Matt Mingay’s hinterland home faces eight days without power

Staring down the barrel of eight days disconnected from the grid is daunting for anyone, even for this Gold Coast-based stunt driver and his family.

Stunt driver, Matt Mingay and his family are facing more than a week without power at their Hinterland property. Picture: Jacklyn O'Brien.

Stunt driver Matt Mingay’s Gold Coast hinterland home has made going about daily life an adventure for him and his family in the wake of ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred.

An idyllic home among the gum trees is a dream on most days, but as howling winds and rain pelted the home and the 101 50m-high gum trees which surround it, Mr Mingay said he and his family were bracing for the worst.

“All it takes is one of them to fall on the house and we would have lost everything,” he said.

“We had a few big branches land on our tin roof which we definitely heard, but we were waiting for an almighty big bang which never happened, thank god.”

The only tree which came down on their property was at the back fence.

Leaves and branches litter the ground around Matt Mingay’s hinterland home. Picture: Jacklyn O'Brien.

Nonetheless, on Wednesday the family went into their sixth day without power or phone service.

Energex predicts they will be reconnected to the grid by 9pm on Friday.

Mr Mingay said while the family had a generator – bought in the days following the Christmas Tornado of 2023 – the fuel-powered work horse just couldn’t keep up with demand.

He said without power they’ve had no sewerage and without phone reception they’ve been using the local McDonald’s as their office.

There are now less than 25,000 Gold Coast homes without power as thousands of Energex employees put in a herculean effort to restore it.

At its peak, more than 130,000 homes across the city were without power, with parts of the southern half of the Gold Coast in darkness just days ago.

Energex workers get on with recovery efforts outside HOTA and Bundall. Picture Glenn Hampson

Originally published as Matt Mingay’s hinterland home faces eight days without power