We are in a cyclone area too, but further north of rocky tho.
I have a 15 amp inlet socket in the shed that feeds back to the house switchboard. I installed a generator changeover switch so power is either "mains" or "generator" only. Then as suggested I turn off the HWS, and tell everybody to only use non Heaton element appliances.
We have a eu20i Honda and it runs the fridge, all the lights (led downlights), fans and the 2 air cons in the kids rooms for daytime sleeps. I also have a power meter hooked up to the genset to make sure it's not getting overloaded.
Ideally I will get another eu20i to hook up in parallel and be able to run Nearly everything, but that's just a nice to have and I'll only get one if I find someone selling their unused one real cheap.
This way it's using minimal petrol as fuel supply can be an issue when the power is out and just had a major storm. That's where having a big generator has its downfall as keeping fuel upto it can be an issue.
Anyway, don't use a suicide lead and plug your gennie straight into a power point coz you'll probably fry somebody and there is nothing wrong with running out leads from the genset power up whatever is needed.
