30 April 2013 – Cooktown

Thankfully, there wasn’t as much rain last night only a bit of a heavy drizzle every now and then.  However, the wind didn’t ease up much.  I didn’t hear it, but Josh heard and then saw a rather large branch off a nearby tree snap off through the night and it landed near our tent.  Clean up man came around early hours this morning and cleaned it up before I had a chance to see it.  Josh has decided that after very little sleep the past 3 nights, it’s time to pack up the tent and find a comfortable bed out of the wind and rain – as well as for safety reasons with the cyclone getting nearer.  So we dried and rolled and stuffed and packed (and re-packed a few times as we couldn’t get everything to fit) back into the car.  As we checked out, Josh stopped in at reception to see about booking a cabin for a few nights.  They did us a deal for 2 nights at $100 each for the cabin, with linen and all so have a bit of comfort the next two nights.  This morning’s news upgraded this cyclone to a Category Two (it was only category 1) so at least we will feel a little safer in a cabin than in a tent.  We headed into town to our little café to grab a morning coffee and then went to the Anzac Memorial Park.  The kids raced towards a tank which was used by the RAAF in 1977 and upon running over the top of a painted concrete slab, Zoe went for a spill landing on her butt, back and hands and hurting her wrist.  A long cuddle though and a bit of ice, she is already fully recovered.  We came back to the caravan park to check out our cabin and it is great, especially because we can stand in the cabin unlike the tents.  No bathroom but the amenities are great and they are only about 10-15 paces away.  Now we can watch the updates from the comfort of our own sitting area with a bit of space to move around.  Josh had a bit of a catch-up sleep this afternoon trying to rid himself of a headache, whilst I took the kids over to the pool for a quick swim in the rain.  We haven’t done much except sit around waiting for updates but all we know is that it is sitting approx. 500kms ENE off Cooktown and tracking west at 15kms an hour.  It is currently due to hit the mainland around the Lockhart River on Wednesday afternoon (tomorrow afternoon) and the winds could reach up to 150kms an hour.  After dinner Josh went back to the camp kitchen to have a chat to the couple from last night who are trying to get to Cohen to see their son, and find out what their plans will be due to the cyclone.  One of the managers also went over there to make sure that everyone was ok, etc which was nice.  I also just noticed a police vehicle driving through the park.  It is very quiet here and we haven’t seen one in town let alone in here before – so we assume that they are checking out how many people are here for just in case they need to evacuate, etc.  This is very, very unlikely but just in case I guess.  I’m heading for bed now – looking forward to a good night’s sleep.