Etty Bay

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!

Southern Cassowary

The beach would have been a lot prettier in the sun... maybe it's another place we'll have to come back to!

The sunrises each morning were similarly overcast.

A glimpse of sun on the trees in front of our caravan lasted a few minutes.

Zodiac Moths (also known as North Queensland Day Moths) - Google lens is wonderful for working out what things are!

White-bellied Sea-Eagles

Paronella Park

We've decided to do a few of the "tourist things" on this trip, and one of the places we had seen a lot of advertising for was Paronella Park. It has an interesting history (Google it!). After doing our own construction and landscaping projects over about ten years, we appreciated how much work went into the concrete buildings and the gardens!

It is built on Mena Creek Falls, which was (and still is) used to power a hydro-electric system.

There are two tours included in the ticket price (and a night in their caravan park!), and the day tour focused on the history.

Northern Jewelled Spider

Golden Orb Spider 

Four O'clock Moth Caterpillar

Yellow-spotted Honeyeater

Wompoo Fruit-Doves

Little Bronze Cuckoo 

Olive-backed Sunbirds (male & female)

Helmeted Friarbird

Zodiac Moth

The night tour was more of an "experience". Having its own electricity before anywhere else in the district (in 1933) meant that lighting was a part of the evening experience from the beginning. 

A replica of the mirror ball that was in the original ballroom.

There was also a really enjoyable sound and light show.

Tully, Mission Beach and Lacey Creek

We spent a night at the Tully Gorge National Park campground and went for a drive up to the end of the road. When researching the area I saw a recommendation and instructions for finding Ponytail Falls, which turned out to be really pretty.

We were about half way back up to the car when we thought we heard some voices. We assumed it was someone coming down the track, but when the voices got louder we realised they were coming from the river - rafters! We turned around and ran back down to the river just in time to see them at the waterfalls.

On our way up the road we had stopped at the Cardstone Weir Lookout. We knew that's where the rafters would be heading, so we raced back to the car and drove back down to the lookout. By the time we walked down there they were approaching the weir.

After that excitement we went back to the camp where the Tully River is a little more sedate.

Next day we did the short Butterfly Walk... but there were no butterflies. We did really like this palm tree, though.

Varied Triller (female) 

Forest Kingfisher

On the way back to Tully we saw our first cassowary... It was quite a way up the road, and by the time I grabbed my phone it had mostly disappeared.

The Golden Gumboot - almost 8 metres high, the level of the highest annual rainfall ever recorded in an Australian town (in 1950).

The following day we drove out to Mission Beach. It was overcast and windy - not quite providing the postcard view of the palms along the beach.

It was clearer out to the north.

Beach Stone-curlew

The sea was calmer at the next beach to the north (Narragon Beach) and the view from the Perry Harvey Jetty was a little closer to the idyllic tropical beach/rainforest/island vista.

On the way back we stopped at Lacey Creek for a walk through the rainforest. It was really pretty and there were a few birds.

Rufous Fantail

Macleay's Honeyeater - We were particularly excited when we identified this one as it is only found in a small area from Paluma Range up to Cooktown!

Spectacled Monarch

Our final stop for the day was Alligator's Nest near Tully (apparently named after the local Scout group, not for any large lizards!).