Cassowary Crossing...

Today was a great day. The morning at Taylor’s Beach Caravan Park started crisp. We have now found the lovely sunny weather but through the night the temperature drops quite a bit and the mornings are consistently cool. One of my favourite things to do is to watch the sun start her day. It’s really something when life allows you to take the time to live by the sun and appreciate the beginning and end of daylight. I woke early so I took advantage and headed the 300 meters to the beach in order to get some shots of the sun rise. Along the coast there is a regular break-of-day crowd, joggers, hikers, dog walkers etc. I sat along the quiet coast watching the sunrise and the passer-bys. After a couple nights at Taylor’s beach and a major sun-soak yesterday, we decided we would move on this morning and relocate. As we headed further North, a stop at the Wallaman Falls National Park, was on the agenda. We travelled the high-winding road into the park taking in the lush greenery surrounding us at every side. The weather was sunny, warm, and the falls were incredible. After a tough couple of kilometers down the track to the base of the falls, we were rewarded with some absolutely breathtaking views. Wallaman Falls is the highest straight drop falls in all of Australia at 265 meters. As the water falls with such force, there are 2 permanent rainbows which linger at the misty bottom. We made ourselves comfortable on a boulder at the bottom of the falls. We sat in awe of the force of the water, the colours of the rainbows, the beauty of the sun, the swirling mist, and the overall sights and sounds around us. After a nice afternoon taking in the natural wonder, we started back towards the parking lot at the summit. On the way down you definitely don’t consider how exhausting the route up will be but we made it without to much difficulty. After a worthy visit we were set to head back down the 50km route, returning to beach territory. To our (somewhat) surprise, Fran’s battery was out of juice. We were lucky to be stuck at a pretty popular parking spot as we were fairly isolated otherwise. After one unsuccessful attempt, recruiting assistance was easy enough as an older Aussie couple was travelling with a battery-jump-pack. We have found thus far that the Aussies we have encountered have been super kind and helpful. Since the country is vast and there are tremendous distances between settlements, the typical Aussie is prepared for anything. Within seconds our baby was started up and we were back on the road headed for the sandy coast. We couldn’t help but think how car issues in the “real world” are inconvenient, can ruin your day, and can be super stressful. Bottom line for us, we have no schedule, no job to be at, and since our house is on wheels and therefore always with us, if we were to get stuck; we would just pop our roof, and settle in for the night. We have food in the fridge, a stove to cook, a roof over our head, and a bed to sleep in. About 20 minutes later as we headed out of the rainforest, we noticed a truck stopped on the side of the road. We recognized it as the older couple who had just helped us out and the driver was waving his arm directing us to slow down and stop. As we rolled up, we noticed something truly amazing. In the bush, just feet beyond our vehicle was standing, the endangered Southern Cassowary. In its natural environment, right before our eyes was Australia’s largest free-flight bird. This bird is something else and there are only 1500 of them left in the world. Its’ looks are one thing which make it unique but cassowaries are terribly important to the rainforests’ survival. Over 70 species of trees produce fruit which is too big for the consumption of other birds and therefore these trees rely on the cassowary to eat and pass the fertilized seeds. We sat in amazement as it stood there relatively unaffected by our being there. We were able to snap a couple photos but remained in the vehicle as these birds stand as tall as we do and they have a reputation for being very aggressive. Wow! We thought, this was really a rare occasion. We couldn’t help but consider how our timing had placed us there just in time. Maybe the dead battery was meant to be…

It became clear to us as we sputtered along the country side, that we would be lucky if we made it to town. As we approached Ingham, Fran was struggling to keep running. We took a fateful turn down the street and she came to a dead stop right in front of a Goodyear garage. We spoke to the people at Goodyear and they directed us to another local garage specializing in electrical and battery issues. Unfortunately for us, it was nearly 5pm so all the shops in town were just about to close. Goodyear was able to arrange for us to get our van looked at the following morning. The kind folks there gave us a map and directions to the other shop and they were wonderful enough to give us a free boost so we could move on. We located the other shop and parked our van across the street where we would sleep for the night. It wasn’t the most ideal neighborhood but (free of charge) we had a decent sleep. First thing in the morning the shop boosted the van and started at it. They drove us into town where we killed time by visiting some local shops and chowing down on a couple classic hot meat pies. We were more than pleasantly surprised when we returned to the shop to see our van was already fixed up and even better than that it cost us less than $150. Once again we felt fortunate and were thankful for how easy everything seemed to be happening for us. Finally we were ready to hit the beach. We relocated to Lucinda where we planned to stay put and enjoy some quality beach time.