Today we traveled from Whitsunday Island to Cairns. We drove through the destruction of Cyclone Yasi. The damage extended from Townsville to about an hour south of Cairns. The cyclone hit 2 weeks ago today and the clean up has only begun. The area of destruction that a cyclone impacts is huge. If the trees weren't blown down they had all of their leaves stripped. The banana fields were destroyed in this 100 mile stretch, with beaches and communities literally wiped out. There was lots of work being done to clean up but it must be overwhelming. I can't imagine how long it will take for this area to come back. This very area was apparently hit in 2006 by Cyclone Larry which was a category 4. Australia does get up to 20 cyclones a year but a category 5 is pretty unusual. If Yasi would have hit straight on Cairns as initially predicted the devastation would have much greater in this populated area. Cairns does not have much apparent damage.
We have one day left before we return the camper and fly to Uluru. We put on almost 2000 miles in the past 10 days. This is a huge country!