Cardwell back in business

With Cyclone Yasi leaving a trail of destruction along the far north Queensland coast earlier this year, one of the worst affected places was the little coastal town of Cardwell.

Best known as the gateway to Australia's largest National Park island, Hinchinbrook, Cardwell is also a mecca for trailerboat fishermen, with its close proximity to mangrove-lined creeks teeming with barramundi, mangrove jack, and mud crabs.

Almost six months after the Cyclone hit, plenty of evidence remains of Yasi's devastation on the two hour drive south from Cairns to Cardwell, from stripped bare banana plantations and twisted road signs to houses in various states of disrepair.

Cardwell like many nearby towns including Mission Beach is still in rebuilding mode, although it was surprising to witness during a recent visit to the area the large number of holiday makers vying with temporary building workers for accommodation at the local hotels and caravan parks.

Remarkably, despite suffering extensive damage, the Cardwell Beachcomber Motel & Tourist Park located right next to the beach re-opened its doors just a few weeks after the Cyclone hit in early February.

The popular Top Tourist park, which suffered extensive damage to its motel accommodation, as well as its powered camp sites, appears almost back to normal despite 'renovations' set to continue for a few more months.

"We were up and running fairly quickly; had the restaurant running in about four weeks, then opened up a bit of accommodation," explained Cardwell Beachcomber Park owner Graham Hennessy.

"We've gradually tried to get more accommodation on stream. A lot of it was pretty well trashed, the park was closed off. There was quite a big clean up, there were trees down everywhere…

"We lost about half of our motel accommodation at the front and we lost about 19 power heads… These four (units) over here, they've been totally demolished. They were our family accommodation, we had just spent a fair amount of money doing them up."

"We have about 12 workers staying here at the moment. They’ll be here for at least 6 months," he explained. "It’s a pretty big job. They’ve had trouble getting builders, and trouble getting builders interested in quoting for the insurance company."

Hennessy said he was using the re-construction as an opportunity to upgrade the park, including adding additional powered sites.
 
"We’re changing things around a bit with the Cyclone so hopefully in 12 months time we end up with a much better park," he said.

Hennessy said he was surprised the six acre, dog-friendly park was close to capacity during the recent school holidays period, as ferry services to Hinchinbrook Island had not started up again on a daily basis, and access remained restricted to sections of the nearby Cardwell Forest Drive, a 26km scenic route popular with locals and tourists alike.

"I’m surprised that we've still got as many (tourists). The people that are coming into the park say that a lot of caravanners have gone west this year because of the damage to Queensland," he said.

"The problem is that a lot of things that people would normally do, or places they would normally go, have been badly damaged. So it sort of turns people off."

Fishing the legendary Hinchinbrook Passage had not been affected, though, with numerous 'car-topper' dinghies throughout the park.

Further up the road at Mission Beach (famous for its cassowaries and palm tree-lined golden beaches) the situation was similar.

Although some caravan parks in the area were still getting back on their feet, others like the Top Tourist-backed, Mission Beach Hideaway Holiday Village, across the road from the Tourist information centre, appeared close to capacity during the school holidays period.

The 'Skydive Mission Beach' caravan park, also near the beach, proved pretty popular, too, having just re-opened with a newly refurbished amenities block.

At just $25 for a powered site,  the small park was also excellent value for those RV travellers requiring little more than a big, grassy site and clean shower facilities.