Don't like the Ella Bay property development being approved by the Queensland Government?
Want to let Tony Burke know that you would like the Australian Commonwealth Government to reject this inappropriate and undesirable urban development/resort complex?

Cairns and Far North Environment Centre have made it easy to voice your concerns in an email to Commonwealth Environment Minister Tony Burke.

Hello from hot and humid Coquette Point,

Summer has well and truly arrived and the few mils of rain have not been enough to crack the dusty soil surface. The creeks are running low and the rainforest is thirsty.

On Wednesday 5th frog ecologist Deborah Pergolotti www.fdrproject.org.au and Russell Constable http://ellabayforever.blogspot.com  and I got together to see what frogs were active at this dry time of the year. We planned to do a frog survey at Ella Bay.  Ella Bay is on the northern side of the Johnstone River, north of Flying Fish Point and only two kilometres, as the crow flies, from Coquette Point.
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By ANNE WILKINSON

It has been a week of what I can only call coincidences and discoveries.

Take the coincidence first, though I guess in fact it is more a confirmation of what we – and wildwatchers everywhere – have always known.

It happened at a Christmas party. We were admiring the view across paddocks to the distant mountains from the large, rambling and very beautiful garden where the party was being held. Dusk was falling and the last birds were hastening to their roosts while bats were beginning to emerge and swoop after insects.

 November 2012

This year has seen the Tully Branch WPSQ forge very productive partnerships with many other NGOs, private enterprise and the local Council.

The post Yasi opportunity to secure more habitat for the Glider has been the main thrust and involved the cooperation of State Departmental officers, Forest Managers, Terrain staff, Council Nursery staff, Conservation Volunteers Australia and WPSQ members.

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Saturday, 24 November 2012

Hello from the beach at Coquette Point,

Sunrise is the best time of the day. Not only is it cooler, a welcome relief at this time of the year, it is the time when shore-birds are most active.

As the sun's light slowly lifts the shadows from the beach the shore-birds appear. They arrive as if from nowhere, some flying low in over the water, others descending from the sky and yet others arrive in a run from the sand dunes behind the beach.
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On the 20th November, the Coordinator General determined a massive development  at Ella Bay could  go ahead after 7 years of deliberation.

The size of the development, dubbed 'the biggest tourist development in Qld, is to be 'crammed' in the middle of a world heritage area, reminiscent of  the 'good old white shoe brigade' days of the 80's when unbridled development expansion was allowed without  consideration of the  natural environment  it impacted on or replaced.

MEDIA RELEASE 07 August 2012
Alliance to Save Hinchinbrook Inc.

Cassowary Coast Regional Council (CCRC) has made clear and strong responses to an attempt to have a new and different “Port Hinchinbrook Stage II” development proposal accepted as a mere “change” to a Development Application first lodged in 2008.

In 2009, state government departments advised the CCRC that an earlier “changed” version should be refused.

Nevertheless, the CCRC continued to grant the developer extensions of time to the present day, allowing the Application to remain “alive” under old legislation, the Integrated Planning Act. Otherwise, as a new Application, this battle-axe subdivision proposal would have to be assessed under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 and the FNQ 2009-2031 Regional Plan, which allow no urban development south of the present “Port Hinchinbrook”.

Hello from Coquette Point,

While Sydney is experience anticyclones and the Philippines the worst floods in living memory the weather in North Queensland has been perfect. Nights of 16 to 18 degrees and days in the mid 20’s with cloudless skies and gentle sea breezes, where else would you live?

Enjoying the weather has been tempered with the possibility of a 90 site, 240 bed RV Park being constructed on Lot 27V across the road from me at Coquette Point.

Hello from sunny Coquette Point,

Well what a difference a week can make in a person’s life! Last week I was lazily soaking up the sun at Dunk Island and enjoying the ‘birthday boy’s’ celebrations.

I returned to Coquette Point and suddenly fell ill. Within a short time I was fighting for my life in Innisfail Hospital.

At this stage the blood tests have not delivered any results but hopefully next week I will know.

As a cautionary tale I can tell you that last week I was doing  more  ‘cyclone clean up’,( without protective clothing) and it is my belief that I have somehow ingested some organism that quickly took over my body. No rash appeared, however, it resulted in my blood pressure dropping, my heart going at 200 beats per minute and my lungs filling with fluid. It all happened very quickly. The creatures of this world are powerful particularly little viral ones.

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.