I have never associated Australia with wild weather but some of these photographs confound that belief. They are certainly stunning. From the dark foreboding and menacing cloud banks many tens of kilometres in height to the piquant reds of a sunset it has them all. I am ever in awe of nature like this when it is at its pristine best. I revel in its colours, in its innate magisterial vastness as my emotions resonate with its splendour and beauty.

Of course Australia is subjected to  extreme weather  such as floods and cyclones. The one which has claimed the most lives and caused the greatest destruction to property in the recent past has been bushfires. As the last photograph indicates, Australia  is a nation with a Catastrophic Fire Danger Rating (even higher than Extreme).