Wet... Wet... Wet...
Throughout the night, all we could hear was the heavy sounds of pouring rain! It was unrelenting! To say we were surprised to wake to silence is an understatement. The skies were still dark with low heavy clouds; but the rain was now only a light drizzle...
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| The road heading south out of Cairns |
Bec and I just looked at each other and decided then and there that we should take this opportunity to start packing the van while we still had the chance. So that's what we did! Still in Pyjamas, we were outside and packing away the bed and awning as quickly and quietly as possible. Unfortunately the reprieve didn't last long; and before we had a chance to finish the rain returned! While I then finished packing the van, Bec went into town to do a last minute shop. She also went to see someone for a friend back in Sydney, as they asked us to pick up some Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch gas bottles that were left here. No problems! Job done.
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| The waterways near Babinda - our reason to continue south |
We left Cairns at around 10:30am; heading south in the pelting rain! We had planned on staying tonight at Paranella Park, but we soon discovered that the park is flooded. We then thought we might try and wait the rain out in a free camp near Babinda, but again the rain and flooding prevented us again.
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| The view behind our van at Innisfail |
We finally found sanctuary in a nice little caravan park on the outskirts of Innisfail called the 'River Drive Van Park'. This is a great little park nestled on the banks of the South Johnston River. The price of a powered site is very reasonable, and the central location is perfect. We ended up on a site adjoining the river; which I must say is flowing very fast with a lot of debris in it. During a lull in the rain, Scarlett and I went searching for coconuts on the riverbank and couldn't help noticing the 'Beware Crocodile' sign that we found directly behind our van. Doh!
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| Cassowary tracks leading off down the beach |
After a quick visit to the Tourist Information Centre, we decided to go for a short drive over to Etty Beach which is only 15 minutes away. We heard that Cassowaries are quite often seen walking along this beach; and since this is one of the birds I really want to see in the wild, we just had to go and check it out. Well I don't know if its because of the windy wet weather or not, but we didn't end up seeing any big birds. Scarlett wanted to have a look along the beach to see if she could see any Cassowary tracks. Well I'll be! No sooner had we climbed out of the car and Scarlett had found her Big Bird Tracks! Wow, what a tracker my little girl is! She certainly takes after her mum.
We consoled our near miss with an ice-cream from the local cafe, where we found out that there had been a Cassowary walking the road and beach earlier in the day (No kidding! Scarlett had already found proof of that). We soon returned to the van where we hid inside watching TV, DVD's and just playing games.
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| Spot the Cassowary... |
Another wet day in paradise...
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| Walking along Etty Beach - looking for Cassowaries |
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