Was there structural damage to buildings in Cairns due to the tropical storm Monica? I just made reservations at the Holiday in for 2 weeks from now! How are the Koala and other animal life doing at the zoo, etc? Is there a website I can go on to find out?
Also, do you know if the Holiday Inn has a shuttle from the airport?

I just looked at the track of Monica and it passed pretty far north of Cairns across the Cape York Peninsula. Probably Cairns is OK.

I have been getting frequent emails from Pat Woolford who as everyone knows lives and owns a B&B in Cairns.
They did not get any damage from Monica except for the huge amount of rain that it dumped and the low lying flooding that it caused.
I should think that if this is the last of the rainy season ( and it should be) then when the water has drained away all that will be around it very, very green surroundings and very full dams and fast flowing waterfalls - all the better for the enjoyment of tourists.

You are so right, Liz. We are in the Daintree Valley, two hours north of Cairns, and yesterday when Cyclone Monica passed over Cape York, very far to the north of us, we had 10 inches of rain in 24 hours. We had very little wind but lots of flooding but the water's going down fast, as it always does once the rain stops. And the butterflies now emerging are unbelievable - we've never seen so many Cairns Birdwings (Australia's largest)!

Us too, Sunbird, have never seen so many Cairns Birdwings in garden. Also lots of birds haven't seen here before and spectacled flying foxes. Displaced by previous cyclone Larry, I guess, and looking for food.

Geckolips, no structural damage at all, local flooding which is dropping as fast as it fell. Reef trips are back to normal, Kuranda train is stuck behind a landslide but should be operating by Tuesday and believe Daintree Ferry will be back in operation this afternoon.

Cyclone Monica crossed the coast near Lockhart River, about 750kms north of Cairns, then crossed the Cape, picked up strength over the warm waters of Gulf of Carpentaria and is heading as a possible category 4 to east coast of NT.

Lots of spectacled flying foxes here too, Pat - there go our breadfruit and Tahitian apples! And the Rainbow Bee-eaters are having a wonderful time scooping insects from our wetlands-dam.

Daintree Village has been cut off but the water's dropping so fast that the road should be open again this afternoon.

Wow - htose butterflies sounds great. And flying foxes?! See if you can hand on to all of them until June when we are there. Glad there was no significant damage.

Thanks, it all sounds wonderful - except for the floods and mudslide of course. See you soon!