D77 -– Larry wreaks havoc

I woke up at 8:30am to look outside and see how bad the weather was. I'd had a dream that a big wave of water hit our window and broke through. I was relieved to see that it was not too bad – just some moderate wind and rain. When we checked the weather, though, we saw that those north of us were not so fortunate. Cyclone Larry hit Innisfail around 7am as a category 5. We hung out in the room watching the news until hunger sent us in search of food. Most businesses were closed due to the weather. Although Townsville wasn't hit that bad, many workers drive in from towns to the north. There were some fast food options but we went instead to a local Thai place. We talked a lot with the owner about the storm, and we enjoyed the delicious food, even though it made us sick to our stomachs an hour later.

The rain really started pouring right before we left the restaurant, so we just ran a couple of quick errands and then headed back to the motel. The reports were rolling in then. Hurricane Larry was the worst storm to hit the state of Queensland in decades. Remember those banana fields I told you we drove through yesterday? Well, they represent 90% of Australia's banana crop, and they were totally wiped out. It was so bizarre to see them flattened on the news when we'd just driven through there. We worried about the woman who'd cut Thomas' hair because 55% of the homes there had been damaged. Thankfully there were no fatalities. It was too soon to hear anything about the Great Barrier Reef – Larry went right over it. Our flight schedule seemed pretty unimportant in light of all that destruction.

-Elva