Tony is off to conquer the walking trail to the waterfalls this morning and arrives back to advise that the Falls were somewhat disappointing - about 1 foot wide over a drop of 40 feet.
The discomfort of the March Flies made up our minds to move on.to the coastal region. From Innisfail we take the “Canecutters Way” meandering between Sugar, Banana & Pawpaw plantations on the coastal plain.. Our intention is to call in at the little coastal resorts/beaches to find a suitable campsite.
Our first stop is Etty Bay, a beautiful secluded bay. The Lifesaver woman informs us that a Cassowary was on the beach some 500m away grazing for food. We all head off to see up close and get pictures. Tony & Jenny advise that with all the their travel to the tropical areas of Australia over many years that this is the first Cassowary that they have seen.
Next stop was Mourilyan Harbour where their was a large shipping terminal attached to a sugar refinery with molasses fed to the container ships by pipeline. Additionally their appear to be a timber & possible woodchip export operation also.
After Cowley Beach and Kurrimine Beach we head to Mission Beach and choose a Top Tourist Park to stay the next 4 nights. This park is approximately 60 metres from the beach. The sandy beach stretches some 12 klm. When the tide is out the hard sandy beach would be ideal for beach cricket. After camp setup, Tony & Jenny take in nano nap time Dot & Michael go for an extend walk on the beach. With the tide out, the tiny crabs were creating intricate patterns with small sand balls …the designs are amazing…you would think that they were in an art competition.
Many of the houses on the foreshore are up for sale, possibly because of the the [2] cyclones in the past six years. One lady informed Tony she had sold for high $600,000s in 2006 only to see it sold again some 3 years later for low $300,000. We go onto the internet – YouTube and view a couple of videos [before/after] of Dunk Island and Mission Beach of the impact of Cyclone Yasi in 2011. Dunk Island is yet to be rebuilt and you can still see the scars along the beach from the Cyclone.
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