Marcus; eater of trees

HOLY ADRELINE BOOSTER!!

March 17 2018 was a blast… 

a blast of wind and water, a blast of nature’s power, a blast of adrenaline and an earning of wings for those who are new to the wonderful city of Darwin and have never had the exhilarating experience of a potentially destructive encounter with clockwise twisted air.

it's a pretty map isn't it. i particularly like the cardinal and myrtle of the rabbitohs in the centre of attention

I’m trying hard to remember how many of these cyclone thingy’s I have been through. Marcus was a cat. 2 Cyclone when it hit Darwin. It wasn’t expected to do much damage… so many cyclones have been touted as “killers” over the years but only a few have made it to the pissy pants category.

if a dalek isn't a pissy pants inducer you are made of sterner stuff than me!! 

I got to Darwin on 25 June 1985 to mind a dear friends bungalow on East Point Road.

Dear friend Mang was on her way to Lungden and the European wonderland where she met her most treasured paramour and hurtled into the wild life of motherhood. I was looking for a change of pace after leaving my job at the same time as I left a relationship and grateful for the chance to change shit within and without.

I’m still here 33 1/3 years later with my beloved and two wonderous childlings.

Cyclones pale into the mists of memory when compared to family. Unless of course family is remembered for more tragic reasons.

She got trapped on a teak boat and sailed the Ko’s of Thailand for two months and forgot the Lungden trip for a year or two.

I got trapped in paradise.

this is the wonderful fannie bay beach. it's the first place i swum at in darwin.

As it turned out that was a life saver for me. The bungalow was just a drunken roll across the road to the Sailing Club and the Trailer Boat Club. The CBD was 8 minutes away and the furthest reaches of Darwin at that time was about 16 minutes in the other direction.

MACIC HAPPENS!! (it’s not just a bumper sticker, it’s based on considered, documented happenstance). 

Cyclones can lead to wonderful camaraderie, people who live in your street reveal their generous side. the use of a generator, a barbecued treat or a hot shower for your kids. meetings with neighbours who have kept to themselves for years that blossom into deeper understandings. that's one of the reasons Darwin has me in it's thrall.

Marcus cut a sensuous path around the Tiwi Islands who have had to delay their footy grand final (as has Darwin). this is a hellish disaster around these parts, football is god!!

if you want to know what a sensuous path looks like, check this out.

it's a bit parabolic isn't it and the parabola is a sensuous thing, just ask a mathamatician.

Marky as we soon were calling him was a cat.1 cyclone but was upgraded to a cat. 2 just in time for it's potential arival in Darwin and for the first time in years there was reason to get nervous. Marky was tracking right over the top of us according to the BOM boffins and wasn't far enough away to veer off and attack any where else but Darwin. 

EEEEK!!

the best thing a cyclone can do is hit during the day. light makes things easier to understand what's going on. at night time the boogyman slips into your head and the non threatening become the things of nightmare.

by mid afternoon the slightly unnerving visit of Marcus was pretty much over. it lasted about 4 hours in total. at our house we have lost a white ant ridddled red bead tree and there are a few black wattle branches hung up high so as to avoid being able to be cleaned up. the yard is a mess and my electric chainsaw is doing the rounds of some friends houses and will be back resting under the house in a day or two. 

the interesting thing about a cyclone passing almost directly overhead is that you get to experience what is known as the eye. this is where the rotating winds are at their mildest. cyclone Tracey had a 1 1/2 hour long eye, Marcus had a 20 munute long eye. there's the difference between a minor cat. 2 cyclone and a cat. 4-5 monster. i live in hope that i never have to experience the sort of trauma involved in a cat. 4 or 5 beast!!

the downside of weather conditions up here at the moment is that we are expecting something much bigger in a few days. theres a low developing in the Torres Straight and it's aimed at the Top End. 

JAYSUS MARY AND JOSEPH!! 

i'm not interested at all. 

i sincerely hope that i can add a P.S. in a few days saying that nothing came of the low. that there has been gentle cooling rain alternating with late afternoon sun and that my tumeric and ginger crop has been harvested and rivals that of my sisters recent triumph!  

if you want to see what happened to darwin in '74 thanks to Cyclone Tracy check out the internet for pictures or go to the NT Museum and Art Gallery's Cyclone Tracy exhibit, it scared the shit out of some survivors of that tragedy to the point that they have only seen and heard it once.

here are a few choice pictures of the damage a smallish cyclone can do.

big love to you all and i hope you all have a sporting chance in the lottery we call life.

XXOO.