Innisfail is a major location in the first in the series … “The Returning” …

Innisfail is also the town of my birth and my home town. Although I have lived in Brisbane for 30 years, Innisfail is the place I still call home. Situated in the exotic tropics of North Queensland, Australia, it is quite simply, a Tropical Paradise.

I have borrowed excepts from an article written by my good friend Sue Astorquia to describe Innisfail, and if you would like to read the complete article you can click here.

Innisfail is surrounded by natural attractions and pristine beaches, making this beautiful town a perfect base for your tropical paradise adventure. This bustling center is in closer, combined, proximity to the Barrier Reef, than most other North Queensland coastal towns. Twice a year on the lowest tides of the year you can walk to Kings Reef from Kurrimine Beach. The beaches in the area are second to none, offering reef fishing, diving and snorkeling all year round. You can spend perfect days, island hopping through the uninhabited North and South Bernard Islands, or visiting any one of the many beautiful beaches on the Cassowary Coast. Experience the adrenaline rush of skydiving and “Jump the beach”, at Etty Bay or Mission Beach, white water rafting on the Tully River is less than an hour away,  or go bushwalking in the Tropical Rainforest at Misty Mountains.

An agricultural town Innisfail has well-established banana, sugar, and tropical fruit industries, and the only commercially grown tea in Australia ‘Nerada Tea” was pioneered in Innisfail. There is a small prawn trawling fleet based on the North Johnstone River, and the regional port of Mourilyan harbor, exports raw sugar from its bulk sugar terminal, as well as molasses, live cattle and timber from its wharves.

The South Johnstone sugar mill is located in the small township of South Johnstone; a unique feature of the town is the cane train (Locomotive) hauling fully loaded cane bins through the main street to the mill at the southern end of the town. Sugar mill tours are available during the cane crushing season from late June to November.

Innisfail is incredibly multi-cultural, with prominent populations of indigenous Australians, Mamu, and Europeans, approximately 10,000 people today. The beginnings of the town started in the 1920’s with settlements by Italian immigrants and later with populations from Spain, Greece, Malta, Yugoslavia, China, India, the Philippines, and more recently East Asian and Hmong’s have settled in the area. Annual Festivals to celebrate the cultural diversity are Kultural Karnival, Festival Innisfail, Feast of the Senses, and Feast of the Three Saints.

There is much more to learn about this gem of the north, by clicking here for Sue’s complete article.