I left Hervey Bay 0400 Friday morning, the 26th for a tour and investigation. The first sign of damage along the way was encountered around Serena. Now there is a town deserving of some renewal but the damage was very minor. Mackay showed quite a bit of damage to trees from the highway but little beyond that but, earlier reports from the marina and downtown areas indicated a vicious wind and heavy rains. Despite that the situation appeared to be under control. Overall Mackay seemed to be getting high marks for organisation and clean up.

Driving north showed trees knocked down on a regular basis, well, what would you expect? The rains had softened the earth to make it easier for the wind to move srtuff around. And speaking of rain, The upper reaches of the Pioneer valley reported 400mm or rain in a day. That’s 16 inches for you America readers. The valley is funnel shaped. Broad in it’s eastern side facing the direction of the oncoming cyclone and tapering to a point as you pass Finch Hatton on your way to Eungella. The wind lifted trees and made them disappear-large trees. Damage to homes would most likely be caused by flying vegetation.

Further up the road, Bloomsbury is where the first wind damaged house was visible from the road. The classic “Innisfail” damage. Corrugated iron fastened to timber battens fastened in turn to rafters with nails. This old fashioned build style just doesn’t hold up to cyclonic winds. When cat 5 storm, cyclone Larry blasted through Innisfail most of the ruined homes only lost their tin roofs. An easy fix really. What wrecked them was the rains that didn’t stop for months afterward, damaging electrical systems and interior fit out. Modern roofing uses heavy screws to fasten battens in place.

The homes in Bloomsbury with roof damage showed the bright orange tarps of SES assistance. Wonderful volunteers in that organisation.

Driving on toward Proserpine. The flat lands after the turn off for Laguna Ques were flooded, as they do. The remarkable part was the enthusiastic crowd of barramundi fishermen and women standing beside the road throwing lures in the streams. Stuff the cyclone, the fish are running.

The trees are stripped bare of bark so show a bright tanish colour foreign to their normal grey brown colour. Most of the leaves have been blown off as well which highlites the effect. Power poles beside the highway are often leaning at crazy angles. I wonder what is holding them up and would they reach the road if they don’t.

The sugar cane was blown down but in just these few days was already straightening up. The crop will probably benefit more from the rain than it will suffer from the wind but I’m sure that won’t stop the cane cockies from whinging for aid. It seems to me their greatest skill.

The damage appears mostly from flying trees and other debris. But a lot of it. There has already been a lot of work in the clean up from private firms and individual home and business owners. The town just hums with energy. Chain saws are everywhere.

I turn off for Airlie Beach and Cannonvale. As I drive into Cannonvale, the hilltops in front and to my right are light brown from bare trees. Every leaf blown away. Later when I round the bend into Airlie and look back, the same hills from that side were noticeably better.

First stop is the road into the VMR station overlooking the anchorage, or what’s left to it. In th ecar park is a very large crane and a bloke running a bobcat. We chat. He is cleaning up a greasy spot on the tarmac. He tells me that spot is all that remains of many boats that have been craned up, smashed and hauled away. No salvage, just destroyed and taken away. I follow his directions to the tip outside of Proserpine in hopes they are salvaging parts there but they are not. No one mans the offices that you are instructed to stop at before entering. Everyone’s hands are at the controls of a large earthmover, burying the loads coming in within minutes of arrival. I can’t keep my stomach from turning as I think about the waste. I learn later I am not the only one. There was mixed feelings about the activities of the looters and insurers, one seeming to be justified by the activities of the other.

And speaking of insurance issues... Some sailors were incensed that any boats at all were still on moorings in the northerly exposed Airlie Beach anchorage and mooring field. BUT.. Boat owners were told by their insurers that if they were on a registered mooring, they were covered. I was hearing that some owners were told that if they took their boat into the mangroves they would NOT be covered. So if a skipper wanted to be sure of coverage they left her on the mooring. At least one notable vessel may have pushed it too far though. Several people commented to me that before the storm they were sure a large ketch moored off Airlie was doomed to hit the rocks. Well, it did and rumour has it the insurance company may not buy it.

Which brings to mind a point that may be relevant. Of the boats destroyed or significantly damaged, which may reach over 100 if one could count what is on the sea bed, many, I suspect, are nothing more than a relief to the owners to have them gone. The market for monohulls especially is very weak. If they weren’t in especially good condition, those ageing boats would have clogged the market for years and taken values to horrendous lows. State regulation and fees have simply made ownership at the lower end of the market all but untenable.

Driving through Airlie Beach is stepping back a few years. Nothing has changed except Muddy bay that is now a work in progress as huge, ugly blocks of unfinished units dominate the ‘view’. Anyone who thought those boats tied up to Muddy Bay in years past were ugly would have to be in a huge state of denial to say things have improved. I was told work on the site has slowed. Maybe it’s the hillside full of empty, unsold units around the corner or a desire to preserve the ugliness of the construction site as long as possible.

I stop at Whitsunday Ocean Services on the way to Shute Harbour. Their big shed is undamaged but the thick forest right behind the building is destroyed!

Popping over the hill into Shute reveals masts in the wrong places and dangerous angles. The carnage is everywhere. Whitsunday Rent a Yacht has copped it hard. The dockside facilities and the fleet. Most of their extensive fleet is either damaged or destroyed. The slipway is intact and cluttered with damaged boats being repaired for charter or just saved from imminent sinking. Many vessels have washed up into mangroves or mud and rubble beaches. They may be salvaged. The rock walls have chewed up those unfortunate vessels blown onto them. Those were being loaded onto trucks as there would be no room for crushing in that car park. Many went to Edges boat yard.

The Shute Harbour fleet was not prepared properly for the cyclone. Though some vessels were moored with bare poles and stripped of deck gear and canopies, many more were left as if they were to be sailed the next day. Sails bent, biminis and canopies up and dinghies on the davits. Hhmmmm. I heard the waters between Repair Island and Shute Island provided the best shelter.

I got a report that only a few vessels were in Nara inlet but all survived. Trammel Bay did well and The lovely vessel Ise Pearl of last issues cover took refuge near the other grand lugger, Ruby Charlotte of the Hickling family. Location not to be revealed upon pain of death or worse. Both vessels were unscathed. Bet your life they were properly prepared.

The only sign of damage in Bowen Harbour was the ragged remains of sails on a neglected looking steely in the duck pond.

More notes... As much as Mackay seemed to have the situation under control, the Whitsunday council was the target of much anger from many Airlie Beach Residents.

Also, some media reports suggested that the backpacker community in Airlie Beach was desperate for food and shelter. Not that council was much help but the Lions Club was cooking snags (sausages to you yanks) and even the local Subway Sandwich place was giving away food to anyone without cash. Just to make it perfectly clear, Airlie Beach has a strong track record of looking after it's own and especially, young visitors.