In late Nov / early December your chair plus two companions spent a week at Charley’s while Chris Jahnke had a well-earned break. It’s was a busy week given all your chair had forgotten from the 2022 ‘sit’. Here are a few highlights from the week.
1. Block 4 planation – progress report
Block 4 was planted in March 2023. Its not obvious when they will fruit but by 18 months, we can expect some signs of flowers and perhaps small pods. The previous Block 4 report is on our blog here.
Block 4 trees at Nov 23
Aview to crocodile mountain from Block 4
2.An evening with Pete and Ruth
Shareholders Pete and Ruth Faulkner kindly hosted the ‘sit” team for sunset drinks at Bingl Bay. The house and surrounds are a tropical paradise.
Sunset drinks Artist Kim and Shareholder Liz Their view to the Coral Sea
3. Other activities during the week included
- Breakfast at Joey’s of Mission Beach
- Coffee and chocolate cake at Bowerbird café
- Local bananas from the shed in Mission Beach village – 6 bananas for $2 honour box
- Bushwalking the Ulysses trail – that’s Liz
- A visit to The Pocket cafe
4. Cassowary land bridge.
A big talking point locally is the Cassowary Land Bridge. So far, its wildly over budget, due to an initial design that failed to take account of the main line railway line where the cassowaries would exit the bridge. It’s clearly not completed and some locals think it’s unlikely to get any cassowaries walking across it; given it’s a very steep incline. A local wag suggested a lift be installed for the wildlife! Let’s see. The info below from the Cassowary Recovery Team is more optimistic. I do hope the Council have some KPIs in place, such as how many animals have triggered the hoped-for sensors on the bridge? The bridge is 5 mins from The Pocket towards Tully.
Cassowary Land Bridge – artists impression The reality as at 30 Nov 2023
5. What the Cassowary Recovery Team say about the project objectives.
he Cassowary Recovery Team has released a fact sheet to answe Highway at Smiths Gap. The bridge is part of a highway upgrade to install an overtaking lane between El Arish and Tully. Smiths Gap is the bottleneck of the Walter Hill Range wildlife corridor which connects Australia’s densest cassowary population, at Mission Beach, with the core World Heritage Area rainforests west of the Bruce Highway. For many years, the Cassowary Recovery Team has identified Smiths Gap as a top priority for restoration. Landholders and organisations have been planting trees, removing weeds and protecting habitat there. When the team heard about the proposed overtaking lane at Smiths Gap, requiring road widening and habitat clearing, members began talking with the Queensland Government’s Department of Transport and Main Roads about the cassowary corridor issue. The new overtaking lane and land bridge will make it safer for both drivers and wildlife. The bridge will be vegetated to attract wildlife and it joins national park on either side of the road. Soon-to-be-completed fencing, along both sides of the highway, will guide cassowaries away from the road and onto the bridge. The overtaking lane and fauna crossing is a $30.7M project fully funded by the Australian Government under the Bruce Highway Overtaking Lane Program and constructed by the Queensland Government’s Department of Transport and Main Roads. The bridge is expected to be completed in early 2024.
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