As we all know, the environment of the Cassowary Coast is very special but it is also very fragile. It is a cyclone adapted environment, but development, tourism and two severe cyclones in only 5 years have taken their toll and participating in the plant outs has shown me how fragile such an environment is.

A healthy foreshore vegetation is key to stable sand dunes, the most effective barrier against erosion.

Congratulations to all who have been involved in the many plant outs along the foreshores of our beaches.  It is an acknowledgement of how intrinsic the value of the natural environment is to our community, lifestyle and well being at Mission Beach.

Hundreds of volunteers have spent countless hours over many months planting thousands of native trees and shrubs to help repair the damage to our dunal system as a result of cyclone Yasi. 

The Cassowary Coast community as a whole deserves  acknowledgement for the exceptional effort that is being made. 

Hello from Coquette Point,

After three weeks of cool, dry and sunny weather 5mls of rain fell last night and more is expected in the coming days. A large high is moving into the ‘Bight’, and it will signal a strong wind warning along the coast and the return of the inevitable rain. Early this week strong winds brought breaking waves across the Johnstone River bar reminding me yet again of Lieutenant  Johnstone’s report in 1872 of this ‘breaking bar across Gladys Inlet’.

WILDWATCH:  by ANNE WILKINSON

The more one travels, the more in some respects the different countries of the world appear similar. This is especially so when it comes to bird species.

Take the bittern, for example.

I well remember hearing – and seeing - bitterns in Suffolk, the English county where I grew up. They were marshland birds, elusive and shy, but their booming voices could sometimes be heard over the wide marshes which divided our village from the sea. English bitterns, like their Australian counterparts, favour dense reed beds along quiet streams. Occasionally it was possible to see one fossicking along a stream bank, though mainly their hunting was nocturnal.


Bitterns are not a generally well known family of birds, partly because they are extremely good at camouflaging themselves. The black bittern is the variety most often seen here in northern Australia. The smaller, more buff-coloured little bittern also resides up here, but the third Australian bittern, the brown bittern, is a cooler climate species.

WILDWATCH by ANNE (WILKINSON) & LAWRIE MARTIN

At last green-winged pigeons are back in the Wildwatch garden.

Possibly we have simply not noticed them or were not there at the right time, but these beautiful birds, also known as emerald doves, enjoyed a fairly high profile here until Cyclone Yasi when they disappeared.

We had not seen them since.

Hello from Coquette Point,

Another week of perfect weather, hot dry days, clear cool nights, what wonderful conditions for growing food.  In the vegetable garden lettuce and cabbage are forming hearts and tomatoes are swelling.  In the orchard the harvest of citrus has been particularly good with trees laden with sweet, juicy mandarins, lemonades, oranges and more, all providing a good dose of vitamin C to chase away winter colds. In the rainforest the seeds of the black bean trees are falling to the ground.

Aboriginal rainforest people made flour from the seeds but only after a long process of leaching the alkaloid from the poisonous seed. The flour was made into bread, hearty and warming on cold nights.  What good timing when nature delivered an abundance of these meaty seeds at the onset of the winter months.

By Dr Helen K. Larson - Wongaling Beach

On 29 August 2011, a small group of us went for a spring tide (0.5 m low) walk in Boat Bay. “We” being myself, Jeff Larson, Tony O’Malley, Liz Gallie, Maurie Franklin, Peter Rowles, Attie Willy and David Tofler. It was a walk that I had been promising myself since we moved here nearly two years ago. Because I had not walked here before, I did not know if the amount of mud we observed was usual for the time of year or whether the bay had accumulated more sediment since TC Yasi. Close to the shore the mud was occasionally thick between the rocks.

Hello from sunny Coquette Point,

The week opened with ‘dial up weather’ which has remained; days reaching 23/24 and nights around 14/15; bright blue sunny skies with hardly a cloud to be seen.

Great excitement on Wednesday with the transit of Venus across the sun. Laurie and Anne visited from Cardwell and Ruth joined us for a ‘Venus’ party. We had great views of the transit through a modern welding helmet.

WILDWATCH:  by  ANNE WILKINSON.

Wandering the Cassowary Coast beaches, bird watching is always a pleasure. It is a family rule always to carry a light pair of binoculars and, for me, a sketchbook.

There are so many different kinds of birds for which the beach and the sea are focuses.

WILDWATCH: by ANNE WILKINSON.

The exquisite beaches of the Cassowary Coast are often in the news, both for good and, sadly, sometimes for bad reasons.

Whatever the cause, the fact remains this region can boast some of the most beautiful beaches, even after Cyclone Yasi, in Australia.

Hello from Coquette Point,

A very wet, windy and cold week has at last broken into sunshine but only very late this afternoon.

This morning I accepted an invitation from Mandubarra elder Nellie Epong to be present at a turtle release at Cowley Beach. Although overcast the day was warm with a gentle wind blowing: a perfect day for a turtle release.