March 5, 2025
Life has been hectic—juggling kids, two jobs, and some health changes—so my blog has taken a backseat. I’ve been writing in the background, but nothing has made it to my website. What’s prompted my return now?
🌀 Cyclone ‘Alfred’ 🌀
Did you know that cyclones are named in alphabetical male/female order? I certainly didn’t. But here we are and here is a video about it… should you be interested.
This is my first time preparing for a natural disaster, and honestly, I’ve been pretty relaxed about it—until today.
This afternoon, our CEO (my local government job) advised us to attend work as normal tomorrow (Wednesday, March 5th, 2025) but to remain home from Thursday as conditions escalate. That’s when it hit me—this may be serious.
Yet, I was still in “it’s just a bit of wind” mode. Meanwhile, everyone around me was in full-blown disaster prep. People have been securing their homes, sandbagging stations and disaster centres have activated, residents stocking up on supplies, and are, well… panic-buying everything in sight. It’s giving triggering Melbourne 2020 COVID lockdown flashbacks.
Supermarket shelves are already stripped bare—water, toilet paper, batteries, canned goods, all gone. It started with local radio stations talking about the cyclone early Monday morning. I’m not sure when it shifts from reporting to fueling hysteria, but all the warnings about not panic-buying seemed to have the opposite effect.
And then today, reality set in. I left work and thought, “Maybe I should grab a few essentials—nappies, wipes, milk, bread.” Even that was nearly impossible to find.
Right now, the weather is stunning—blue skies, that classic Queensland heat—but there’s a tension in the air. A mix of anticipation and anxiety.
Thursday is when Cyclone Alfred is set to hit and I’ll keep you update here on how it unfolds.
Have you ever underestimated a natural disaster, only to have it turn into a major event? Let me know in the comments below
UPDATE – March 6th, 2025 at 8am
We have woken up to blue skies, sun, notable wind, however, a beautiful day so far!
I am working from home today while Bryce looks after the twins 🌤
UPDATE – March 7th, 2025 at 6:30am
The rain and wind set in at around 8pm last night. Often, we’d hear extremely powerful winds, so loud it was like a plane flying overhead. Then, it would go eerily silent and still.
This is what we woke up to this morning.
And I, the silly woman that I am, thought that was the worst of Cyclone Alfred last night, not realising that it hadn’t even hit yet.
Stay tuned.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Her Second Shift acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today
I was like this too when the floods hit in Regional Victoria, I was so blasé about it and started to panic day 3 when our food started getting a bit lean. However our amazing community looked after us and I was amazed at how lovely people I’d never met helped meet our needs! Stay safe and putting good vibes out there!