Before leaving Cairns, we drove down to the harbour and waterfront. The harbour has many fishing vessels, while a pontoon forms the base for taking a helicopter to the islands of the Grear Barrier Reef.
The Cairns Lagoon is in an area of parkland along the Cairns Esplanade. This 4800 square metre saltwater swimming lagoon offers an all-year-round safe swimming location. Entry to the Cairns Lagoon is free and there are excellent barbecue and picnic acilities .
On the way to Port Douglas, we stopped in at Trinity Beach, around 20 kilometres from Cairns. Trinity Beach has a beach stretching for about a mile that is densely fronted with hotels and holiday apartments. While all the beaches in North Queensland look beautiful, you have to be aware of the potential presence of crocodiles and, at some times of the year, stringers (poisonous jellyfish).
On the Espanade are some signs that added to my understanding of my father’s war history in WW2. In those days, this areas was significantly less developed and Trinty Beach was used as a training base by American forces and Australia’s 9th Division in preparation for rertaking Japanese held islands in the Pacific. Training in beach landings were conducted here while Jungle warfare training was conducted in the Atherton Tablelands. I know that my dad spent some time in the highlands before he departed for Borneo in 1944.
Along the road to Port Douglas, I couldn’t stop to take any photos of beaches and sea scapes. Firsrtly, the stopping spots were on the wrong side of the busy road and secondly, there were extensive roadworks for much of the way from Elliot Beach to the north. Cyclone Jasper made landfall there on December 13, 2023 and an associated weather event that followed led to devastating consequences in this region.
The rainfall of 3.2 metres (10 1/2 feet or 126 inches) in less than a week and a total of 4.2 metres in the space of two months was recorded. It was the wettest tropical cyclone in Australian history. The entire area was impacted with major flooding, landslips, overnight evacuations, homes destroyed, water infrastructure, and roads collapsing. Damage is still evident along the highway with long sections of road still closed down to one lane while repairs continue.
The Rex Lookout on a high hill was still open and worth stopping at for a photo.
Our major stop during the day was at Hartley’s Crocodile Park, which we had visited before, and once again we took a boat ride around the lagoon to get some close-up photos of crocodiles.
The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is a crocodile native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers through Southeast Asia to northern Australia and Micronesia. t was hunted for its skin throughout its range up to the 1970s, and is threatened by illegal killing and habitat loss. It is regarded as very dangerous to humans.
These crocodiles are the world’s largest living reptile – bigger than other crocodile species and alligators. Males can grow up to a weight of 1,000–1,500 kg and a length of 6 metres. Females are much smaller and rarely grow larger than 3 metres.
The Crocodiale park also kept a variety of Australian animals and I was able to take a photo of a Koloa doing what they do best – sleeping!
I also found a couple of Cassowaries. In the wild, these are very hard to see, even though we have seen many signs notifying motorists of their presence. Cassowaries are very wary of humans, but if provoked, they are capable of inflicting serious, even fatal, injuries. They are known to attack both dogs and people. The cassowary has often been labelled “the world’s most dangerous bird”.
We finished our day with a very enjoyable dinner wirh friends Bill and Gill who are also here from Melbourne. They cooked a wonderful BBQ on the deck of their time share hotel a little down the road rom our motel.
Have just caught up with your last 3 posts, they’re not coming through as usual? As always, looking over your shoulder, enjoying the armchair travel.