Tropical cyclone didn't hit Darwin

Hi everybody.

Just a quick update to let you guys know that the cyclone didn't hit Darwin. The night before it presumably would hit the predictions were very dire: Monica would move over Darwin as a category 3 or 4 cylcone. The town spent all day preparing for the worst. The supermarkets were packed with people, the supermarket personel having a hard time restocking the shelves in time with essentials like water, bread and canned food. In the streets people were doing their best to protect their property against the worst. It was a bit of a surreal atmosphere. We went to sleep expecting to run for the storm shelters by 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning.

During the night the cyclone changed direction, on a course south of Darwin. It also lost a lot of it's power overnight, shrinking to a category 1. So when we woke up at seven expecting the worst, there was just a slight drizzle and some wind. By 10 o'clock we did get some stormy weather, but nothing dangerous. We did end up getting sent to the stormshelter by hostelpersonell though, presumably following an anouncement on the local radio. That turned out to be a false alarm though. They misunderstood the anouncement. So we walked through the streets of Darwin in the pouring rain with all our gear to the shelter and back for nothing... and getting very wet. At least we did actually get to see the shelter from the inside :)

There is still a very small chance that the cyclone (which has now been downgraded to a "tropical low") re-intensifies in the next few days and swings back at Darwin, but that's really just a very remote chance. So it looks like we're safe and can continue looking for work :)