My parents chose an “interesting” time to move to Cairns. It was the weekend of January 10-11, and Far North Queensland had been absolutely drenched by the storm systems accompanying Cyclone Charlotte. Cairns was isolated due to flooding, and parts of Cairns itself were underwater. The city, along with many other councils across the Far North region, was declared a disaster area. They set out in their car on the morning of the 11th, and arrived at their new house in Clifton Beach a day later than they were expecting on the 14th. The delay was caused by the flooding of the Seymour River north of Ingham, partly due to the storms and partly due to the massive king tides at the time. Anyway, after spending the night in Ingham, and then waiting for another seven hours the next day in a long convoy of cars on the Bruce Highway for the waters to subside to a safe level, they were finally on their way again. In the end, their removal truck beat them to their house, because trucks were allowed to cross the river many hours before cars were given the go-ahead. Even then, cars were towed through the water three at a time by a tow truck: one on top, one underneath, and one dragged along behind. My parents scored the top deck of the truck, and they remained in the car for the haul across the river. Quite exciting, apparently. When they eventually reached their house, they were happy to find everything in one piece, and not so much as a branch out of place.
We’re going to get the chance to see their new house for ourselves when we visit them in the near future. It will be Xander’s first flight. If it’s anything like his first train trip, he’ll have a ball. Just hope we can avoid the Dengue fever epidemic when we get there.