Blog 32. June 24. Mourilyan Harbour towards Cairn. 17.14.00S 146.03.86E

Alcedo
David Batten
Mon 24 Jun 2019 21:17
Yesterday provided a bit of a frustrating sail, even for Toad, with the wind starting SW and ending SSE and with very inconsistent force. However, with some help from the iron topsail, we reached Mourilyan in time for lunch and an afternoon walk in what we thought would be a boring place. How wrong we were. First of all, it has a narrow entrance with excellent leading lights taking you into a lovely natural bay surrounded by mangroves and and muddy shallows. It also has a big wharf for shipping and boasts a sugar storage shed said to be the longest of its type in the world. Anchoring outside the yellow buoys that allow manoeuvring space for the ships that come in to load the sugar without putting ourselves on a mud bank was a bit of a challenge, but we managed.

Then the dinghy ride to the shore was a bit nerve wracking as the mangroves and creeks are said to be full of crocodiles and this was later confirmed by one of the locals and this sign. Crocodiles apparently use rubber dinghies as chewing rings.

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In case of doubt, even lingering by the water’s edge was not recommended

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View of the entrance to the bay, sugar loading wharf on the right of the photograph

Given that venturing into any of the creeks or beaches was not recommended, we set off for a boring walk down the road toward Mourilyan town, where not only did we see lots of pretty doves, kingfishers, fabulous bee-eaters and honey eaters, but also these:



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A Family of Southern Cassowary crossing the road in front of Bill.

On the way back, we saw another, not so happy family:

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Apparently 2 of its brothers/sisters had mysteriously disappeared and Mum showed every sign of distressed searching for them. This one came out of the sugar cane just in front of the Skipper’s wife who was looking at some other bird at the time.

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Not to be outdone, this bee-eater posed for a great photograph against the roof of the sugar storage building.

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Bee-eater in the late afternoon sun. It’s colours are brighter than that against a dark background and they give a wonderful show when flying.

So everyone was happy with the walk as Cassowarys are rare and only found in Australia along this coastline and we got back to the boat without a bite.

Today we are heading for either Fitzroy Island or Cairns, depending on the weather. We have now started sailing with the Genoa goose-winged and with 14 miles to go to Fitzroy, all very pleasant except there is no sun in the cockpit and the wind is chilly.

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Toad on the helm in the shade, determined to remain in shorts in spite of the obviously cold!

Alcedo


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