Well, they called it the “Most Severe Tropical Cyclone In The History Of Australia”! Category 5 and massive…with 350 km/hr winds at its centre.

So how do you think we felt here in the Darwin office as we plotted its direction by radar, weather bureau threat path updates, and nautical chart analyses? We reckoned we knew first that it had turned late morning Monday, well before Goulburn Island was totally evacuated by the army as it was heading there for a bull’s eye. I rang my partner, Lindsay Mutimer, who was up there with 7 staff, and said: “Mate, I’ve got bad news. We reckon it’s turned and will hit the coast no further away than Junction Bay.” That’s part of the area we exclusively operate within…the Goomadeer River!!

Monica turned all right, and exploded on the Top End right through the guts of Junction Bay about 8.00 pm Monday before Anzac Day. It went through within 60 ks of the lodge. Fortunately, the team had taken shelter at 2.30 pm after trees had started falling. All the boats were lashed tight in our 2 big secure sheds, and they’d done everything possible to minimize wind damage, but the lodge itself and the accommodation were the worry.

I said to Lindsay: “Are there any trees we can cut down that might be a threat?”

He replied: “Yeah, about 300.”

The boys and Kate were holed up at the Djinkarr Aboriginal Ranger Station, 2 ks from the lodge.

Lindsay rang me from a lee protection by sat phone at 8.00 pm and said he’d never seen anything like it before. The winds were definitely 200 km plus.

It went even closer to Maningrida, where a cyclone shelter had to be evacuated after the roof collapsed/blew away.

He rang me before first light Tuesday morning, finding me checking out the bureau’s website, and they’d already spent an hour getting to the lodge past fallen trees (just 2 km).

The roof of the big staff recreation tent had blown away (never to be seen again), the lodge heat-deflecting canopy was loose after breaking a couple of straps, and there were about 100 trees flat on the ground around the lodge, deluxe cabins, safari tents, stand-alone bathrooms and the sheds. And not one…not one…had connected. Some missed literally by centimetres…but they all missed!!!!!!

Had Monica come another 10 ks closer, the whole lot would have blown away….for sure! But, as it turned out, our biggest cost seems to be fuel for the chain saws.

HOORAH!!!!!

We had already evacuated clients to Darwin and, amazingly, we’re flying them back tomorrow arvo as I write this…a day and a bit after after Monica.

How lucky have we been??? It’s unreal, and I’m still shaking my head in bewilderment.

On a more positive note, how many more new snags do you think we have in our 6 exclusive rivers?

Cheers from the multi-award-winning team at Arnhemland Barramundi Nature Lodge.