Sunday 25th July 2021
Well once again the aim today was to head to Cooktown. Alas, it is not going to happen today either. If nothing else we are getting consistent.
First up today we are going for a coastal walk at South Mission Beach. The Kennedy Walk started out along a boardwalk then headed in to the rainforest right on the coast, around the headland, then around Lugger Bay, Mije Creek, up to Morgan’s Lookout, Tam O’Shanter Point, Turtle Bay and then finally to Kennedy Bay. A little break and then back the other way. A lovely 10km walk around the coast and in the rainforest. Mission Beach is a really beautiful place.
Then to Licuala in the Djiru National Park looking for cassowaries. Then on our way north to Innisfail where we will stop for today, not quite Cooktown. On the way we were lucky enough to see a cassowary heading in to the rainforest. It was a lucky scoop. Woohoo! This made David a little happier. After checking in to our hotel we headed to Etty Bay Beach to hopefully see the resident cassowaries and cook some dinner. We were lucky enough to just catch the cassowaries as they were heading home to the rainforest for the night. Woohoo!!
We have decided to stay in motels for the next two weeks so we can enjoy the Olympics each night as it is one of David’s favourite sporting telecasts. Go Australia!
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Another cassowary sign – David has had enough of seeing these without seeing the real thing – maybe he will be lucky today!
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Looking out to Dunk Island from South Mission Beach..
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..South Mission Beach..
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An amazing starfish on South Mission Beach
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..it was very big, at least two handspans wide.
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The boardwalk at the start of the Kennedy walking track at South Mission Beach..
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..as the walk continues we head into rainforest right on the edge of the coastline..
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..then along to Lugger Bay..
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..we head back into the rainforest to Mije Creek..
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..for some crocodile watching – not to be found again today..
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..then along to Tam O’Shanter Point..
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..and on to Turtle Bay, pebbles all across this beach..
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..the over the big rocks at the end of Turtle Bay..
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..and to the start of Kennedy Bay, more croc signs..
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..but no crocs again here, which makes me happy but DB not so..
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..a lovely walk along the beach at Kennedy Bay where we saw kangaroo footprints.
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On the way back Dave stops at the bar supplied by the mangrove tree roots. It was a lovely walk.
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Into Djiru National Park where the picnic table is surrounded by a fence to protect you from the cassowaries, we think..
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..what we later researched was cassowary poo..
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..these are model cassowary eggs on the children’s loop walk. Probably lucky for us they are pretend eggs because otherwise we might have been in trouble.
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We were lucky enough to see a real live cassowary as we started to head north, yay yay yay!!
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We arrived just as the cassowaries were heading home to the rainforest at Etty Bay..
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..they are really big birds and have the strongest looking legs and huge feet.
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Dinner at Etty Bay Beach, it was such a beautiful relaxed evening.
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Today’s travels, we managed 95km to Innisfail today. We are 400km south of Cooktown. Maybe tomorrow, maybe not.