It's 11:40pm Sunday night in the UK. I have just got a frantic text message from my mum saying a tsunami warning had been issued for Cairns. I text her back and said, "Are you sure it's real and not a belated April fool's joke?". Unfortunately, it isn't. I've logged onto the Bureau of Meteorology website and sure enough there is a massive warning for coastal towns of the east coast of Australia from the northern penninsula to Brisbane for a Tsunami strike.
I have received a message from a friend who's parents and their catamaran (which they lovingly built from scratch) were moored in the Solomon Islands. She has told me that her parents and the boat are okay but the island of Gizo is completely wiped out.
I cannot believe it. Only yesterday did my mum tell me with much excitement that she was coming to visit me in the UK for two weeks in June. This is huge. My mum has never travelled outside Oz before. I sent her a text message a week ago asking if she'd consider coming over to visit me but I figured she wouldn't have the cash, the time or the desire to visit me overseas before Rob and I headed back to Oz to build a little nest. But to my great suprise and joy, she has decided she is going to take the plunge and come in the next lot of school holidays (as she works at a school). I have been on cloud 9 ever since she told me.
Now I'm in a state of panic. I'm trawling the internet. Calling her. Texting her. Texting her again. Gawd, I can't believe this. It's completely nuts. I cannot do anything to help. I feel rather helpless. There is no way I can sleep till I know everything is going to be okay ... or not. Please keep my family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.
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