Got the 'little helpers' evacuated to a hostel and I'm esconed in my tin shed on a hill and in the process of riding it out.

Hard days's work doing the prep - all the windows are boarded, trees staked, drains cleared, poultry locked up, and loose objects stowed. The power went out with the first few gusts of wind and i thought, 'that sucks - i was expecting the power to go out at some stage, but in the first five minutes!? Fuck.' To my pleasant surprise, it came back on about two hours later so good job whoever got out there and fixed it.

Right now, it's just moving up a notch - getting a lot more sustained with some house shakers coming through every few minutes. And we're still several hours away from the eye - so gonna be a bumpy night. Got serious concerns for my roof in this storm, and as always seems to be the case, the peak will come in the middle of the night.

Even as i write it's building - the wild gusts are now becoming the 'sustained' bit - this is a hell of a storm. Not masses of rain here so far, thankfully, but that wind is roaring...