We had two spare nights before we were booked into a caravan park in Cairns, and were planning to stay in the council free camp at Babinda. The weather forecast was for two days of rain, which would have put a bit of strain on our batteries, and not been much fun for seeing the local sites. Dazz was talking to someone who told him the best place to see cassowaries in the wild was at Etty Bay. I checked and noticed that it wasn't far out of our way, and there was a caravan park there, so we decided to stay there for the two nights rather than just do a day trip.
We arrived on Saturday and it was quite busy, both in the caravan park and with day-trippers in the picnic area. As the day went on a few people were clearly on the lookout for cassowaries, but there were none around. The weather had been windy and rainy for a few days and apparently there had been no sightings for four or five days, so we went inside and I started making dinner. A little while later I looked out the window and noticed a group of people walking towards the bathrooms. I wondered aloud whether they were all just going before they left for the day, or whether... Dazz jumped up and went out to check and sure enough, the cassowary had appeared! It spent the next 15 minutes or so just wandering around the caravans, the picnic area and the beach before it headed back into the bush. We were so excited and thankful, especially as it didn't come back again on Sunday. A very special experience!
