Hi everyone,

Here we are again this time of the year with a very possible cyclone, and some early season travellers planning to head off as soon as possible.

Please, when making your plans - I cannot stress enough - April is still cyclone season - the whole month of it!

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In This Issue:

• Cyclone Ita Could Hit Cape York

• Book Updates Underway

• Feedback Always Welcome

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CYCLONE ITA COULD HIT CAPE YORK

And from the current prediction it looks exactly like it will - they predict it will do it in the second half of this week.

At this moment it is still almost 1000km off the coast, so it could surprise and turn around as did Gillian (which by the way ended up developing into a category five west of Western Australia - too far from us so I did not make a newsletter).

But the prediction map of Ita does not look good - and could well be a big concern for early season travellers.

Here is the current prediction map of Cyclone Ita (link deleted once BOM removed the page)

To me this is the scariest cyclone prediction map of this season yet. Mainly if it does get to category three - it could possibly get even stronger.

We can only wait and see.

But my point with this newsletter was that I have had a good few people contacting me lately who were planning to come up in April, some in early April.

Because I do get a lot of email questions, because they often focus on other things and only mention when they are coming up, and because I feel that I always stress everywhere that early travellers risk closed roads and tropical cyclones, there are times I forget to warn you in that email reply.

But if you read the forums, the newsletters, the FREE Pocket Guide and the Destination Guide, you should have well understood the risks you take if you choose to do early season travelling.

If travelling in April - May, you should always have spare time and spare supplies in case you get stuck behind floods and have to wait.

But much worse - the devastating winds come before the rains and the floods.

And with this cyclone - if it does turn out to develop to a severe one - you are simply risking your life if out camping.

You have to get to a town and into a cyclone shelter.

If you are planning to come up right now or shortly - follow the news of this cyclone - you likely have to change your plans.

The Peninsula Developmental is open with caution at the very moment - but that can always change any day this time of the year, and after a decent cyclone it could close for weeks.

And even if it is open, and even if it wasn't for the cyclone - things are rough this time of the year, the roads are not graded, things are always rough on your vehicle this early in the season.


PRICES GETTING UPDATED IN THE DESTINATION GUIDE

The promised April price updates in the Destination Guide are underway.

At this stage I don't want to predict when they will be ready, but I can promise to you I am working on them, and working hard - so they will be ready as soon as possible.

 
FEEDBACK ALWAYS WELCOME

I really appreciate any kind of feedback on the Destination Guide.

Please let me know if you enjoyed it while planning before the trip, and while using the information once on the trip.

If you get any questions about anything, please feel welcome to contact me.

That's all for this time - happy planning everyone :-)

Katrin


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