Etty Bay

 Day of the Cassowary!

On waking up and over breakfast we decided we would like to stay at Etty bay and relax for the day. We phoned ahead and managed to book a spot for the night and they said it was OK if we checked in at 10.00am.

So we packed up and drove the short drive to Etty Bay noting all the beware of Cassowary signs along the way. 

We checked in at 10.00am and were given a spot pretty much close to the beach.  Once parked up we started to set up our camp site and when we were almost finished and Shell was putting her final female touches to the set up I headed off to check out the facilities.

Just as I was exiting the shower block I noticed some guy taking photo’s, on checking what he was taking a photo of I saw it was a large Cassowary, so I ran back to get Shell and a camera.  I took a few quick photo’s before it disappeared and we headed back to the van.

However as we sat there we suddenly noticed the beast making its way slowly through the campsite, checking out each campers site set-up, obviously looking for food (we had been advised not to feed them at reception).

Suddenly it was heading for our table, now these creatures are about ¾ my height, evil dinosaur looking, with a large beak and more importantly three large talons on each foot!!  So much to the amusement of the other campers, we quickly dived into the van and slammed the side door (Glenn first as he was closer to the door – honest!!).  Feeling safe now we enjoyed watching it from safety, until it headed round the back of the van when we suddenly realised the back door was wide open…..doh!!!  Fortunately it did not feel like joining us and walked onto the next plot.

At intermittent points during the day the Cassowary would patrol the site looking for tit bits and although we were getting used to it and not diving for cover when we saw it, it still spooked you if it suddenly popped its head round the corner of your van.

We also found it amusing when it suddenly went into someone’s camp area and found a box of biscuits on their table, which it quickly savaged to release the contents.  Not so amusing when we saw a little girl of around 3-4 approaching it with the intention in her eyes of stroking it, Shell advised her this may not be a great idea and we wondered why her parents were letting her run around with this dangerous bird in the vicinity (The Cassowary, not Shell!!).

During the afternoon we took a look at the nice beach and then went to the reception/café area where they had some Wifi signal (We couldn’t get any signal here) and I spent the rest of the afternoon blogging.  Shell entertained herself by reading then rushing down to the beach to get more Cassowary photo’s as it stalked the beach.

Before leaving the café area we noticed that some other people were eating what looked like pretty decent Fish n Chips so we thought we would get some takeaway to eat in the van, plus it would avoid any potential confrontation with a hungry Cassowary.

The food was pretty good (and only the second time we hadn’t cooked for ourselves in Oz) and once it was finished we washed up and sat outside for a while having a few drinks before going to bed.  The only worrying thing was the thought of going for a middle of the night pee at the shower block and bumping into our feathered friend!!