Etty Bay

1 – 3 October 2024

We’ve been to Etty Bay a number of times, including earlier on this trip and each time we hope to see Cassowaries. Although we have seen one on the road beyond the range twice in recent years, we haven’t seen one on the beach for many years, so Mick was more then a little anxious this time. He really wanted to add one to his "year list" for 2024 and this would be his last chance.

We settled on to a nice site with across from the beach. Most people there were hoping for a cassowary sighting and there were a number of other serious bird photographers camped around the park. Everyone was very helpful and it was easy to tell when one of the resident birds made an appearance as people started moving in the same direction as word spread. We were all quite excited to see such a magnificent and striking bird close up, moving around the beach and campground quite confidently.

It's pretty exciting to see a cassowary up close

We stayed for two nights and were treated to multiple sightings, including of a dad with his chick. Mick was very pleased to finally get the sort of photos he had been after. Even if he hadn’t, Etty Bay is still a really nice place to spend a couple of nights.

We had been trying to work out which way we would travel on our way south and decided to go back up though the Atherton Tablelands and along the inland route. Our first overnight stop would be Innot Hot Springs.