Entrance into Johnstone River and Innisfail.
We approached the position of a charted Fairway Beacon which we could not find, so then proceeded to Pass between the outer red and green lateral buoys.
From there our charts indicated a green mark,but this was not there either, so we steered directly for the next visible red mark inside the entrance. From there we followed the marks and Lucas book directions with no problems. We crossed the bar on a rising tide that was currently at 1.9 meters, we draw 1.4 meters and the shallowest area we had all the way to Innisfail was 900mm below our keels. I must admit that we are anchored in front of the towns small marina and are just sitting in the mud at low tide (.8meter), but that is of no major concern at present.
Crossing the entrance bar into The Johnstone River.
Clear Horizons close behind.
We kept to the left hand channel as per info received, going past the moored fishing fleet.
Then rounded the next bend to reveal Innisfail.
We are anchored just off the towns public jetty.
This place is just such a pleasant surprise in a couple of areas. Unlike most towns in Australia that have decentralized their shops to large outer suburb shopping centers, Innisfail still has a large vibrant main street area with All the major supermarkets, Bunnings, Harvey Norman, Target, Kmart, Butchers, Bakers and if you look hard enough a candle stick maker as well all within Paul walking distance from the dinghy. Which if you know me is not a very long walk.
The other standout is the towns architecture. Innisfail claims to be The Art Deco Capital of Australia, and this came about because of the vagaries of nature. As one of Australia's wettest towns, Innisfail was hit by a devastating cyclone in 1918 and had to be rebuilt. It was rebuilt in the art deco style.