Ah ha! This is why this is a rainforest

Michele: Our first 4 months here in the wet tropics weren't very wet. We had two months of virtually no rainfall and this was the driest winter on record. However, when I asked uncle Larry and other if they were worried for the trees with the lack of rain they all laughed at my concern. "It'll come. Just wait till the Wet starts." It seems that they were right. In the past few weeks, we've been moving into summer weather and with it lots of wind and rain.

Spring rain here is unlike the steady rain of a New England spring. The rain comes up all of a sudden with a strong wind and with a torrential downpour that may be over anywhere from 2-20 minutes. The wind blows the rain sideways and everything on our covered terrace gets wet. I have a new appreciation for the word squall.

Until today we've had a shower or two a day but today was a whole new ball game. Squall after squall has been blowing in from the sea. 5.5cm in 24 hours. The happy frogs are croaking. Unfortunately, someone anchored their boat on the beach last night and they were not so happy this morning. The high winds actually turned their boat over (see pic). The great barrier reef and Dunk Island shelter our beach from high waves so the turning over of this boat is particularly impressive.

If this isn't the start of the Wet, I wonder what we are in for.