Note to Cardwell, NQ, Australia!

The very pretty little town of Cardwell was hit by a storm surge during last week's Cyclone Yasi.  The photos of the damage shocked us.  Since they're copyrighted, I'm afraid they won't download into here but you really should hunt them up for yourself.  Not only has the beach completely gone, so has the sea wall, the park and half the road.  Completely washed away!

However, because it looks so desperately grim, I went to Pui-O beach yesterday to photograph it so Cardwell can see and take consolation from it.

Four years ago (I expect Aussie Christine will send me a cross message saying "It was five years ago!" and I'll go with that), Pui-O was hit by a savage storm surge that completely took the entire beach and deposited it on Ham Tin Village. Not an inch of sand was left anyplace other than in people's houses and gardens.

Yet here is Pui-O Beach today:

And that's without any reconstruction work.  It took a couple of years but everything is now the way it used to be.

If you want another look, here's a view to the left:

And the view to the right:

Yeah, yeah, that's just an excuse for yet another gratuitous sunset shot!