "bestblogfriendwhite", "alt_text": "best blog friend!", "rendered_width": 150, "rendered_height": 160}]