Well Yasi certainly kept us on our toes. It was an anxious wait so see just where this enormouse Catergory 5 cyclone would cross the coast. It must have been truely terrifying for those people who experienced Yasi first hand, those in Tully and Port Hinchinbrook. Places like Tully Heads and Caldwell have received horrendous damage, it will take years for those living there to get back on track.
Townsville was amazingly lucky. I spent a sleepless night on Wednesday watching Yasi on the BOM website, it dipped up and then down and I felt panic starting to set in as it got closer to Townsville, then by some strange miracle it chose a different path.
We had evacuated our house due to concerns about storm surge and I am grateful that Yasi slowed down (altering the time it hit and not coinciding with high tides) and that it was not any closer to Townsville (which would have increased the storm surge).
 I feel guilty saying this because Yasi's actions have altered the lives of so many people. When we left our house the only thing I cared about at the time was finding the safest possible place for my three kids, knowing that if the worst possible scenario proved true then our home wasn't that place. I actually didn't care at the time whether we still had a home to come back too. The kids were the priority.
Townsville got off lightly. We have lost many many trees, which I find really sad. Structurally, most homes escaped unscathed or with minor damage. Electricity was off in many parts of town, its slowly returning due to the efforts of amazing Ergon crews, but some people will not have power for weeks. Others don't have water. But we have our lives which is the important part.

What survived in the garden?
Definitely not our bananas and pawpaws. I'm sad about that. Most of the climbing vines such as pumpkin, luffa and air potato copped a hammering. The mandarin tree has developed a lean, and is now in danger of being removed completely (by my chainsaw weilding husband!). The passionfruit arch is now a square, but the vine still looks healthy. Large trees and smaller ones like grevillea snapped in the wind. We had an enormous tree that provides shade in our backyard which we prune every couple of years. All the new growth broke off, leaving the bare trunk still rooted in the ground, and the branches that fell landed over the chook runs, inadvertantly stopping them from blowing away! The arrowroot and cassava didn't bat an eyelid. The ginger and turmeric looks ruffled but the tubers aren't affected. A once potted orange tree is now enjoying life in the garden bed after its pot smashed. Pigeon pea toppled but fortunatley had left many seedlings to take its place. It will take a while but the yard will recover.
I count us very very lucky.