Cyclone! [22 March 2006]
Well the news from Far North Queensland this week has definately been Cyclone Larry!
Thank-you for all the lovely phone calls, texts and emails - yes I'm fine....it was an experience though................
My housemate Nic is a broadcaster for ABC who were obviously key in tracking the cyclone's progress up here so our place was all ready for the cyclone to hit and any associated power failures with tape on windows, supplies of candles, torches, battery operated radios, tins of baked beans, bottled water and everything in the centre of the room taped down and bagged up. I was taking it all as an adventure and she was a bit concerned that being from Melbourne I didn't grasp the concept of a cyclone and that I might be scared when it hit so found someone for me to stay with (while she did all night coverage). Thankfully I got out of that by staying at Kath's which was fun (also from Melbourne - Nic would have had a heart attack to know that we didn't even tape all the windows). We were severly disappointed at the lack of action in Townsville without even coconuts flying as they had done in the tropical depression I'd experienced in New Caledonia (& no such luck as going nightclubbing with Australian swimmers from the AIS either - all in Melbourne this time!)
So it was just a lot of rain & wind in Townsville. A tragedy for many people in Innisfail though, many of whose houses were destroyed.
It did mean that uni was closed and my exam was postponed to the following day.
For those who know my cousin Stephen in Cairns, he called me the following day and they were all fine up there too.
In other news, that night I went with Kath to an army dinner. For those who know Bren, Kath's fiance, he gets back tomorrow - Thursday (she's been counting down).
So my first experience of an army type function up here and they were actually really interesting people. I'd expected war stories discussing various types of weaponary or something or no interest to me but actually it turned out that a lot of world politics was discussed. They'd just got back from Iraq with the main aim of their mission to provide protection to the Australian Embassy in Bagdad. So they'd had lunch with Alexander Downer and been witness to some of the AWB fiasco. Cool hey and they're fans of Nic's so we're all hoping to hook up an interview for Bren on ABC re his experiences in Iraq when he gets back!
She's also interesting in interviewing all those PhD students I've met so I'm going to be Nic's story spotter as I always seem to come across interesting people - so I think we could have a bit of fun!
Anyway that's all for the moment as Cyclone Wati seems to be travelling along the coast and heading north of Cairns so no more action likely.
I hope you're all well and enjoying the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Love, Mel. xox
Thank-you for all the lovely phone calls, texts and emails - yes I'm fine....it was an experience though................
My housemate Nic is a broadcaster for ABC who were obviously key in tracking the cyclone's progress up here so our place was all ready for the cyclone to hit and any associated power failures with tape on windows, supplies of candles, torches, battery operated radios, tins of baked beans, bottled water and everything in the centre of the room taped down and bagged up. I was taking it all as an adventure and she was a bit concerned that being from Melbourne I didn't grasp the concept of a cyclone and that I might be scared when it hit so found someone for me to stay with (while she did all night coverage). Thankfully I got out of that by staying at Kath's which was fun (also from Melbourne - Nic would have had a heart attack to know that we didn't even tape all the windows). We were severly disappointed at the lack of action in Townsville without even coconuts flying as they had done in the tropical depression I'd experienced in New Caledonia (& no such luck as going nightclubbing with Australian swimmers from the AIS either - all in Melbourne this time!)
So it was just a lot of rain & wind in Townsville. A tragedy for many people in Innisfail though, many of whose houses were destroyed.
It did mean that uni was closed and my exam was postponed to the following day.
For those who know my cousin Stephen in Cairns, he called me the following day and they were all fine up there too.
In other news, that night I went with Kath to an army dinner. For those who know Bren, Kath's fiance, he gets back tomorrow - Thursday (she's been counting down).
So my first experience of an army type function up here and they were actually really interesting people. I'd expected war stories discussing various types of weaponary or something or no interest to me but actually it turned out that a lot of world politics was discussed. They'd just got back from Iraq with the main aim of their mission to provide protection to the Australian Embassy in Bagdad. So they'd had lunch with Alexander Downer and been witness to some of the AWB fiasco. Cool hey and they're fans of Nic's so we're all hoping to hook up an interview for Bren on ABC re his experiences in Iraq when he gets back!
She's also interesting in interviewing all those PhD students I've met so I'm going to be Nic's story spotter as I always seem to come across interesting people - so I think we could have a bit of fun!
Anyway that's all for the moment as Cyclone Wati seems to be travelling along the coast and heading north of Cairns so no more action likely.
I hope you're all well and enjoying the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Love, Mel. xox
posted by Mel at 1:42 AM
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