The only time in my life I have returned early from a fishing trip early...

I came in from the sea on the afternoon of Christmas Eve 1974. At the time I was making a living fishing for barramundi between the waters of Darwin and Arnhem Land. I had planned to stay out for a few of days but, although the weather was still, there was something in the way the sky looked and I could tell the seas weren?t happy so I returned early. I was paying $12 a week to park my caravan behind a shop on Smith St and was living there with my girlfriend, but she wasn't there when I returned. I hadn't listened to the wireless so didn't know that there was potentially a cyclone on its way, but as the evening wore on I could see that some people were beginning to board up their shops. By 8 or 9 o'clock the wind was starting to pick up and by midnight things were really moving. Then there was a dead calm for 5 or 10 minutes as the eye went over us and then it all started again from the opposite direction. I didn't sleep. Not that night. When it was over I was amazed to find just the one small dent in my otherwise undamaged caravan and my boat and trailer still right where I had parked them. Both had been quite protected by the shop and a large brick wall. But many of the surrounding buildings had not fared well at all and were badly demolished.Lee, BeverleyThis story was made as part of the ABC Open and Northern Territory Library Cyclone Tracy storytelling workshop program