oh my gosia

The text from my mum went a little something like this:

“Cyclone warning,” the message came through at 4:14PM on Sunday afternoon.

Clearly she had just heard an update and sent a message to alert us to the news.

“Oh yeah, won’t be bad, it’s already weakened,” was my hopeful response.

I didn’t want to worry her and admittedly I hadn’t heard the latest news updates, so wasn’t too concerned.

Surely this will be nothing.

Mum responded to my message with a thumbs up emoji and that was that.

Well, “that was that” until early the following morning.

The news reports on early Monday morning were a little less “it’s weakened” and probably nothing, to “it could be worse than originally predicted”.

YIKES! Maybe Mum was right.

After downloading all possible weather apps — BOM, Zoom Earth, Weatherzone … you name it, I probably have it! — I messaged Mum.

“Hmm hmm hmmm actually now reports are saying it could be worse than they were saying yesterday. Lots of rain probably and I’m going to make sure today that we’re stocked up on formula, snacks, water, nappies, food so we’re all good in case this goes bad. Going to get windy.”

That was last week and while Brisbane got through this once-in-50-years event, islands around Brisbane, the Gold Coast and some parts of North NSW weren’t quite so lucky.

preparing for a … CYCLONE (?!!)

It seems I bookended my departure and return back home to Australia with “an unprecedented weather event”.

When I was leaving Australia in 2022 to meet up with J in Doha, Brisbane experienced some of the worst floods in years!

And, fast-forward to 2025, about 6 weeks since our return to Australia, we now faced another “unprecedented weather event”, this time in the form of Tropical Cyclone (TC) Alfred.

Stone the flamin’ crows!

Ah the memes that came out of all of this! Hilarious!!

Over the course of the week, ‘Uncle Alfie’ took a little longer than predicted to arrive with meteorologists explaining the TC had circled back on itself at one point, then slowed down significantly and even paused at one stage …!

Southeast Queensland was basically on lockdown measures from Wednesday onwards and we were told to stay at home. And because Alfie was taking his sweet time to arrive, it started to feel a bit like the ol’ Covid lockdown days!

But when TC Alfred did finally arrive it caused havoc across the state, particularly on the Gold Coast and some parts of north NSW.

And let me tell you, the anxiety was real on Friday evening as it was predicted that TC Alfred would hit Brisbane later on Friday night/early Saturday morning.

So, how did we prepare for TC Alfred? And how did we keep little Miss A entertained while housebound for those few days last week?

Well, first up, confession time: J faced not one but TWO cyclones last week — TC Alfred and Cyclone Margs! Fueled by peaking anxiety levels, every morning I’d come into the living room declaring yet another urgent trip to Coles and Bunnings before the closed — to get ALL the supplies. Poor J … ANYHOO back to our preparations! :-p

Basically, it was just making sure we had enough supplies for all possibilities, especially power outages.

So, we made sure we had:

• Plenty of water, largely to make sure Miss A could still have her bottles.
• Some toilet paper. We didn’t go overboard here, I promise. But we made sure we had just enough for a few days in case shops were closed for longer post cyclone.
• Extra tins of goats milk formula and plenty of toddler snacks for Miss A.
• Extra nappies and water wipes.
• Candles and matches.
• Extra battery packs for iphones and laptops in case the power went out.
• By the time we went to Bunnings to get torches they were already sold out, so J bought a few solar powered garden lights that we could use if the power went out. We also had a front bike light that’s super powerful that we would have used as well if the power went out.
• We bought 2x small Esky’s from Bunnings in case we couldn’t use the fridge/freezer in the event of a power outage.
• We stocked up on food and snacks, including items not requiring refrigeration.
• We stocked up on pharmacy supplies, mainly to make sure I had enough reflux meds — stupid sliding hiatal hernia! — antihistamines and an asthma pump in case the wind flared up my allergies. I also had to stock up on other feminine products and pain meds because, well … you know, PERFECT TIMING!
• Cash! There were videos on Instagram of people from Cairns/Townsville (so FNQ) sharing tips on how to prepare for a cyclone and this one came up a few times — get cash out in case the ATMs go down due to no power! So, on Thursday I had J go to the ATM to get some cash out, you know, just in case.

So as far as supplies go that’s basically what we stocked up on.

Oh, we also bought sand bags and tarp from Bunnings and made sure to secure our new rental because of a potential post-TC Alfred flood risk. Thankfully, there was no flooding and we now finally get to move into our apartment this week! After 6 weeks (or so) of living out of suitcases, we FINALLY get to unpack! HOORAY!! So over “suitcase life”!

By Thursday/Friday, we also had our emergency bags packed and ready in case we needed to evacuate.

Miss A’s essentials were prepped and in her pram ready to go, while I packed a backpack with our important documents sealed in zip-lock bags (to avoid getting wet!), along with a change of clothes, laptops, and chargers.

J packed water, snacks for us, battery packs, a front bike light, and spare clothes in his bag.

We were as ready as we could be, just hoping we wouldn’t have to put our emergency plan into action!

As far as keeping Miss A entertained while we were housebound?

Well, that involved lots of walks in between the rain when it was still safe to do so; lots of reading and playing; and we even made were a cubby house out of a large cardboard box that we had lying around the apartment, which she still loves playing in!

While we’re incredibly grateful that Brisbane emerged mostly unscathed, our hearts go out to those who were severely affected.

It’s been an anxious time, but we made it through. And no doubt, those hardest hit will get through this tough time and rebuild, and life in Southeast Queensland will return to the sunny normal we all know and love.

xo G.

Margaret Mielczarek

editor, journalist, digital content creator with a background in nutrition & dietetics.