East Coast
The relaxing bit was quickly finished and we headed towards Townsville. Despite all horror stories this was in fact a small but friendly town. The place scored some bonus points as there was a LEGO exposition in the main gallery. From here we made the day trip to stunning Magnetic Island.
When we left the Whitsunday Islands I noticed that the landscape had changed dramatically on the mainland. More and more rainforest and plenty of waterfalls. And, where there is wet tropical rainforest there is also a chance to see a casowary. Near Mission Beach we hit the jackpot! After only a 200 meters walk we saw a dad with two chicks standing on our trail. We tried our best not to disturb them and hid behind some bush out of sight of the 1.6m tall bird. We were lucky that they walked our direction, so we had a opportunity to make photos and videos. On some moment one of the chicks saw me and started to walk into my direction and suddenly sprinted. It was this moment I decided to step backwards very quickly. Casowaries are beautiful birds but would defend their offspring… of course. They can be deadly so we took a lot of care. Personally I had a tear in my eye when I saw the casowaries; by far the most impressive piece of wildlife seen on this continent closely followed by the lyrebird. The great thing is that the goal of my hikes are mostly to enjoy the plants and trees and to see as much as wildlife as possible. Something which worked out perfectly. On the campsites afterwards we where lucky to see gliders, potoroos, and bettongs. The rainforest got even wilder north of Cairns, at Cape Tribulation. The four interpreted board walks are a must do as it traverses to one of the oldest still existing and untouched rainforests in the world. We didn’t see any crocodiles but if we have to believe the many warning signs they must inhabit this area. We kept to the trails…