Don’t decry the difficult task the emergency services face in the midst of a cyclone. Not for a moment. But, for many, their role probably has more appeal than the one a fellow hostel resident undertook. A lot more. Local shopping centre. Hastily turned into an evacuation centre. Couple of thousand people. Nervous. One set of toilets. One cleaner. Stewart. Think you get the picture. No. Worse. Much worse.
What’s easiest in Australia? Hunt down wild crocodiles at night or find a landline so you can take a call from BBC Somerset’s The Morning Show with Emma Britton? Found eight of the predators the previous evening. Eventually secured one line with a few hours to go. Not easy when you’re a traveller in a nation of mobiles. Key, I’d discovered, is to find a friendly international hotel chain and ask nicely. Explain your predicament.
I’d been quite determined to chat once more to Emma. Refused to believe I couldn’t secure a landline and make it happen. Not in Australia. Besides, rather look forward to the interviews. Feel rather honoured to be allowed to do them live. Trusted, presumably, not to say naughty words or commit other embarrassing faux pax. Not too many ums and arhs. I hope.
And, just in case you’re wondering, I’ve no idea what exactly I’ll be asked on air. Might have a few guesses, but nothing more. All part of the fun. Another challenge on the road. This time intrigued – and absolutely delighted – to hear my own voice in the introduction. Taken from a video clip shot during the height of Cyclone Yasi and posted on the website.
You can listen to the interview courtesy of the BBC iPlayer – just click here – the segment airs about one hour into the St Valentines Day show. Ends with a great Crowded House track.
Right. That’s the easy bit done. Waiting – with anticipation and trepidation in equal measure – for some honest, constructive feedback from an online audience close to my heart. Suffice to say, it might have been my forty #*^ birthday on the day of Cyclone Yasi. But what my parents think still matters as much to me as it ever did!
[Author’s note: Especial thanks of course to Emma Britton and the team at BBC Somerset. And to duty managers Ben, Valentine and Wiremu at Mercure Cairns Harbourside hotel for being so helpful to a perfect stranger and letting me use their landline. Even finding a quiet room to hide away in. The interview with Emma airs between 1hr 03 mins 20 secs and 1hr 11 mins 30 secs into the show. Available on the iPlayer until 21 Feb 11. Please note Ken isn’t responsible for the content of external websites]
Small box. Mementoes mostly. Back to Blighty by sea mail. Three months. And with it the cyclone survival guide I’d picked up in the local library. Didn’t seem much point holding on to it. Reckoned I’d got the check-lists off pat. Only thing missing was something to keep you occupied in the final few hours before the system hits. Seasoned locals favour board games. Monopoly and Scrabble quite popular.
I’d resorted to pacing up and down. Probably to the irritation of others. Could have been worse. Much worse. Might have been forced to take refuge in the relative confines of the windowless bathroom. For I can, a few close and candid friends have suggested, be a little loquacious at times. I like to think of it as wit and repartie. Still, not a huge stretch of the imagination to see others deciding to take their chances in the open. Quieter outside.
Forget Categories. Way you judge the size of a cyclone is by the number of chainsaws you hear in that days that follow. A veteran of eight cyclones had suggested they weren’t all bad. Saved on the pruning. And she didn’t mean just trees. Older, less well built or dilapidated homes as well. Thinning out the deadwood. Bit harsh.
Cairns narrowly avoided the full force of Yasi. The devastation a little further to the south. Still taken a fair pounding though. Little structural damage. But quite a bit of the city without electricity for several days.
And good luck trying to find fresh produce. Might get lucky with bananas. Only because they’ve trebled in price. Most of the home grown crop just having, quite literally, been flattened. As for anything in a tin…
But we’re not going to starve. And, being first world, it’s not soup kitchens those still without power have been turning to for a square meal. It’s Subway. Just opposite Woolworths. Doing a roaring trade.
“Sitting around money“. Aboriginal English expression for State handouts. Telling. But, for the work shy, at least a refreshing ring of honesty. Wander around the centre of Cairns and you can’t but notice mostly small groups of people laying about. Doing nothing. Appearing to be strangers. Aliens. Ironic. For almost – but not quite – all are Aborigines. Indigenous.
I’d made the mistake – at least I hope it is – of seeing these people as Aborigines. Before realising that this is, strictly speaking, coincidental. Whether they be best described as unemployed, dispossessed, or plain lost depends as much on your generosity and their point of view. There are a few characters of European descent to be found drifting around. And they’re the ones to watch. Especially around the ATMs.
[Author’s note: I’d love to have included a photo of the malingers laying about in the centre of Cairns. But no. Not because I fear it may steal souls from the indigenous ones amongst them. Besides, seems to be used as an excuse to demand money. Rather, a much more practical and humane reason. Given a couple of unprovoked verbal altercations, don’t fancy running the risk of what Aussies terms a ’bashing’. Which, as a particularly descriptive term, is up there with their use of ’home invasion’ for burglary]
Venturing into the rainforest from Ken Roberts on Vimeo.
Venturing into the rainforest. Cairns, northern Queensland.
Two things intrigue me about Australia. The continent’s flora and fauna – stinger trees, kangaroos, koalas, crocodiles, possums, brown snakes, deadly spiders, even penguins – a pretty unique ecosystem. And the Aboriginal people. The indigenous race. And it’s understanding the latter, their place in today’s society, that’s proving to be particularly tricky.
Need to get past the digiridoos. The drunks slumped about in the centre of Cairns. The altercations. The alcohol restrictions imposed in the indigenous reservations. Even the telling nature of Aboriginal English. Expressions such as sitting about money to describe State handouts. Objectivity is playing hard to get.
Searching for the positives, allowing me to put together a suitably balanced piece, isn’t, I fear, going to be that easy. But hardly surprising. For, societal structures and cultural heritage aside, technologically the unescapable fact is that, prior to the arrival of the first British settlers, the Aborigines were just shy of the Stone Age. Problems inevitable. Unavoidable. An uncomfortable truth? Or just an unspoken one?
If this seems a little harsh, consider how one generation in the West invariably struggles to come to terms with the technology of the next. Multiply that by a thousand or so and you can perhaps see why difficulties must arise. We shouldn’t be in the least bit surprised. Issues Australia has been wrestling with since the first settlers arrived. Adopting various approaches. Some pretty abhorrent by today’s norms. Much to mull upon.
Rains arrive from Ken Roberts on Vimeo.
Late afternoon. Day after Cyclone Yasi. Torrential rains arrive. And with it risk of flash floods.
Height of the storm from Ken Roberts on Vimeo.
Ken describes the scene in Cairns, northern Queensland, as Cyclone Yasi passes through.