Since last here in 2019, we’ve been looking forward to taking the walk to the lookout at Mt Kootaloo on Dunk Island.

Dunk Island is offshore from Mission Beach, on the Queensland “Cassowary Coast” north of Hinchinbrook Island, between Townsville and Cairns. The island is only a couple of nautical miles long, but Mt Kootaloo reaches 270m altitude. With the high mountains on the Bellenden Ker range running along the coast, this is a lush part of Queensland.

The weather after our arrival was unseasonally wet, so we waited a couple of days taking short trips around the anchorage before we had weather suitable for a hike that would take several hours. The old resort has had some work and upgrades since the new owner has invested some effort, and the walking track to the summit that begins at the eastern end was a little overgrown and hard to find, even though we had been there only 6 year ago.

We took the trail around the north side of the peak, circling right around the top of the mountain, arriving at the lookout from the south. The lookout at the summit was once the location of a radar station during World War II. From here the military used diesel generators and hand cranked radar antennas to listen for incoming Japanese bombers, who attacked Townsville during the war. Some rusting machines and a noticeboard are reminders of those times, and caused me to wonder at the fitness of those radio operators who had to carry the fuel up the steep mountain by foot. I wonder how they were able to ever get the generators up there. The location now has a well placed seat that gives a view to the mainland to the west, with the sandbar and jetty of the anchorage at our feet.

While we certainly enjoyed the walk down to Coconut Beach through the lush jungle, still dripping after days of rain, we were surprised by the silence. No birds or small animals could be heard or seen, and the reason might be explained by our sighting of a juvenile cane toad.