weather - australian style

boiling hot one day, stifling the next ...

Published on December 4, 2004 By mignuna In Travel

The ‘Aussie’ weather barometer is cheap, easy to use, and works in all weather. They are located as ‘curiosities’ at various Australian tourist towns, and oddly enough, some visitors actually seem to take them seriously.

They consist of a board with a piece of string nailed to it.

(Yes, I’m afraid that’s it).

Underneath the string, however, are the following instructions:

STRING IS WET ~ IT’S RAINING

STRING IS DRY ~ IT’S NOT RAINING

STRING IS INVISIBLE ~ IT’S NIGHT TIME

STRING IS MOVING ~ IT’S WINDY

STRING IS STILL ~ IT’S NOT WINDY

STRING IS CASTING SHADOW ~ IT’S SUNNY

STRING IS NOT CASTING SHADOW ~ IT’S CLOUDY

STRING IS BLACK ~ IT’S FIRE SEASON

STRING IS WHITE ~ IT’S SNOWING

STRING IS MISSING ~ SOME BASTARD HAS STOLEN STRING AGAIN

Comments

Danny Bassette

on Dec 04, 2004

I gotta get me one of those, I could mount it outside my window so I could tell what the weather is without going outside

DylanZimmerman

on Dec 04, 2004

hehehe.

You're an innovative nation indeed, and one hell of a sense of humor.

Dyl xx

Floozie

on Dec 05, 2004

There is the weather rock as well - I remember it from the long drive to Brisbane from Sydney as a child. I think it's in Tenterfield, but I'm probably wrong. It had the addition of

ROCK IS WHITE - It's snowing

ROCK IS GONE - Hurricane Season

I'm sure there were more, but I've tried to block those particularly painful memories of being stuck between my siblings, not allowed to talk, laugh or even breath loudly for fear of our father turning the car around and making the trip TWICE as long! Urgh. It's planes all the way for me now, baby!

Suz xxx

mignuna

on Dec 05, 2004

ROCK IS GONE - Hurricane Season

hehe suz, i seem to have heard of something like this, too. but i thought it was a log, or a tree stump or something. (ugh, it probably is, i bet there's two. oh damn, knowing australia, i bet the things are everywhere).

danny, you can make your own !. i'll give you detailed instructions. ok: nail a piece of string to something (even a tree). then mount (hehe i said mount) the instructions somewhere. that's it. let me know how yo go !

thankyou dyl *takes a bow*. i figure if i can't beat 'em ...

mig XXX

Danny Bassette

on Dec 05, 2004

I can do that? It doesn't have to be genuine australian string and wood? Wow...

mignuna

on Dec 08, 2004

I can do that? It doesn't have to be genuine australian string and wood? Wow

danny, i hereby give you 'formal australian permission' to construct a weather board out of non-genuine materials !

mig XXX

Danny Bassette

on Dec 08, 2004

Woohoo, time for arts and crafts

citahellion

on Dec 09, 2004

Here in Minnesota, we need a few extra lines:

String is Frozen solid: It was raining, but then the temperature dropped below freezing.

String is pointing straight outward, or upward: There's a tornado nearby.

String is underwater: It's flooding.

String is an eerie, flickering greenish color: It's night and the Aurora borealis is shining.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!