Blog

On February 2nd my town, Mission Beach, was hit by one of the largest cyclones in Queensland’s history – Cyclone Yasi. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life and one I hope never to repeat in my lifetime. I was lucky as my house held up and my home office fared well. Others were not so lucky. I know at least 10 people personally who have lost their homes.

The first light of day was a shock with our beautiful rainforest view now a mountain view with a match stick forest stretching into the distance. I was not living here for Cyclone Larry which hit Mission Beach quite hard five years ago so this was my first experience of the aftermath of a disaster such as this.

My partner was able to walk me through the process of what would happen each day which was a comfort of sorts; it made each day more predictable.

No power, no internet and no communications are certainly a challenge and make running an internet based business impossible. My partner, in the same boat with his business, made trips up to Cairns, our closest city, to catch up and work when we could.

Power has been restored 2 ½ weeks later and now we are back in business. Disaster planning is high on my list of tasks to fulfill now – there were many holes in the one I had that became evident during this experience.

My one word theme for this year was – “Simplify”. A natural disaster has a way of putting things into perspective and I feel that my year is just re-beginning with a fresher, simpler view on my life and my business.

“There's no disaster that can't become a blessing, and no blessing that can't become a disaster” ~ Richard Bach