Innisfail Part two

27th Aug.

Decided to take a picnic lunch & visit some of the beaches & after climbing up quite high we then drove down quite steeply to Etty Bay. A school reunion at the only cafe meant not a lot of parking left. We had a coffee & wandered along the beach & Allan was happy to spot one of the more unusual residents.

Unfortunately the phone camera had a dirty lens so the photos aren't as clear as they should be.

The bird is a cassowary & very large & decided to investigate someone's lunch! Allan had to hide behind a tree when it decided he was too close!

 We didn't want to share our lunch so drove on to Mourilyan Harbour which is where all the raw sugar in this region is shipped overseas. There was no where for our picnic lunch so moved on to Coquette Point & there was no parking at all. However just back was a drive into a nursery called Lavender & Lace so thought we'd have a look. After parking we wandered into the nursery & a lady came out , so we explained we weren't customers but were looking for somewhere to eat our lunch. She said we could sit in her boathouse & promptly led the way thru tropical plants to her private residence.

We decided not to use the boathouse & collected our chairs & lunch & set ourselves up in a magnificent setting. The house was stunning & we looked out on boats fishing & even a fly fisherman trying his luck.

We were warned not to sit under the palm trees as they were loaded with coconuts. We felt very spoilt & afterwards looked around the nursery which appeared to be rather tired. It was huge with many thousands of plants & all too much for the couple & one part time helper.

We returned to the park after an enjoyable day & were entertained around 8pm by the croc making lots of splashing as he had fish for dinner. I was quite worried he might want ours as I cooked it outside but Allan said he wouldn't come up the bank.

It was a nice view of the river & the next day explored more & had another picnic lunch at the Botanical gardens where a lady was celebrating her 100th birthday in a covered in area there. All good. Love Bev & Allan