"Through the
scent of water it had budded and brought forth boughs like a plant."
Nearly as much misapprehension prevails in the Southern States of the
Commonwealth as to the characteristics of North Queensland as seems to
prevail among the good old folks "at home" as to Australia generally. If
the few facts presented excite even mild surprise, they will not be
altogether out of place in these pages.
Dunk Island has a mean temperature of about 69 deg.; January is the
hottest month with a mean of 87 deg, and July the coolest, mean 57 deg.
Taking the official readings of Cardwell (20 miles to the south), I find
the greatest extremes on record occurred in one year, when the highest
temperature was 103.3 deg. and the lowest 36.2 deg. At Geraldton (25
miles to the north) the extremes were 96 deg. and 43.4 deg.
Rainfall and temperature, the proportion of clear to cloudy skies, calms,
the direction, strength and the duration of winds, do not wholly
comprehend distinctive climatic features. There are other conditions of
more or less character and note, some hard to define, yet ever present.
Here the air is warm and soothing, seldom is it crisp and never really
bracing.
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