Superman writes about the cassowary, reading and life

I haven’t seen one in real life but I have heard about these rare and spectacular birds. Brenda and Murray first saw a cassowary at the tropical zoo at Cairns. These birds stand about the height of an emu/ostrich, have feathers like an ostrich/kiwi, and a beautiful red gullet, complemented with red/purple bits hanging from its’ shoulder. On top of the head is a brown crown. The neck is a brilliant sky blue. Some people consider the cassowary to be a nuisance, yet some people have set up a trust to save these birds. Brenda is knitting a yarn bombing piece depicting the cassowary and at her art class she has created a mixed media piece.

We visited the Cassowary Centre and had our photo taken with some displays. The ferral pigs attack the cassowaries and cause horrible injuries to them. We saw pictures of cassowaries with their necks ripped open at the centre.

Muz and I have been very lazy, spending most of the days blobbing on the beach or hanging out in the palm trees. The other day we were lying in the hammock and along came Lyn. She was chattering away to us – (we think she thought it was Brenda in the hammock), cause when she got up to us – she muttered something under her  breath…..

In front of our caravan is a humpy – a hut made from the coconut palms. Last year some backpackers stayed in the humpy. Muz and I like to read in here on hot days.

Brenda and Murray love it here, Brenda thinks she might become a FIFO!, but it is a long flight from here to Perth.

Each day, Brenda, Murray, John, Dave and Lyn do the www.stuff.co.nz trivia quiz. You must try it-you don’t have to be a kiwi – as the questions are a real mix. It is very addictive, - we hear them competing against each other.  A great way to start the day!

It is the school holidays here and the camping ground is becoming full with families. Next to us we have a group of 18 camped over 5 sites. The children range is age from 6 months to 10 years and are very excited, waking at 6am. They have very colourful bikes, deck chairs, skimmer boards which look like scooters, every tonka truck that must have been made, and little beach tents. The grandparents caravan is so cute – it is an old old caravan done up – the old round shape.

We welcome our friend Marie from Thames, (NZ) to Australia and look forward to catching up with you.

Another week at Mission Beach...

Despite the windy, showery weather, this week we have managed to be busy most days.

During the week we erected 2 walls of our annex to give us shelter from the wind. From the bed inside the van we can still see the beach and enjoy view.

Yesterday we watched the All Blacks play Sth Africa at the Mission Beach Resort. The resort provides a courtesy bus – good value. And the evening buffet – supberb food – the best variety we have seen for a long time and value for the seniors at $20.00 each. The staff are extremely courteous and friendly-well worth a visit if you are in this area.

We went to the tropical fruit tasting at the ‘I’ centre. For 1 hour at $5 each, we tasted over 10 tropical fruits, with the volunteers offering a description of how the fruit grow and how to use them in cooking etc. We tasted the icecream bean, sapote, dragon fruit. Jackfruit, abiu, carambola, soursop, custard apple, pomelo, cumquat and red bananas.



icecream bean pod

 

ice cream bean flesh that we ate-inside is a huge 'stone/bean



Tuesday saw me and another camper – Lyn from Palmerston North, (NZ), attend an acrylic painting class. These classes are funded by ‘Bringing Rural Communities Together’ and a gold coin donation is the only payment. The paints and brushes are provided. We supplied our own canvases. After 1 session we have painted our background. As a contrast I spent 6 weeks in Perth doing an art course and never saw a canvas! And the cost was $120.00! and we had to buy our own materials.

Due to the wet, windy weather, we needed to charge our batteries so we took a drive into Innisfail. This country town is 45 minutes from Mission Beach – a large river runs through it. The supermarkets are cheaper here than the Woolies at Mission Beach.

Feeling like a ‘flutter’ we went to Tully to play bingo. Tully is the wettest town in Australia – according to local info. We didn’t win any large amount.

Friday – well, this was a pearler! We swam most of the day, enjoyed the hammock and blobbed. Friday certainly made up for the wet windy week.

On the beach, each day, especially at low tide are 1000's of sand blobs that create patterns. These are made by sand crabs - very tiny ones about the size of a 20 cent coin.

Saturday – saw us visit a home open. An apartment, right on the beach that had suffered external damage, (Cyclone Yasi), – according to the agent marketing the property.  Body corporate fees of just over $7000.00 per year – you would think the gardens and the boundaries would be weed free – but no the property was very untidy. The council rates are just over $3000.00 and a sinking fund? of $300?. The apartment had sold in 2010 for $595.000, – the owner is desperate sell. Unfortunately the kitchen cupboards are warped, the hallway cupboard is bowed and definitely has been wet at some stage. The entrance/lobby has water stains running down it, the stairwell bannister has rust stains-yet the agent told us the apartment did not receive any internal damage from the cyclone. Properties around Cairns are very reasonably priced – you can buy a 4x2 for under $350,000, but then I guess you live with the cyclonic weather and very high insurance.

Today Murray tried out his kite, that he received for Xmas. Then he gave it to our neighbouring German campers who have 3 children – Ben 4, Lauren 2, and Alice 3 mths. The family are camping in a 2 room dome tent for a year around Australia-looking for a town to settle in.

What did we do this week at Mission Beach……

Well, we have had a mixture of weather, ‘living’ on the beachfront certainly exposes us to a mixed bag – from still hot days with a flat blue sea to winds of 30 knots, and a very rough swollen sea. Most days it rains – either over night or in the early hours of the morning.

Fortunately we have had only 1 wet/dull day. Because we run on solar the sun hours are very important to us. We can last 2 days without sun, but no gennies are permissible here, although some campers with huge winnebagos do run them. It seems that although there is a ‘caretaker’ on duty – she has limited authority to regulate the camp ground. So, although fires are banned in the campground and on the beach – if you can get away with it – have a go.

Each day the police drive through the camping ground – remember this is the Mission Beach Council owned camp ground – right on the beach – not the flash camp ground across the road.

There are limited power sites – maybe 12, and about 20 unpowered sites. Also a limit on the time spent here-6-12 weeks, depending on who you talk to and I guess how long you can get away with it.

Certainly some campers look like they have been here for months – with long grass around their site, flower pots etc.

The market last Sunday was very good. We purchased homemade date/walnut loaf, anzac biscuits, home grown tomatoes, cauliflower and lettuce, along with a kiwi hot dog for Murray and reading material for me. Sunday afternoon we listened to a live singer on the grounds – a gold coin donation, singing all our old favourites….

Tuesday night we, along with some Kiwi friends – we had met Dan and Val at Paradise Beach and John, a Tasmanian, whom we met at Clem Walton formed a team and went to the Bingil Bay Café to play trivia. The pizza – we can recommend the spicy chicken, the company and the trivia – it was a fun enjoyable evening – not enough correct answers to win the $50 voucher, though.

Wednesday was a dull/wet day so we went for a drive to Tully. Tully and Mission Beach and the surrounding areas were badly damaged by cyclone Yasi last February and previously be cyclone Larry. There is still evidence of damage with the trees on the hills stripped of leaves, houses still without roofs and guttered homes. Generally though the towns have recovered and business as usual.

Tully is renowned for the sugar factory – the town smelt of burnt sugar. Most small towns have their iconic ‘biggest icon’ – Tully has the gumboot with a frog climbing up it. This is a lookout tower which you can climb up the inside and view the sugar works and part of the town.

On the way home we purchased bananas – rather cheap – and nice and large.

On Sunday I am going to a coiled rope basket workshop. The baskets are made from recycled rope and beachcombing bits and pieces. We walked the beach and found 2 crustated toothbrushes – left these on the beach, 3 jandals, plastic, rope, light switches, a louver window sash-left this behind and numerous pieces of rope etc. – some I should be able to use in the workshop.

We haven’t caught any fish, although sand whiting and sand sharks are caught. A stinger net runs along part of the beach – swimming is safe in this area. There are croc signs around, so we are very conscious of the danger these crocs pose, especially as they have been sighted not far from us in the waterways.