Cyclone Larry-ed

Well, the plan did not go off without a hitch - a category 4 hitch. We were all set to go to Brisbane for the profiling training when boom - Cyclone Larry decided to interfere with that plan. Innisfail got hit when Larry was still a huge category 5 and their terrible devastation is in all the news casts now. I felt unable to travel all last week due to the disruption casued by Larry on the Tablelands. Roads were cut, power and phones were out, some towns lost their water supply, and everywhere there is trashed vegetation and disorder. Our own house was affected by the loss of a large tree in our back yard, a medium sized one in the front yard, a broken wooden fence, lots of broken and uprooted plants, a flooded garage and therefore flooded boxes of stored goods, the loss of the microwave oven, the loss of all our refrigerated and frozen food, and just a general sense that life had been turned upside down. Power was out for 4 1/2 days. Phones worked for a day or so then started to be unreliable. News of neighbours miraculous escape or loss poured in. The size of this natural disaster is hard to grasp. A short drive between Tableland towns soon reveals that life will not be set to rights again for months, maybe years. Priorities have shifted and been reassessed in personal and public domains. I am so impressed by the persistence and energy being expended by those who have come to help us. They are the heroes of this hour.

A sense of humour is still thankfully vident in many places - for instance, a friend saw a sign on the back of a car that said "Just Larry-ed".

I am very glad that the Brisbane people who asked us to come and train them understood, and we are reschedueling the training for the end of May, all being well.