Hello from Dunk Island,

I am over here for big son Martin’s 40 birthday party:  Martin has leased the old resort for the party. It is rather sad to look around and see the old resort all but deserted. It is a beautiful sunny day and sitting here looking out at Brammo Bay you could almost think that nothing had changed.  The infrastructure of the resort appears sound and the charm of the plantation style design is fitting within the green surrounds.

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WILDWATCH; by ANNE WILKINSON.

I will never forget our first sight of the little kingfisher. Yes, that really is its name, and it is tiny.

Indeed, it is hard to picture a kingfisher which is only 12 centimetres long, but that is all this little gem is. This measurement includes its strong, black beak. It is Australia’s smallest kingfisher, and its latin name is almost as long as it is, Ceyx pusillus.

But back to that wonderful sighting.

Hello from Jungguy country,

Coastal wetlands are some of the most threatened habitats on the planet. The Melaleuca leucadendren swamps of Coquette Point are included in the World Heritage Wet Tropics and extended from the mouth of the Johnstone River to the Moresby Range, an area three kilometres long by ½ kilometre wide.

This swamp is a major fish spawning habitat and consists of large deep lagoons and shallow swamps of melaleuca, pandanus and tidal mangrove: this is the Johnstone River’s ‘everglades’.

A bit late with the News, computer problems again. However, thanks to a ‘white knight’ called Laurie I am now all sorted as he showed me how to use the f8 key.Record rainfall fell last week and a flood warning was issued for the Johnstone River on Tuesday. Quite amazing as it is the middle of the ‘dry season’. However the deluge, this time, didn’t result in a lot of sediment runoff and by Wednesday the Johnstone River was running clean.

Dr's Steve and Miriam Goosem were guest speakers at a recent C4 general meeting.  Steve presented a fascinating power point presentation about cassowaries that took us as far back as the 1670's with a Cassowary painting by Francis Barlow in the Entrance Hall at Clandon Park, Surrey. (photo left)

Steve, who is the principle scientist at Wet Tropics Management Authority, kindly sent me the presentation (with his notes) to share with you. Here is Steve's power point presentation

Dr Miriam Goosem who is the Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS)at JCU, introduced the JCU Traffic management research report of which she is co-author.

Hello from windy and wet Coquette Point,

What a difference a week makes! From warm balmy days under cloudless skies the weather has turned into windy, wet misery. Or at least miserable for sun lovers like me.

The strong wind warning sent Martin in the ‘Sig’ running for port and he came in Monday night and is  now waiting for the wind to ease.

Three public meetings and two landscape concept plans and it's still not right.

As the taped graffiti  letters WTF on the exclusion fence shows, the  community is justifiably shocked as the elevated design unfolds with the construction incorporating hard edged concrete block walls that impede views and excessive use of concrete  surrounding the trees introducing a built area separate from the beach. 

Another cassowary has been killed attempting to cross a road at Mission Beach.

The adult female bird, was critically injured when she was hit by a car on Thursday 28th June on a section of road she had been crossing regularly all her life.  Queensland Parks and wildlife officers (QPWS) and the local vet attended the scene. She was taken to the Garners Beach cassowary rehabilitation facility where she was euthanized on Monday 2nd July after the injuries were assessed to be too serious for the bird to recover.

by ANNE WILKINSON

Adventure unlimited – this delightful aspect of life is ready and waiting for everyone here in the north.

It doesn’t have to be daring or hard to achieve. Almost anything, a gentle walk on the beach or in the forest, for example, can turn into a journey of discovery.

It is the same with wetlands. Wetlands in so many ways represent a stream of lifeblood in the wild world because so many creatures need them and congregate in them. Australia, the driest continent on earth, is privileged to have some of its best wetlands.

by LAWRIE MARTIN.

Cardwell Golf Club members, take a bow.

By beating back adversity and driving ahead for future benefits the club has created a sporting club world first and all deserve to take centre stage and acknowledge the applause.

A decision by the club to adopt a leading role in the fight to save the habitat of highly-endangered mahogany gliders is meritorious and throws down the gauntlet to most caring people who live in this region.