Sept 11... Forrest Beach

Coffee on the beach

Thursday Sept 8

Camped beside us in the park are Bill and Ruth from Portland, VIC. They are a very friendly couple and, as they were driving up to Wallaman Falls, they invited us to come along. The Falls are about 50kms behind Ingham and at 268ms they are supposed to be the highest sheer drop waterfall in Australia. They certainly were impressive, but so was the drive up. We climbed steadily for over 600ms and the views across to the coast were excellent.

Wallaman Falls

The gorge was also quite dramatic

 Again we saw lots of signs warning of cassowaries crossing but, again, we saw none. The southern cassowary is endangered so perhaps there are not many left but it was perfect habitat. We did however see another endangered animal, the Musky Rat Kangaroo. As the name suggests it was pretty small and we were lucky to come across two on the road. They scampered as soon as the car approached but froze just long enough for a photo.

Unlike the rocks, I am brown with a pointy nose.

On the drive the cyclone damage was very obvious as many pine plantations had been flattened. The protected valleys gave us an idea of what the vegetation had been like and it was quite a contrast.

We also had a better look at Ingham and it is surprisingly big. We plan to explore it more later in the week.

Bill's boat

Saturday Sept 10

It is amazing even to Garry and I how quickly the day goes and how little we do. I spend a lot of time on the computer blogging, emailing and googling. Garry reads a lot. Unfortunately the beach here is really steep and the sand quite rough and soft, so any lengthy beach walk is bloody hard work and not really enjoyable at all. We have walked into town and had a look around though. 

Last night the wind came up and it really blew. We had to get up and secure things a few times but by 5am we decided to go for a full batten down so we could get some sleep. With the awning in and the roof collapsed, the quietness and lack of movement were most welcomed and we slept through till 9.30 ! The wind is supposed to abate today and I am hoping that for once the forecast is right. It is also supposed to be 28 degrees here today but the wind is cold and you have to sit in the sun outside. How strange it is to be seeking out the sunshine rather than the shade!
Around 5pm things quietened down and I got some nice photos of the beach on sunset. Just off the coast, and featuring in some of the photos, is Palm Island. It was the focus of a riot and controversial investigation last year into Police behaviour when an aboriginal man died in custody. We were surprised as we had imagined this island was much further north.

A moonlit night

Sunday Sept 11
I went to the markets this morning which were bigger than I had thought they would be, but only bought a few books,rum balls and a paw paw.
After a lazy morning of reading the paper we all ( Ruth, Warwick and Stacee ) had lunch at the pub after which, I came home to watch a movie and Garry settled down in front of the TV to watch The Rugby Union World Cup. Happily Aust defeated the Italians so he had a good afternoon.
The breeze is up a bit again this afternoon. It really cools things down a lot to a point where you almost need a light jumper on. It would be too cool to go swimming even if we could. Hopefully it will start to warm up pretty soon.
Tonight we had to say goodbye to Bill and Ruth who are off in the morning. It has been really nice having such friendly neighbours and the six of us have enjoyed some very pleasant meals together and many conversations. It is great to have such nice people to chat to and it has really added to our enjoyment of Forrest Beach.

Warwick and Stacee from Cairns

Bill and Ruth with Shrimp from Portland

Evening at Forrest Beach