Day 11. Sunday 15 May 2022. Beautiful sunny day. Drove 333km from Ayr to Kurrimine Beach where we will be for 5 nights. All the flood drama is behind us. At Kurrimine we are on a site that is next to the beach – which is many kilometres long. Our drive north from Ayr was completely uneventful – no flooding at Giru. They have certainly lifted the road along there. Traffic moved along very well. Quite a lot of road work most of which was not working because it is Sunday. Had a coffee from a van at Cardwell along the beach. (Where we had to edge our way through a clump of black cockatoos feeding on the the ground.) Last time we were here, Cyclone Yahtzee had just been through and flattened the place. Now a thriving waterfront tourist town again. A walk along Kurrimine beach this afternoon. Stone-curlews wailing all night. Almost not surf noise because no, zero, nada surf.
Day 12.Monday 16 May 2022. Kurrimine Beach is a turtle hatchery – or so say the signs. We did see a turtle’s head this morning on our walk. Presumably the turtle was attached to it pushing it above water every now and then. This morning we found a very nice track that makes its way through the fringing forest. Coffee down at the other Van Park (G’day). This evening we managed an hour’s walk along the beach and on our return we had a full moon rise over the sea. Very pretty.
Day 13. Tuesday 17 May 2022. We went for a drive to Tully Gorge today. It was much further than we thought and was quite a disappointment. More a rapid that a waterfall. The Tully River certainly had a lot of water. Extensive banana plantations along the Tully Gorge Road. Back in Tully we did a round of shopping at the IGA. A walk out to the edge of the Kurrimine King reef at low tide. A large amount of very small shells galloping about and a lot of sea-worms, much very fine mud that made it easy to get stuck. The harder bits of the reef appear to be made by animals that have consolidated the mud into lumps.
Day 14. Wednesday 18 May 2022. A very lazy day. Reading and waiting for birds to jump in front of the camera lens. Just as we were finishing our morning walk (that was very hot and without a breath of a breeze) the wind started up and we had white caps out to sea. I’ve had to tie the canopy down. Quite a few more birds made an appearance. Til now, all we’ve seen have been the masked lapwings (that surprisingly have been hunting over the reef at low tide).
Day 15. Thursday 19 May 2022. Rain overnight. All cleared to a sunny day by 9:30am. After our walk, we had a coffee at our local coffee shop now that it is open. Quite a few black cockies around this morning. That female Flycatcher is tricky to pin down to a species. I could not get a good enough photo. We got the gazebo down and table and chairs in the car in preparation for our departure tomorrow. Rain began again at 12:45pm and it rained quite hard. After the rain, wind was quite strong. Quite a lot of reading today – again. Those wailing stone-curlews keep us entertained each night. Just on last light, they gather for a communal wail along the beach. They don’t want to be photographed and run around to avoid me. Last night as they ran through the water, they left a trail of phosphorescence. Rain and wind. A beachside campground on a wet, windy day is not a happy place
Day 16. Friday 20 May 2022. Drive to Atherton. Quite a change of plan today. We woke to heavy rain with more of the same forecast for the next week. Helen has become extremely concerned that the van will be very wet when we put it into storage next Saturday and we will come back to a van full of mould. We need to dry out. After a look at what is happening all along the north coast over the next week (heavy rain), we can see that Atherton (just 130km away) will be mainly dry (albeit cloudy) for the next week. I made a booking for 5 nights at Atherton Big 4 NRMA Woodlands Tourist Park and cancelled Wonga Beach. We drove the 130km to Atherton. Very heavy rain all the way to and up the range. From the top of the range, rain stopped and we have been in weak sunshine since. Stopped for a very enjoyable coffee at Millaa Millaa cafe. After setting up here we went into Atherton for a Thai lunch. We also have the problem of needing to empty the fridge for storage, so more eating out over the coming week. We are surrounded by calling birds here at Atherton. Quite a change from the bird-less quiet of the coast.
Day 17. Saturday 21 May 2022. Election Day! We had an adventuresome morning. First stop was Hasties Swamp – a large lagoon with a very good two storey bird-hide. The lagoon had a few hundred Whistling-Ducks – about equal numbers of Plumed and Wandering – quite difficult to tell apart at times. Quite noisy with all their whistling. Far too many photos. From there we went to Malanda Markets – full of people. We bought lots of fruit. Then, back to Atherton for a visit to a very packed Woolworths. Then, to Gallery 5 for a coffee. Again, packed. We did not see a polling place anywhere.
Day 18. Sunday 22 May 2022. New government! We headed to Nerada Tea Factory for a cup of tea each. I had no idea they make so many teas. I thought the only tea they made was the one in the supermarket. I had a turmeric chai latte that was excellent. We bought a few teas. Much excitement when a tree kangaroo was spotted. We eventually saw 3 or 4 of them. Moving through the trees, jumping between trees and going backwards down trees. Extremely hard to get even a reasonable photo. They were always screened by vegetation. Finished reading ‘Pachinko‘ by Min Jin Lee, an excellent 3 generation saga of Korean diaspora to Japan before, during and after WW2 and Korean War.
Day 19. Monday 23 May 2022. A bit of an explore. First, to Bromfield Swamp where there were supposed to be Sarus Cranes. None. Not a bird. Then to Hypipamee Crater National Park – headwaters of the Baron River. Quite a lot of birds and another Tree Kangaroo. One new bird for us – Grey-headed Robin (only found on Atherton Tablelands). Quite a few White-cheeked Honeyeater in the van park – no photo yet. In the afternoon we had a bit of a walk around the van park, which is like a huge garden. Another new bird for us – Bridled Honeyeater. We are beginning to run supplies down in the van. It has to go into storage in a few days.
Day 20. Tuesday 24 May 2022. An early trip to Lake Echam Crater Lake in the hope of bird photos. Unsuccessful. It is very difficult to get good photos in dense forest. I’ve certainly done better at the garden like vegetation of the van park. This afternoon, we visited the Tolga Bat Hospital. An extraordinary place. They deal with 300-500 rescue bats a year. Mostly babies whose mothers have been killed by paralysis ticks they have picked up from ‘wild tobacco’ weed. Plus many barbed wire fence damaged bats. Mostly fruit bats with a few micro bats. Very upsetting. I like bats. As we were leaving in the morning, Helen noticed a white-cheeked Honeyeater making a nest in a bromeliad next to the van. A few photos.
Day 21. Wednesday 25 May 2022. To Palm Cove Holiday Park. Just 97km. We stopped for coffee at Kuranda – Hideout. As we were leaving Kuranda, a cassowary and half-sized young walked across the road in front of us. Made the day. (No photo) At Palm Cove Holiday Park, we have a nice shady site with a sea view. Quite a few birds (friarbirds, figbirds) calling in the trees. Looks a nice place. A walk along the seafront revealed a kilometre of 4 storey hotels. This is a very high level resort area – Riviera of the north.
Day 22. Thursday 26 May 2022. Our pommie neighbours told us to get out of their shade and back to ‘our side’. Not pleasant people. I gathered by the scowly faces that we had breached some rule they had in their heads – using the shade from their van to sit in. All smiles between them now they have put the colonials in their place. We decided that this is a very grumpy van park. I’m not going to recommend it. We headed into Cairns to buy a few last minute things for the Tour. We went to Cairns Central shopping centre which is huge. Cairns has row after row of hotels. I can certainly see that Cairns would suffer badly from COVID cutting off international tourists. There is no other industry here: just tourism and service staff selling each other groceries. It has certainly grown since I was working out of here in the late 1960s.
Day 23. Friday 27 May 2022. Van and car into storage and us into Coral Tree Inn for the night. One of those hurry up and wait days. Getting the van and car to the storage yard was no problem. They drove us to our accommodation at Coral Tree Inn by 10:30am. Our room there was not to be ready until 2:30. We walked to a local Bali restaurant for a Rendang, Gato Gato and Es Candol. A bit warm walking around at mid-day. Then, a long wait for the room. I slept. Helen read. Our pickup tomorrow is at 6:40am.
