Allan and Helen Walters were in bed at their Kathryn Place home when the trees were struck by lightning.

Helen nearly jumped out of bed, Allan said. “I hate storms,” Helen admits.

But it wasn’t until the next morning, when Helen made the trek to the compost bin, that she noticed the trees had been hit. When she told Allan, he was sceptical, but upon closer examination he had to admit she was right – “One to you,” was his comment.

In daylight the extent of the strike was revealed.

The bromeliads planted around the base of the trees have been fried and the ‘old man’s beard’ has been singed. Bark has been torn away in strips from both the ironbark and its neighbour, presumably tracking the lightning bolt’s path far up into the treetops.

Allan and Helen have lived in the area for more than 20 years but have never experienced a lightning strike. The only one Allan remembers was when he was a child living in Lansdowne, where a tree was struck in a neighbour’s property and the blackened path of the bolt ended only metres from their neighbour’s home.