I was listening to the radio (which you can hear here) and was just thinking of posting a "fingers crossed for Jimbob" thread.

Cyclone Tracy was "only" a category 4, Monica is category 5, but as Jimbob says, expected to hit Darwin as a category 3.

Darwin is also very different from the city that Tracy hit. Tracy removed pretty much all the non-cyclone proof buildings, and the current city is much more robust. I'm sure everyone's going to be ok.

Clearly, he's got water, radio (clockwork or battery powered I hope), and a suitably laconic Aussie attitude. She'll be right mate. (I'm still thinking appropriate thoughts for you and all in the NT though). As far as house hunting goes, you could wait till Wednesday and try looking in trees.

Ha, nice idea. I've just flown up from Adelaide, and I'm trying to find a place to rent, which is very difficult at the moment - vacancy rates are about 3%. I don't need a natural disaster to blow away any house I might get approved for!

We've just moved too. Not nearly as far, but moving's a bitch once you accumulate a certain amount of stuff.

We too are humble renters and were amazed at how much crap the real estate agents want to put you through. The application forms were more detailed than any job I've had to apply for in a while. We looked at one place where there were 20+ folks on just the one night looking at the property. In the end we got somewhere really nice (but a lot more expensive than we were paying). Where are all these people coming from? (We're in BrisVegas BTW).

I occurs to me that we might want to institute a regular virtual barbie/midnight feast for those of us who're around at this time. You right for a beer, Jimbob? I'll put the steaks on soon (and some chops for the ladies perhaps).

Hope you don't get too knocked around Jimbob!

... did I hear someone cracking a beer?

Man, all I've got is a bottle of port. And it may have to last me a while. I wonder if the hotel bar is still open. . . .

And regarding rentals, yeah it's particularly hard, because my wife is still down in Adelaide, she's not flying up until we have a house. But all the real estate agents give me a blank look when I try to explain that to them. But I'm giving them the whole "I've got a job at the university, and I own a house down south that we're going to rent out" story, so that might sway a few.

*throws a few chops on the barbie"

Good luck Jimbob with the windy monster and the hunt. Maybe it'll be easier after the storm - sometimes it makes folks come together to help. Hold on!

Maybe it'll be easier after the storm - sometimes it makes folks come together to help.

Maybe a bunch of weak-willed folk will leave town, leaving behind lots of broken leases ;)

Here's a webcam over Darwin harbour, by the way. Not much to see at this point in time.

Wow. Good luck with... everything, Jimbob - the cyclone, the house-finding... the whole basic survival thing. Keep us updated as much as you can. eep.

Hope things work out for you, jimbob.

Keep safe, jimbob!

good luck jimbob - and take pictures! Pictures will be worth a thousand words when the looting begins. ;-)

It did look like it was mellowing out a little bit. I've been checking in on Darwin since you first posted- glad you're alright.

Yep (just woke up). Now at category 2 that's heading south of here, which was completely unexpected, praise "Bob"!