Cattana Wetlands - a haven of tranquillity in the suburbia of Cairns.

Restored wetlands that historically were cleared for farming and even quarried for sand, Cattana is now being revegetated and nursed back to a wetland paradise.

A boardwalk wends through a feather palm forest. It’s a beautiful walk that evokes the feeling of how the original lowland rainforest would have been.

Cattana Wetlands is a birders paradise.

Jesus birds walk on water!

Otherwise known as the Comb-crested Jacana, they are fascinating to watch as they effortlessly dart across lily pads.

Some 200 different bird species can be found at Cattana - Black-necked Storks (Jabiru), White-browed Crake, Green Pygmy-Goose, Magpie Goose, the Little Pied Cormorant, just to name a few.

In 2014 the Cairns Council asked locals to suggest names for the six lakes that comprise Cattana Wetlands, hence we now have each lake with its own name and personality: Kingfisher Pool, Cuckoo Lake, Crake Pond, Jabiru Lake, Jacana Pool and the Fairy Wren Billabong.

Traditionally, the Cattana Wetlands area was home to the Yirrganydji people. The wetlands were an important fishing and hunting area.

Turtles, which are abundant in the Cattana lakes, formed part of the Yirrganydji diet.

These shy creatures hide when you first approach the lake viewing platforms, but wait for a few minutes in silence and they will soon pop their heads out of the water.

They are delightful to watch.

Cattana presents a young, evolving forest of paperbark trees (Melaleuca leucadendron).

The nectar of paperbark flowers attracts honey-eaters, lorikeets and fruit bats.