by Richard and Toni Hopper


Being new arrivals to the Port Douglas region and having never experienced or faced the inevitability of a cyclone, we found ourselves a little confused over our best course of action for what was being described as a possible catastrophic event in Cyclone Yasi.

Sure, we followed all the advice given through media in terms of preparedness but we didn't know whether to stay or go. On Tuesday we had the car packed and were contemplating a decision to self evacuate to Mackay on the advice that it was probably going to be the closest safe place.

I then thought about how and when we would return given the reports of potential mass destruction to roads and infrastructure.

The decision to stay was not an easy one but we hoped it was the best one for ourselves and our family back in Adelaide. Although we live in a modern and reasonably new home, we decided to book a room at The Sheraton Hotel and prepare for the long 24-36 hours ahead.

The point of the story is this.

From the minute we arrived until the minute we left, we could not have been looked after any better. We were shown to our room at approximately 9.00am on Wednesday morning and were immediately given updates on the path of the cyclone and continued to be made aware of it's probable path of destruction as the updates were made available from the Bureau Of Meteorology website.

Our windows in the room were already taped and the shutters were closed and secured. We enjoyed the Sheraton hospitality during the day and returned to our room at approximately 4.30pm to "settle down" for the night.

We were advised soon after that we would each receive a complimentary food parcel which was delivered to our room at around 5.30pm.

We were overwhelmed to what may seem to some as a token gesture but it reached far beyond that. We were both (as I am sure we all were) genuinely nervous about the events about to unfold in front of us yet this one simple act of kindness gave us as much comfort as all the text messages we received from friends and family wishing us well and good luck for this monster weather event.

Sure, we had brought our own food supplies (not that I like noodles much) but that wasn't the point. We felt that the staff really cared for our well being.

As it turns out we didn't need to vacate our room and bed down in the second floor hallway of the Sheraton after all. Instead, we snatched a few hours sleep in a warm bed and with full tummies.