I was in Darwin in December 1974 when Cyclone Tracy hit the city on Christmas eve.
I still remember the event well. I was staying at the YMCA hostel at the time. For the first two days after the cyclone hit, all I had for food was a leftover Christmas cake and a can of Coke for drink.
The city was totally destroyed except for a few buildings left standing and the YMCA building was one of them.
A friend, who fortunately bought a Ford station wagon a few days before that, and I drove out of Darwin down south to Alice Spring. From Alice Spring he took a plane back to Adelaide and me back to Melbourne. I arrived back in Mlebourne on 1975 new year eve.
I got to say Darwin was like a war zone. It is an experience I would never forget.
I had my best cup of coffee one night when we stopped at Katherine on the way south. The people along the highway were fantastic; they provided rooms in their homes for the night for people who left Darwin by car.
