It is grey, windy and drizzling rain as Joanna Moss and her partner, Andy, load up on sandbags at Macleay Island, one of the first pieces of land predicted to face the punch of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
The cyclone is still a day or two away, but already the water is coming up high on the mangroves as the tide rises.
They have temporarily shut their 8th Sense Kitchen, which sells everything from gelato to pastries, as the wild weather threatens to bear down.
Ms Moss says they will take a financial hit but she is not overly worried about the forecast category two cyclone. After all, she's seen devastating natural disasters when a family home in Victoria was destroyed in the deadly 2009 Black Saturday bushfire.
Still, Ms Moss is taking precautions, such as taping windows, helping elderly neighbours and filling up on water with all the excess bottles from the shop.
"Bracing for the worst — in case," she tells the ABC.
Ms Moss is among residents of Southern Moreton Bay and Stradbroke islands, which are east of Brisbane and just a quick ferry trip away from the mainland.
More than 10,800 residents among 6,800 dwellings live there, according to Redland City Council websites.
Destructive winds lash North Stradbroke
Not all residents are remaining as Cyclone Alfred barrels down, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting landfall around sunrise on Friday morning , winds of up to 130 kilometres an hour and heavy rain.
Phillip Harris, a resident of more than four years, evacuated on Wednesday morning on one of the last ferries, emotional over what he may return to.
"It's a time where most people don't know what's going to happen, we had the opportunity this morning to get the ferry and my brother has a safe house in Carindale so we're heading there," he says.
"No one can get over to the island once the cyclone hits so if you're by yourself there, it's a scary time."
North Stradbroke is well-known as a tourist hub — beautiful beaches and camping, a nice pub — while the Southern Moreton Bay islands are better known for residences.
There's a mix of one- and two-storey homes, some older builds along with new houses, as the area becomes more popular.
In fact, house prices have jumped in the area in the past five years from about $150,000 to the $500,000 mark, according to local real estate agent Chris McGregor, himself on Russell Island.
Mr McGregor was among those making safety preparations.
One potential threat he sees is a loss of power, pointing to the amount of trees on the island in the face of the cyclone.
"The wind is the issue," he tells the ABC.
Cyclone conditions a 'lottery'
Up on North Stradbroke Island, Trish Lake is eyeing a potential change in the wind direction. She has a lifelong attachment to the island: her engineering surveyor father, Joe, helped establish electricity from the mainland.
They have homes on different parts of Stradbroke, but Ms Lake is considering the risk of the cyclone hitting and causing damage if the wind turns northerly and pushes through a storm surge from the sea.
Her home is near the waterfront, while her father's home is high but has lots of glass facing the wind.
"It's a lottery," she said of the conditions.
She has seen wild weather before — being a former ABC reporter — and was even on a ferry during a tornado in the 1970s.
While this cyclone so far does not feel that bad, Ms Lake is concerned, with technology showing the weather system "coming straight for us".
"I'm going to evacuate," she says.
Her plan is to go with her father to a family apartment — usually rented to holiday-makers — that is robust enough for her to wait out the worst.
Back on Macleay Island, the streets are noticeably quiet.
Ms Moss says they have a rented home not far from the beach and the police had warned them to evacuate.
"We've had excellent communication from all levels of government," she says.
They plan to evacuate to their neighbour's higher-level home. But first, they have more preparations to do.
"The rain's just starting to get really heavy."
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