Cyclone Nathan Welcomes Us in his Own Way

When we landed in Sydney about 8 AM, we became aware of Cyclone Nathan. The Cyclone Alert called for it to hit Cairns at noon, roughly the same time we were scheduled to arrive. It was déjà vu. Last year, when arriving in New Zealand, Cyclone Luci was about to strike, and she did.

Cyclone Nathan had approached northern Queensland a couple of days before our arrival, then headed back out to sea. However, the day before our scheduled arrival, he turned toward our destination.  It was a category 3 which bring winds in the order of 200 kph. It appeared we would be safe in Sydney but delayed until he passed.

We sat in the airport waiting for our flight to be officially delayed or cancelled. But, Nathan changed course again, and reached landfall a couple of hundred kilometers further north, sparing our destinations, Cairns and Port Douglas. As the locals said, "we were worried, but we dodged another bullet".

As it turned out, we arrived in Port Douglas on time, and were greeted with hot humid weather and light breezes.

Click here for the next story in this series:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2015/03/being-brave-foolish-or-unlucky.html