Update on Australia's 'Political' Cyclones

I was rather befuddled that several Aussie visitors to Kiko's House overlayed the amazing story of Cyclone Larry (180 mile per hour winds, enormous destruction but no deaths) with their political views, which for the most part were comfortably right of center.

I wrote this off to the innate combativeness of the Australian male, but I was wrong.

Coming hard on the heels of Larry, which tore into Queensland at the beginning of the week, Cyclone Wati also seemed headed for the northeastern Australian state. But Wati, with 125 mph winds, has been on a meandering walkabout in the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast for several days now. (That's Larry just over the purple-outlined Queensland coast and Wati out to sea in a satellite image taken earlier in the week.)

Meteorologists predicted that Wati would turn right, which no doubt would have pleased our Aussie friends, but it apparently has decided which way it will vote and has turned left!

It's not clear to me what this might mean for the Howard government, but as Wati wheels further leftward New Zealand will be coming into its sights -- and people there take their politics very seriously.

The Sydney Morning Herald and N.Z. National Business Journal have more here and here. About the cyclone, not it's political leanings.