Sandy and Wally Jackson were in a caravan when Cyclone Tracy struck.
If grey nomads ever needed any reminder of how they ultimately travel at the mercy of Mother Nature, then the destruction wreaked by Tropical Cylone Seroja last week certainly did the job.
Bringing winds of 170km/h, the storm battered the WA coast leaving devastation in its wake. The cyclone ripped apart Carnarvon’s historic One Mile Jetty, and places like Kalbarri suffered terribly, with an estimated 70% of the town’s buildings damaged.
For grey nomads travelling in the area, it was a truly horrific experience. Parks like Kalbarri’s Anchorage Caravan Park were hit hard … trees crashed down, buildings and vans were rocked, and dead fish even appeared on the lawns.
Manager Debbie Major said the pressure of the wind coming in was staggering. “It was just terrifying,” she said. “I’ve never experienced anything in my life like it!”
Of course, the risk of cyclones is an ever present one for those travelling in certain parts of the country at certain times, and the devastation caused by Seroja will no doubt bring back memories for many ‘battle-scarred’ grey nomads.
It certainly did for Sandy and Wally Jackson. They were in a 16’ caravan in Darwin when the biggest of them all, Cyclone Tracy, hit on Christmas Day, 1974.
“We spent a terrifying night in our caravan, listening to the howling wind and heavy rain, watching the lightning, seeing and hearing debris flying around, and feeling the caravan rock as far as our tiedown equipment would allow it to,” said Sandy. “To say that we were shocked to see the devastation the next morning would be an understatement!”
The couple were among the few in their van park to escape without suffering catastrophic damage or injury.
“Our car and caravan were damaged but still usable and drivable, so we ended up towing the van back to our home state of South Australia where we got repairs done,” said Sandy.
These days, the pair travel in a motorhome and – while they always have a flexible schedule – they have one golden rule.
“We are quite sure that we will continue to avoid cyclone-prone places during cyclone season,” said Sandy. “But then, who would have thought that such a destructive cyclone would have come as far south as Kalbarri and caused so many people such heartache?”
