Talking Location With Peter J Robinson – Cairns

24th November 2019

#TalkingLocationWith… author Peter J Robinson, author of The Consequences of Finding Daniel Morgan – Cairns

Ask any experienced world traveller to name the ten most desirable away-from-it-all English-speaking holiday destinations, and Queensland’s Cairns is likely to make the list. Tucked away on Australia’s northern Pacific coast, complete with international airport and just 800 kilometers from the top of Cape York (looking across to New Guinea), and a whopping 1,195 km from the State’s Capital, Brisbane.

I first visited Cairns around Christmas 1997 with my wife plus my stepdaughter and her partner. We stayed in nearby Port Douglas, an hour north up the coast road through nothing short of spectacular scenery. Being a typical birder, I tended to borrow the car and slip away whilst I explored the scenery and, more importantly, the wildlife. And as a former Head of Investigations for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, it was easy see the potential the area offered for anyone set on making substantial sums of money out of this same wildlife. Not only that, in my distant past I had worked in the trade and knew precisely the kinds of birds that were most at risk. It was difficult imagining anywhere more suitable.

Being Australian, I was automatically surrounded by a range of commercially desirable bird species found nowhere else on earth. Including Gouldian Finch and Blue-faced Parrot Finch, but particularly parrots like Northern Rosella and the truly exotic Rainbow Lorikeet. The big money though lay in hard-to-get species with a limited natural range, but which were relatively easy to transport. Two of which occurred ‘just up the road’ by Australian standards; Golden-shouldered Parrot in central Cape York, plus the mind-blowing black and red Palm Cockatoo, that occurs in New Guinea but just makes it across into the Top End. And in case you were unaware, the new way of beating the increasingly enforced ban on live bird exports involves the distinctly easier trade in illegally taken hatching eggs.

What is it then, that makes Cairns and its surrounding, often challenging Outback and Rainforest areas, so outstanding from a smuggler’s viewpoint? Well I guess it comes down to a matter of convenience. Obviously, there are the birds, accessible and largely unprotected in areas where probably no one would give you a second glance. Added to which there are all manner of buildings you could rent as the base for all this profitable activity, plus of course there’s that international airport with connections to just about everywhere in the world. I also recall reading a report by Australian Customs outlining the enforcement problem present by the uncountable number of small landing strips dotted around the country.

I have visited the area again since then, driving almost to the tip of Cape York to see for myself the stunningly attractive Palm Cockatoo. Looking back, my mind was probably already formulating the beginning of the story that turned into The Consequences of Finding Daniel Morgan, including identifying an abandoned sheep station out on the Central Highway in which to hide the mysterious Sylvester Reed, overlooked from the edge of the nearby rainforest – where I also saw my first Riflebird (actually a Bird of Paradise). As I commenced writing I really did not have to make many changes to the plot, my experience of the drive up the mega challenging Peninsular Development Road forming the basis for Royle and his team’s overnight outback tracking of the three parrot crates that eventually found their way to Florida and California via New Guinea, Java and Belgium.

Also indicative of the contrasting northern Queensland scenery, however, is Royle’s ability to withdraw to relatively busy Cairns each evening and indulge in a comfortable hotel bed, a decent meal and a bottle of excellent Australian wine. Or even a before-bedtime stroll with his new partner along the Cairns’ renowned Waterfront, with its sheltering palm trees and whilst watching the tourist boats returning from surely one of the most memorable of all holiday experiences, a day out on the Great Barrier Reef.

Thank you so much to Peter for such an insightful post of this amazing part of the world.

You can win a copy of Peter’s book by entering our Giveaway competition here – just comment via that link by midnight, 7th December UK time to win one of five copies. THIS IS UK ONLY.

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