miles) - making it bigger than Trinidad and Tobago and almost as big as Brunei - Rinyirru is the second largest park in Queensland[1] and a popular place for fishing and camping.

[3] Before Europeans settled in the area around the 1870s, numerous Aboriginal clans occupied the fertile coastal strip.

The bulls were offloaded from a Scandanvian cattle ship at a dock on Princess Charlotte Bay near the northern border of the Station.

[4] In 2005, a Townsville man was attacked and killed by a crocodile while he was canoeing with his wife[6] at the Midway waterhole on the Normanby River.

The park is known for its populations of waterbirds such as the brolga, sarus crane, black-necked stork, comb-crested jacana and magpie geese.

Threatened species which are found in the park include the golden-shouldered parrot, star finch, red goshawk, Lakeland Downs mouse and the spectacled hare-wallaby.

Mammals include, dingoes, wallabies, possums, foxes, feral cattle and wild pigs.

They tend to grow close to waterways and cope well with flooding that occurs during the wet season (monsoon).

At the end of the life of the palm, which may be 75 to 100 years, it produces a large terminal inflorescence about a metre high with a prodigious number of flowers.

Corypha utan is confined to Northern Australia but is not endemic, being also found in the Philippines and India.

Fishing is allowed at all campsites and other places with the exception of areas where cultural restrictions apply.

[1] Saltwater species found in the park include mangrove jack, fingermark, cod, trevally, queenfish and salmon.

The easiest route is via the Peninsula Development Road north of Lakefield on the Mulligan Highway.

It is remote and visitors should stock up on food, petrol and other supplies before leaving Cooktown, Lakefield or Laura.