Sept 24, 2025 Etty Bay Beach
We got up before dawn and drove 20 minutes to the closest beach, Etty Bay Beach, to watch the sunrise.
We arrived in time to see the sun briefly before it was swallowed up by the ominous clouds on the horizon.
We spent a few minutes walking on the beach and watching the muted sun light up the forest at the edges of the beach. We have a long day ahead, packing up and driving about 6 hours south to our next destination. But we had a fantastic surprise as we drove out from the beach through a strip of forest!
A wild cassowary casually walking along the road, his throat wattle swinging with the rhythm of his long-legged stride!
For a video of the surprise encounter click HERE! We were astonished again just down the road as a 2nd smaller cassowary was ambling along the other side of the road! For a video of the 2nd bird click HERE! We got back to the B&B, had breakfast, packed and started our drive south.
Sugarcane is not the only agricultural staple of this area of Queensland, apparently bananas grow here very well also! It looks like the banana bunches are bagged while still on the ‘tree’, maybe to protect them?
Part of our drive took us along the coast, past this iconic ‘tropical’ image!