Cairns has tides up to 3 m high and at low tide a broad mud flat extends out in front of the city. Many people come to Cairns to watch the theatre of life on the mud. Sights include the world’s largest pelicans, fish that walk on land and birds refuelling so that they can fly to Siberia. The muddy Cairns foreshore is probably partly man-made. Changes to the shape of the foreshore, such as caused by the recent construction of a marina, have changed the water flow around the foreshore and encouraged the settlement of mud. As the mud level builds up from sediment that settles out of naturally murky coastal waters, it reaches a level where it attracts mangrove trees. If large numbers of mangroves were not pulled out by the local Port Authority, the city of Cairns would be located behind a forest of mangroves up to 100 m wide by now. Life in a Cairns with mangroves would be rather uncomfortable as blood sucking sandflies would pour out in the late afternoon in great numbers and bite everyone (the do not carry disease, they just itch). The southern part of the Esplanade is sandfly free, although they can be experienced near the mangroves at the northern end. The mud is very soft and cannot be walked on by people. Occasionally, kids who chase mudskippers get stuck in the thick soft mud and have to be rescued.The lack of mangroves allows the very rich intertidal flats to come right in and touch the esplanade parkland. Birds come in to the very edge of the park and can been watched with bare eyes. I have been close enough to see the veins in the bill of a great white egret and the sandflies on its face. Yesterday, I was sitting on the boardwalk and less than 2 m away was a black reef heron that was running around madly, snapping up fish in a small pool at the base of the wall – it was so enthusiastic that people were laughing, it was like watching Daffy Duck. Trained eyes will normally find 10-20 bird species present within 30 m of the boardwalk. Elsewhere, these birds will not come within 50 m of a human and the lack of fear that these birds show to people on the Esplanade is one of the things that makes the Esplanade special. Bird viewing points with signs naming the birds are present at intervals. Pelicans and ibis are nearly always present as are several species of heron and egret. Spoonbills, stilts, gulls and terns are usually present and during the year, a large variety of migrating waders also pass through the Esplanade. Last year, a crocodile was briefly present. Binoculars are useful as some birds will not be close to the park at any given time.Just in front of the viewing platforms are mudskippers, which are lizard-like fish that crawl over the mud and lurch after crabs and snails. They have strong fins that they use as feet and eyes on the top of their heads. Mud crabs, a giant crab that Australians like to eat (15 cm wide backs) move around in the small rivulet’s that drain the mudflats. Asians can often be seen watching the fish in the stormwater drains that run out from the base of the wall – most drains in modern Asian don’t have fish so even this minor feature is an attraction. Mangrove jacks, mullet, stripeys, mud cod, gobies are often present. I often think that fish watching places could be added to the Esplanade.Perhaps the easiest way to appreciate the extent of life that is present on the mudflats is to realise that almost every lump and bump on the mud is a living thing such a sentinel crab, snail or mudskipper. Creatures are present in untold millions. The mudflats are most rewarding to those who like need to relax and watch the world go by, as a little time is needed to get one’s eye in. I learned quite a lot about the esplanade birds from tourists, people from Japan and Europe, as wetland birds are often the only observable wildlife that persists in highly developed countries.An afternoon stroll along the Esplanade might take 2 hours and can be combined with a swim in the free esplanade lagoon swimming pool. Food can be cooked on free barbeques facilities or purchased from a large variety of restaurants and bars. The Esplanade forms the edge of Cairns City and is close to most parts of Cairns.