Well.... Well.... Well.....

PRE CYCLONE YASI!!!!!!!!

After already encountering (not first hand mind) the devestating natural disaster of the Queensland floods. We rescheduled our trip so that rather than travel up the East Coast we would fly to Cairns and travel down. *Mistake Number 1*

As previously blogged, the weather at first was not what we expected from Australia - We highly underestimated what was yet to come in Cairns "Cyclone Season". *Mistake Number 2*

So after spending a few days too many in Cairns we were ready to leave for Mission Beach. We checked out of the hostel on Tuesday 1st February when we were informed of Cyclone Yasi. Now to us naive British backpackers this Cyclone malarky never really phased us at first. We hadn't been watching the news and all we had at the hostel was a piece of paper stuck to the desk showing us where Cyclone Yasi was heading. When you're not really down with the Cyclone lingo, nor have ever experienced one and the fact that we were in the cyclone season, we figured we'd just been lucky not to see one yet.

How wrong could we be. After ringing Mission Beach and being told it had already been evacuated, I figured this was more than just a piece of paper showing us where the cyclone was heading. We decided the safest place to be was in the city rather than on Mission Beach. Cue an inundation of panicked backpackers + over expensive hostel rooms = us tight arses having to relocate as quickly as possible to another hostel nearby. This hostel was recommended by a staff member due to its size and it's capability to withstand a cyclone. *Mistake Number 3*

I will not mention the hostels name in fear of being done for slander! However, there will be no exaggeration in what I post regarding our short time there.

When we arrived to the other hostel everything was manic. Travellers were quickly packing their bags and booking the last remaining flights out of Cairns, which didn't fill us with much confidence. The cyclone emergency plan... we were told was in action. This consisted of a whiteboard with Cyclone information on, informing us that in the event of an emergency everyone was to evacuate to the hostel bar.

Now by this point I was in Sergeant Major Mode.

I'm travelling with a load of lads who by this point just wanted a bed and didnt want to be inconvenienced by Cyclone Yasi. So off I go. First I ask the hostel staff how full the hostel is. The reply: By this evening we will have full capacity. So we all have to evacuate to the bar?? My mind is now envisaging the hostel bar which is by no means going to fit 400 people in. If lucky 200 at a push.

So i ask... How many people does that bar hold? Reply: We don't know. My response: But 400 people plus staff are not going to fit in that bar. Staff reply: No but half of us will and the other half will go somewhere else. Me: Where will the other half go? Staff Reply: We don't know.

Now this conversation went on for some while and so on and so forth. Establishing only that a small percentage of us would be safe. As we now knew the cyclone was hitting us head on. They 'didn't know' anything nor the name or wereabouts of the evacuation centre if we were to be evacuated.

I was more than enraged at this point. A combination of travelling with laidback men. Lack of knowledge for our safety and the constant news reports by Premier Anna Blithe that this was going to be A MAJOR WEATHER EVENT. AUSTRALIA's FIRST EVER CATEGORY 5 CYCLONE did NOT sit well with me.

I rang and rang and rang round the total of my calls coming to $150 and we finally spoke to a sane police woman who told us we needed to evacuate to the local evacuation centre between 6and8am the following morning. So we did. At 5am we loaded our friends car Sonia up with all our lives. The 6 of us crammed in. What a hero she was. Our danish friend Kriss who part owned the car kept us all amused in his slight panick. Now, anyone who knows how laidback Gary is, wouldn't believe someone else could be even more. Kriss usually is.

Not in the middle of a Cyclone, however. Before we loaded up Sonia we had to get rid of all their camping stuff, crap and general mess. Kriss informed us all, with actions:

"We're all getting in the car. Even if we have to put our f***ing bags on our heads. We are doing one trip and we're all getting in the f***ing car." I was quite shocked at this little outburst as he was so determined and didn't even care about throwing his stuff out just to give us all a lift. "The camping gear is worth s***. It's all s***. We'll just throw it in the bin. After the cyclone it's probably just going to be worth s*** anyway. We'll just f***ing throw it away."

So we gave Kriss and Mads's lovely camping stuff away. Rather than go to absolute waste we left it in the hostel room for someone else to have. Thank you Kriss for your unintentional humour in the midst of chaos. The line and action of "We're all getting in the car. Even if we have to put our f***ing bags on our heads" has not been forgotten and we repeat this skit everyday we're with him.

Now as this post has gotten rather large I'm saving the blog of us in the evacuation centre for another day. My eyes are going square and my brain hurts from reliving these terrible memories ;P

You may notice however, whilst here in Cairns we've made so many mistakes but... As the great George Bernard Shaw would say: "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."

Until next time lovelies xxxxx