Innisfail.

We have had a few more days of rain, sometimes quite heavy, definitely not pleasant, although it is not cold. It does restrict what we can do, as Australia is an outdoor country, and almost everything to do revolves around that.

So we have had a miserable couple of days since we left Charters Towers, last night we stayed in a cabin which was not too good, on a site that was unbelievably crowded. The only saving grace about the area was that they had a super fish and chip shop just down the road, the best we have tasted since we have been here.So that cheered us up!
But to cap it all, while loading up the car this morning I damaged the cover on the roof tent- so I was not a happy chappy. Fortunately not too serious, no damage to the tent itself.

Anyway- here we are in Innisfail, a small town just a few ks short of Cairns, we have a great cabin, and this afternoon the rain eased a little, and stopped eventually. We have a great cabin here, and this afternoon we took a trip down to a lovely beach, almost deserted, one of those places that are hidden from most people, and you have to go a few miles to find. Etty Bay was really idyllic, and as a bonus, on the way down there we came across a Cassowary bird, a threatened species as big as an Emu, and flightless. This one stood about 1.5 mtrs tall. We count ourselves as extremely fortunate to have done so, the chances are slim to nil for most people. I'm told that you don't mess with these birds, they can be very aggressive, and will attack particularly if they have young with them, and can rip you open with their claws.

At a port down the road we came across a sugar loading dock, where bulk carriers come in to take the sugar all over the world

I have written before about sugar cane, a few facts for you. Queensland crushes about 40million tonnes of cane to produce 5m tonnes of sugar. They load ships in this area, from 6 bulk handling terminals, and can store 2m tonnes at any one time. Of course, the season being comparatively short, from June to September, the bulk carriers are very busy from now onwards.

Apart from sugar, beef is another local export, and bananas and mangoes are grown in this area, and exported all over Australia. 

Well- tomorrow is another day, the weather forecast looks better, so perhaps we will get to go to see some of the many attractions round here, the rainforest canopy walk maybe, of Parronella park. We will see......