last one, i promise

NOTE: Sorry for dragging this story out. It’s been so dragged out that I’ve kind of lost interest myself now. I’ll try and wrap it up quick so we can all move on.

Where we left off was the storm had come through that morning, and now it was heading into late afternoon.


Still no power, no shops open, no ATM’s (cash), and the roads out of town cut, and the airport closed. People were prepared with lots of drinking water, but had not planned for the shops to remain un-opened. A couple of restaurants opened, but were only serving wine or beer. The town was quickly filling up with tipsy folk with empty stomachs. By night time everyone in town was out on the streets looking for food.

Eventually Mr You and I found one restaurant who had taken the initiative of firing up a gas barbeque to cook up some basic food. The kind staff were letting people in, apologising for not having the proper set up and explaining that if they had enough food they’d certainly feed us, but they were likely to run out after a while.

An otherwise fancy restaurant, the place became anything but. They lit candles on each table for light, there were no plates or cutlery, and we ate with our fingers. The mood was grateful and jovial.

Eventually the smell must have wafted far enough that everyone in town was lined up outside, hoping to get in.

Mr You and I found this place early, and were thankfully fed a sandwich each. By the time we left the sky was dark, I’m talking pitch black, the walk/stagger home through puddles and over coconuts and branches, trying not to crash into other people, was so similar to a scene from a zombie movie I can’t explain. We couldn’t see an arm’s length in front of us. We made it to the beach and followed the waters edge as a way of guiding us home.

The rest of the stay was the same, but with less food. The power didn’t come back, people were hot and very hungry, then we heard another cyclone was on it’s way and due to hit in a few days. It was not at all relaxing.
Eventually we were transferred to Cairns (a small nearby city) who had power.

Have you ever watched Survivor? Think of when the couple wins that award challenge where they get to go and stay at a resort for one night…

Okay, so we hadn’t been sleeping on the ground for 40 days, but by God we were funky and hungry. We got to the hotel, dropped out bags, didn’t even check into our room before we dashed down the block into the first café and in no time were scoffing cake and hot coffee. After that we came back to the room had hot showers with soap and shampoo and got clean and fresh. The rest of the week we ate so much food I’m now having trouble getting into my jeans.

The rest of the week got much better. Many of the roads were still closed, so we couldn’t do too much, but we still managed to have fun. By the last day I was having a great time! The weather was still patchy, but the next cyclone did circles and stayed out at sea. I was relieved.

We went to a nearby island and went up a mountain on a 1900’s style train, and saw the best waterfall I’ve ever seen in my life, (made me feel like I was in Africa for a moment). We had fun, but let me just say I was soooo happy to get home. The End.

Of course thoughts go out to those poor people who's homes are smack in the middle of it all, and still have a long way to go before getting back to normal.

Photo's of the nice bits here.