The aftermath of Yasi: Tulley/Mission Beach

     This part is by far the worst of it. It's odd, after seeing so much destruction you become somewhat desensitized. As we made our way past Cardwell to Tulley we saw many destroyed forests and farms, the destruction seemed endless and right as we enter Tulley we see defiance in the face of the storm.

 This house was all boarded up and ready to roll! They seemed to have fared pretty well, I guess they actually were cyclone ready.

 

This one didn't do so well and neither did about 70% of the town for that matter

The SES removing dangerous debris

AJs removing what used to be the rainforest that surrounded Tulley

    It's amazing and sad to see someone's home flattened, leaving only a small skeleton of what once was a family's security

Hey mister, I found your roof!

                      This mill is what most people who live in Tulley work for, it got a pretty good beating too.

                                 Downtown Tulley, bent and tattered but still kicking; even got some sales going on!

           There were several very large and old trees that greeted you upon entering Tulley, this is what is left of them.

                This image sums it up in Tulley for me. Houses ripped apart, lives drowned, rainforest stripped.


      Mission Beach was probably the most depressing for me. I care about human life, don't get me wrong, but it's the destruction of nature and specifically ecosystems like the rainforest that really get to me.

                              A river crossing that used to be surrounded by thick rainforest vegetation.

Critically endangered cassowaries inhabit this stretch of rainforest and will have to survive on feeding stations as their food has been blown away. If this effects them, what other animals are being effected?

 Again, once lush and green, now just bare sticks.

       As we drove down the coastline we encountered some patches where the road was either blown or washed away.

  
The rainforest looks more like a deciduous forest in winter. I can't believe this was ever a thriving ecosystem and wonder if it ever will be again.






The forests are smashed on so many levels, some of just stripped, some of it bent, some snapped and some just completely flattened. I've never seen anything like it in my life. It was like a F5 tornado half the size of Texas just dropped down here.

     The important thing to remember is that for being the largest cyclone to hit Queensland in it's known history, loss of human life was minimal and being that these rainforests are ages old they must have seen a storm or two in the past and come back. Nature finds a way, or at least I pray.

           All bad things come with a silver lining, mine was coconuts. I LOVE coconuts!!! Thanks Yasi and the cool kids at Frosty Mango. They lost all of their ice cream BUT, they have heaps of coconuts! I'm about to enjoy one in my hammock. Australia is still awesome. :)