Location
The Cassowary Coast Region of 4,701 square kilometres occupies the majority of the Queensland coastal strip between Cairns and Townsville. On the east is the Coral Sea and the Great Barrier Reef. To the west are the coastal ranges including Bellenden Ker Range which contains two of Queensland's highest peaks - Mt Bartle Frere (1622m) and Mt Bellenden Ker (1592).
The region is drained by a number of rivers including the Hull, Murray, Tully, Moresby and North and South Johnstone Rivers as well as numerous creeks.
Innisfail, Tully, Cardwell and the combined villages of Mission Beach are the largest towns and there are numerous other small townships, largely scattered across the northern part of the region.
The region has two definite seasons, wet and dry.
The mean annual rainfall across the region is 3,134mm (123 inches) almost all of which falls between January and mid April. Tully wins the golden gumboot with an average annual rainfall of 4,100mm (161 inches) The average number of clear days per year is 96 with 139 cloudy days.
The mean daily maximum temperature ranges from 29.6°C (85° F) to 27°C (80° F). The average daily minimum temperature ranges from 20.9°C (69° F) to 16.8°C (62° F).
Two major regional cities, Townsville and Cairns, are within easy driving distance. Both have airports linking them to other Australian cities and international destinations. Cairns to Brisbane is less than a 2 hour 30 minute flight and from Townsville to Sydney is just over a 2 hour flight.
|
Road Distances (Time - Hr:Min) |
Cairns |
Townsville |
Brisbane |
Sydney |
|
Innisfail |
89 km (1:16) |
300 km (3:24) |
1,590 km (20:45) |
2,330 km (29:28) |
|
Tully |
140 km (1:58) |
209 km (2:43) |
1,540 km (20:04) |
2,280 km (28:48) |
|
Mission Beach |
140 km (2:02) |
230 km (3:13) |
1,570 km (20:34) |
2,300 km (29:17) |
|
Cardwell |
180 km (2:31) |
160 km (2:08) |
1,500 km (19:29) |
2,230 km (28:12) |