Wongaling Beach 28 July – 10 August 2015

Said goodbye to Tony and Ali and headed south past Tully for our house sitting at Wongaling Beach. We met our hosts Jeff and Helen and parked in their back yard. They live in a lovely old house facing Dunk Island, right opposite the beach and packed to the gunwales with an eclectic selection of books and souvenirs of their travels – heaven! It has been raining and overcast the past few days and when we looked at the climate records for this region, we were surprised to find that a lot of rain still falls in winter – I suppose we shouldn’t have been too shocked as we are just down the road from Tully with the highest rainfall of any Australian town! We have just spent the past few days relaxing and catching up with our reading.

Tully always gives the impression of a rather neglected town, dominated by the smoke stacks of the mill. When the mill closes in the Big Wet and the workers leave it must be a desolate place. Tully had nearly 8 metres of rain one year and I’m sure even the locals would have swam away!

On Sunday we caught the water taxi out to Dunk Island. Dunk Island was once an upmarket and lively tropical resort that unfortunately has been devastated by 2 recent cyclones. The result is that the resort and eateries have been destroyed and still shows no sign of being re-built. However the good news is that a new cafe - The Jetty Cafe has been established and is open on the weekend. You are also able to camp in your tent for a moderate fee in the National Park Camping area. The scenery on the island is outstanding and reflects everyone's idea of what a tropical island should look like, with coconut trees fringing beautiful beaches and a sheltered harbour. It is also interesting looking at the remains of the resort rooms and imagining the force of the cyclones that uprooted trees and peeled metal rooves like an orange. There are a number of energetic walks if you feel inclined or you can just relax by the beach. We did both - had a great lunch and listened to some relaxing music.

Had a drive down to Tully Heads and Hull Heads from Tully. These are similar to a lot of beaches around this area with 1 or 2 creeks flowing into them and crocodile signs everywhere. They have beautiful beaches, fringed with coconut trees, with small villages of retirees and fisherman, well of the road with limited facilities. Great for a holiday but I wouldn’t like to live there permanently.