We survived!

Yes, we survived our first cyclone. We came through almost unscathed...we lost power and water for 2 days and internet has finally returned at home. Otherwise our house stood nice and firm.

The actual cyclone started early Monday morning (15th) with really strong gale force wind and rain. By the afternoon the wind and rain picked up to intense force (this is when I thought the BAD bit was)...but by 7pm the intensity tripled! It was the most fierce storm I'd every seen. The eye of the storm passed so everything went calm, then about an hour later the storm started again but the wind was in the other direction.

Everyone here in Tonga (Tongatapu) were very organised and prepared so no lives were lost as a result of the cyclone and there wasn't too much damage on structures (only really old homes and buildings). There was ALOT of debris around the streets most of it trees and branches.

All in all we found it a little exciting but don't want these things coming on a regular basis!

Here's a photo of Charles and the kids buzzing out :-)