Tayla Galletly and her partner James Moore both grew up in Alexandra and have been living in Brisbane for the past six months.
Businesses and public transportation began to shut down early last week, Miss Galletly said.
She worked as an early childhood educator in Brisbane’s CBD and by last Friday she had already been off for two days after her centre closed on Thursday.
Authorities had advised people to prepare for a potential water shortage or power outage.
As part of the preparations authorities said people should fill bathtubs up with fresh water in case the mains supply was contaminated.
People were also told to prepare for up to three days without power.
"So naturally, everyone has been panic buying and stocking up on non-perishable foods, torches, batteries, and in some areas people have been queuing for hours to get sandbags for their homes," she said.
The couple had to visit five supermarkets just to find essentials like a loaf of bread.
Miss Galletly said she felt for people who lived on the coast saying "it looks pretty hectic out there".
The couple hoped the cyclone would not interrupt their plan to return home to New Zealand this week.
They had tickets booked for more than a month and planned to settle in Dunedin when they returned to New Zealand.
"Hopefully we can still catch our flight [this] week back home.
"But again, it’s all very much a ‘wait and see what happens’ scenario," she said.
