Josephine Falls and the Babinda Cascades

It was mostly overcast and wet for our trip up to Cairns, but we had time to wait for the showers to pass to do the couple of short walks. They were both very pretty.

Josephine Falls

The walk through the forest was beautiful and the water was crystal clear.

There were three different viewing areas and we started at the bottom.

Dazz had just finished telling me that there were no mushrooms or fungus anywhere when he spotted these.

Babinda Cascades

There were more fungii at The Cascades!

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.