no wind or rain when it passed us in townsville.hope it turns into a rain depression and fills the sth qld dams.keep your fingers crossed.
rocan

Hamish passed Cairns about 230kms offshore. We had heavy rain most of Friday, but no windy thankfully.
Saturday morning was bright and almost sunny, and as the day went a few showers tried to drop on us, but fizzled.
It's a very nasty cyclone, and the worst damage I have seen was near Port Hedland about 3 years ago, and several people died as a result.
The worst cyclone I have sat through was Rosita in Broome, late April 2000. The noise of the wind was terrifying, and the change in pressure made my ears pop. My friend and I sat up and played board games by candle light until is started to quieten down.
I had my van chained down in the caravan park and stayed at my friend's house. A tree blew onto the van, but the tropical roof saved the van from serious damage.
I'm not keen to sit through another one, which probably seems odd considering I'm parked up in Cairns. By medical necessity, not choice.
My thoughts are with you all in the path of Hamish. Hang on and stay safe. Save the cyclone party until it has passed and everyone is safe. Cheers Granny

-- Edited by Cruising Granny at 12:47, 2009-03-08

Hamish is approx. 300Ks North East of Yeppoon at the moment. Picked up a couple of Ks speedwise, and according to the weatherman this morning IF it stays on the same track, will maybe make landfall around 1770 on Tuesday.
So far I'm only getting a few showers, and a little bit of wind. Nothing out of the ordinary yet.  My last Cyclones were in 1984.   Jim,[The eye passed right over us. Fascinating to watch birds chasing insects inside the Eye.] and Kathy a couple of weeks later. She went just a bit south of us, then went across and wiped out Borroloola.
Cheers,
xina.

-- Edited by xina at 16:01, 2009-03-08

Wind here in Emu Park gradually increased all day. Currently the weather station indicates gusts reaching 35 to 38 knots with light showers.

Cheers
Locky