Trusty Hilux a refuge
Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:05 pm
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/ar ... _news.html
TOYOTA says that Hilux 4WDs are the toughest machines on the planet, but they never mentioned that they can even save your life.
Stuart McBeath, 33, who lives in East Feluga Rd near Mission Beach, had to beat a hasty retreat to his trusty twin cab Hilux on Wednesday night when Cyclone Yasi started getting serious.
It was at 11pm when everything started to turn into the shape of a pear.
When the roof went, that was it for Stuart. It was time to move to Plan B.
Stuart couldn't do anything while the wind was howling, but when there was a lull for a few seconds, he hit the skids and headed for the Hilux parked in the corrugated iron garage beside the house. "I couldn't wait for the eye to come over to run outside. I just had to wait for a bit of a lull in the wind to make a run for it," he said.
"I got out of the house and hid in the Hilux, but then the shed blew away. It came right over the top of me where I was sitting in the Hilux. She was rocking around a fair bit, but I felt pretty safe," Stuart said.
Stuart then had to spend the next three-and-a-half hours sitting more or less in the open inside his Hilux while a category five storm raged around him.
He didn't say what he was thinking about while he sat in the mechanical workhorse, pondering the vagaries of nature, and what fate might have in store for him over the next few hours. Maybe he was thinking about building a new roof?
One thing about Stuart is that he has great confidence in the windscreen of a Hilux to deflect missiles, even those thrown at it by the likes of Mr Yasi.
"They're a tough windscreen. I felt pretty safe," he said.
TOYOTA says that Hilux 4WDs are the toughest machines on the planet, but they never mentioned that they can even save your life.
Stuart McBeath, 33, who lives in East Feluga Rd near Mission Beach, had to beat a hasty retreat to his trusty twin cab Hilux on Wednesday night when Cyclone Yasi started getting serious.
It was at 11pm when everything started to turn into the shape of a pear.
When the roof went, that was it for Stuart. It was time to move to Plan B.
Stuart couldn't do anything while the wind was howling, but when there was a lull for a few seconds, he hit the skids and headed for the Hilux parked in the corrugated iron garage beside the house. "I couldn't wait for the eye to come over to run outside. I just had to wait for a bit of a lull in the wind to make a run for it," he said.
"I got out of the house and hid in the Hilux, but then the shed blew away. It came right over the top of me where I was sitting in the Hilux. She was rocking around a fair bit, but I felt pretty safe," Stuart said.
Stuart then had to spend the next three-and-a-half hours sitting more or less in the open inside his Hilux while a category five storm raged around him.
He didn't say what he was thinking about while he sat in the mechanical workhorse, pondering the vagaries of nature, and what fate might have in store for him over the next few hours. Maybe he was thinking about building a new roof?
One thing about Stuart is that he has great confidence in the windscreen of a Hilux to deflect missiles, even those thrown at it by the likes of Mr Yasi.
"They're a tough windscreen. I felt pretty safe," he said.
