Cairns is a lovely town and certainly worth a visit. Hopefully it won't be damaged by this cyclone. The area around Cairns is thinly populated.

Every year, Brisbane (the capital of Queensland) has these amazing summer storms. The locals call them "green storms". I call them the "Wrath of God". One typical Queensland green storm in the San Francisco Bay Area would wash away most of the urban area and kill at least a hundred thousand people. In Brisbane this same storm would merit a short article in the "Courier Mail" and provide for casual conversation the next day. Years ago, my wife and I were celebrating our first wedding anniversay by taking a river boat ride up the Brisbane River (Kookaburra Queen = strongly recommended). We were half way up the river when we could see a green storm coming down our way (it looked liked like a greenish white curtain of clouds marching down the river). Over the intercom, the captain of the Kookaburra Queen nonchallantly mentioned that he was going to turn around and make a run for it. Of course the storm caught up with us and the captain lost control of the boat. It was swapping ends while being blown down the river. Hail was coming down and an amazing amount of water was blown over the deck and down the stairways. Then the storm passed, the sun came out and it was as if nothing had happened. The captain did not complete the journey but we had good entertainment value for our money. It was a memorable anniversay.

Gary