Sign-In
Cart
Surviving Nature's Fury: My Journey Through Fire, Flood and Cyclone
Paperback
Biographies GeneralAustralia & OceaniaEnvironmental Studies
Publisher Price: $19.99
ISBN13: 9781764315708
Publisher: Pure Heart Publishing
Published: Oct 6 2025
Pages: 84
Weight: 0.28
Height: 0.23 Width: 5.25 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
Imagine facing not one, but several of nature's most destructive forces in your lifetime bushfires, floods, and cyclones. Now imagine surviving them all, carrying the memories into adulthood, and only later realising the emotional scars they left behind.
In Surviving Nature's Fury - My Journey through Fire, Flood and Cyclone, author Karen Feldbauer shares her deeply personal and extraordinary story of living through some of Australia's most devastating natural events. From the 1969 bushfires in Victoria to the 1973/74 Queensland floods on the Burdekin River, catastrophic 1974 Cyclone Tracy in Darwin, and later the 2010-2011 Queensland floods, Karen's journey is one of resilience, fear, courage, and ultimately, gratitude.
Told in a warm, conversational style, Karen invites readers into her childhood world a yellow-brick home built by her father in the bush outside Melbourne, where gum trees and wildlife shaped her adventurous spirit. She recalls the terror of watching her mother fight a raging bushfire alone while protecting her daughters, and seeing a blackened, silent landscape where life once thrived. These early experiences planted the seeds of resilience, even if their full meaning only became clear many decades later.
Her story continues as her family travelled across Australia in a caravan, making homes in camp sites and small towns, meeting extraordinary people, and discovering both the beauty and the dangers of living close to nature. Karen shares memories of childhood pranks, friendships, and the simple joys of growing up in a time when resilience wasn't a word people used it was simply a way of life.
But the heart of this book lies in her account of Cyclone Tracy, the Christmas Eve storm that changed Darwin forever. With honesty and emotion, Karen recalls the deafening roar of the wind, the terrifying hours huddled with her siblings in a concrete shower block, and the eerie silence when the eye passed overhead. She writes not only of fear and survival but also of the strange, unforgettable details: the refrigerator bouncing inside their caravan, the tarp that shielded them as they ran through sideways rain, and the miracle of a circus tent still standing the next morning. Her recollections are vivid, raw, and powerful - a child's-eye view of one of Australia's darkest nights.
Decades later, Karen again found herself facing rising floodwaters in Brisbane. This time, as an adult, she saw first-hand the heartbreak of neighbours and friends who lost everything. She joined the thousands of volunteers who became known as the Mud Army, shovelling mud, clearing debris, and offering comfort to strangers who could only watch their memories pile up on the roadside in ruined heaps. These experiences deepened her understanding not only of loss, but of the emotional weight we attach to our belongings - the meaning behind the stuff we hold onto.
Throughout the book, Karen balances these harrowing accounts with humour, warmth, and a deep appreciation for the communities who came together in times of crisis. From mischievous frog pranks in a Darwin caravan park to the shock of a huntsman spider leaping from flood-damaged shoes, she reminds us that even in the darkest times, there is room for laughter and humanity.
Surviving Nature's Fury is not a story of devastation, but of survival, resilience, and the quiet courage of ordinary people. It is a tribute to parents who acted instinctively, neighbours who stood shoulder to shoulder, and strangers who became heroes. It is also a reflection on the lessons these events leave behind: that home is not always a place, but where our heart lies; that belongings may be lost, but love and connection endure; and that even in the fiercest storms, there is always a way forward.
Also from
Feldbauer, Karen L.
Bella Comes Home and Meets The Cats: A Gentle Giant With A Heart Of Gold
Feldbauer, Karen L.
Hardcover
Bella and the Big Bang: A Gentle Giant With A Heart Of Gold (Large Print Edition)
Feldbauer, Karen L.
Hardcover
Also in
Environmental Studies
Wildly Successful Farming: Sustainability and the New Agricultural Land Ethic
DeVore, Brian
Hardcover
The Darkness Manifesto: On Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms That Sustain Life
Eklöf, Johan
Hardcover
Grassroots Rising: A Call to Action on Climate, Farming, Food, and a Green New Deal
Cummins, Ronnie
Paperback
The Return of Collective Intelligence: Ancient Wisdom for a World Out of Balance
Dyer, Dery
Paperback
Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World
McNeill, J. R.
Paperback
Without Reservation: Awakening to Native American Spirituality and the Ways of Our Ancestors
Kritkausky, Randy
Paperback
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paperback
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
Schlanger, Zoë
Paperback
The Traveler: One Man's Quest for Humanity from the South Seas to Revolutionary Paris
Wulf, Andrea
Hardcover
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
Sheldrake, Merlin
Paperback
Up on Cove Mountain: Adventure, Tragedy, and a Quest for Meaning on the Appalachian Trail
Swift, Earl
Hardcover
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Hardcover
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World
Wohlleben, Peter
Hardcover
Our Wild Familiars: How Animals Are Adapting to Cities and Reshaping the Natural World
Werb, Dan
Hardcover
The Ghost of the Mountains: Unraveling the Secrets of the Snow Leopard
Suryawanshi, Kulbhushansingh
Hardcover
Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization
McKibben, Bill
Hardcover
The Earth Said Remember Me: How to Revive Our Memories and Restore the Planet
Mark, Jason Dove
Hardcover
Fires in the Night: The Earth Liberation Front, the Fbi, and a Secret History of Eco-Sabotage
Wolfe, Matthew
Hardcover
Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Likes to Walk Outside
Offerman, Nick
Paperback
The Summer of Death: The Great Heat Wave of 1936 and the Making of Modern-Day America
Williams, Geoff
Hardcover
We Will Be Jaguars (Reese's Book Club Pick): A Memoir of My People
Anderson, Mitch
Nenquimo, Nemonte
Paperback
Plastic Inc.: The Secret History and Shocking Future of Big Oil's Biggest Bet
Gardiner, Beth
Hardcover
Polar War: Submarines, Spies, and the Struggle for Power in a Melting Arctic
Rosen, Kenneth R.
Hardcover
The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It's Too Late
Mahoney, Adam
Beyond Plastics
Enck, Judith
Hardcover
Where the Earth Meets the Sky: A Story of Penguins, People, and Place in Antarctica
Blight, Louise K.
Hardcover
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
Egan, Timothy
Paperback
Romp!: A Journey Through the Natural History of Otters and Why They Matter
Island, Heide, PhD
Hardcover
Frostlines: A Journey Through Entangled Lives and Landscapes in a Warming Arctic
Shea, Neil
Hardcover
Pests & Other Friends: Discover the True Nature of the Most Maligned Animals
Berryman, Halsey
Hardcover
Otherworldly America: Explore the Most Unique Natural Wonders of the United States
Guzman, Jake
Hardcover
Natural Habitats and Wildlife Gardening: Inviting Nature Into Your Backyard
McCoshum, Shaun
Paperback
Torched: How a City Was Left to Burn, and the Olympic Rush to Rebuild L.A.
Vigliotti, Jonathan
Hardcover
Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard
Tallamy, Douglas W.
Hardcover
The World Beneath Our Feet: The Hidden Life of Soil and Why It Matters to Us All
Ashwood, Frank
Hardcover
Compost After Reading: A Practical Manifesto for Purposeful Decomposition
Marketos, Cassandra
Paperback
Clearing the Air: A Hopeful Guide to Solving Climate Change in 50 Questions and Answers
Ritchie, Hannah
Hardcover
Leave the Lights on: How Joyful Decisions Can Save Our Species
Dunn, Elizabeth
Zhao, Jiaying
Hardcover
5 Steps to a 5: AP Environmental Science 2027: Practice AP Tests + AP Content Review + Digital Exams
Mayer, Courtney
Paperback
Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces That Threaten Our World
Mann, Michael E.
Hotez, Peter J.
Hardcover
Brought to You by: How Corporations Warped the Truth, Conned the Public, and Broke Democracy
Westervelt, Amy
Hardcover
How to Fall in Love with the Future: A Time Traveller's Guide to Changing the World
Hopkins, Rob
Hardcover
Alaska Literary Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry
Lord, Nancy
Grace Moler, Shaelene
Holleman, Marybeth
Paperback
Wildlife Anatomy: The Curious Lives & Features of Wild Animals Around the World
Rothman, Julia
Paperback
Tigers Between Empires: The Improbable Return of Great Cats to the Forests of Russia and China
Slaght, Jonathan C.
Hardcover
Bird Talk: Hilariously Accurate Ways to Identify Birds by the Sounds They Make
Rowland, Becca
Paperback
Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have
Schlossberg, Tatiana
Paperback
Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail
Lankford, Andrea
Paperback
Progress: How One Idea Built Civilization and Now Threatens to Destroy It
McDonald, Samuel Miller
Hardcover
A Field Guide to the Apocalypse: A Mostly Serious Guide to Surviving Our Wild Times
Aktipis, Athena
Paperback
On Island Time: A Traveler's Atlas: Illustrated Adventures on and Around the Islands of Washington and British Columbia
O'Leary, Chandler
Paperback
Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey Into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon
Rosolie, Paul
Paperback
Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark
Henion, Leigh Ann
Hardcover
Nature's Echo: Harnessing Ancient Feedback Loops to Heal a Changing Planet
Crowther, Thomas
Hardcover
Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie
Hage, Dave
Marcotty, Josephine
Hardcover
Compassion in Crisis: Building Disaster-Resilient Communities
Weiner, Kate Rose
Loften, Kailea Rose
Paperback
The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us about How to Live Well with the Rest of Life
Dunn, Rob
Hardcover
Pacific Northwest Medicinal Plants: Identify, Harvest, and Use 120 Wild Herbs for Health and Wellness
Kloos, Scott
Paperback
AP Environmental Science Premium, 2027: Prep Book with 5 Practice Tests + Comprehensive Review + Online Practice
Thorpe, Gary S., M. S.
Paperback
The Secret Life of a Cemetery: The Wild Nature and Enchanting Lore of Père-Lachaise
Gallot, Benoît
Paperback
The New Beachcomber's Guide to the Pacific Northwest: Second Revised Edition
Sept, J. Duane
Paperback
The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World
Brannen, Peter
Hardcover
Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science
Hernandez, Jessica
Paperback
Let's Become Fungal!: Mycelium Teachings and the Arts: Based on Conversations with Indigenous Wisdom Keepers, Artists, Curators, Feminists and Mycolog
Ostendorf-Rodríguez, Yasmine
Paperback
Pacific Northwest Foraging: 120 Wild and Flavorful Edibles from Alaska Blueberries to Wild Hazelnuts
Deur, Douglas
Paperback
The Ultimate Shell Seeker's Guide: Building a Better Beachcombing Strategy
Oliphant, Ashley
Paperback
The Secret World of Weather: How to Read Signs in Every Cloud, Breeze, Hill, Street, Plant, Animal, and Dewdrop
Gooley, Tristan
Paperback
Winter Tree Finder: Identifying Deciduous Trees of Eastern North America by Their Bark and Twigs
Watts, May Theilgaard
Paperback
Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization
McKibben, Bill
Paperback
Warden Force: The Worst of the Worst and Other True Game Warden Adventures: Episodes 101-114
Hodges, Terry
Paperback
Shelter from the Storm: How Climate Change Is Creating a New Era of Migration
Hattem, Julian
Hardcover