Cardwell, gateway to Hinchinbrook Island and the World Heritage Wet Tropical Rainforest has had its fair share of issues ranging from environmental to the management of land in Australia's coastal zones.
The reality is a grim situations that speaks of a development that's been falling apart since many years before Cyclone Yasi.
From empty blocks, to countless houses for sale, to fallen trees and overgrown median strips, to weed spoiled bitumen, exposed electrical wires and irrigation hoses, bitumen that now resembles an unsealed or forestry road and streets that have been closed to the public in order to keep prying eyes out.
An agreement signed between the Williams Corporation and the government in the late 1990s binded the resort's owner to the continued maintenance of the sewerage system, roads, marina and other infrastructure at the resort.
In the past, there have been buyers interested in purchasing the resort and taking on the development. Most recently, Townsville businessman Tony Dotta expressed his interest in purchasing the site but was turned off from buying the resort after learning of the high maintenance costs.
Although he described purchasing the site as 'financial suicide' residents will remember Dotta for the removal of Villas from the Port's resort, which was just on the other side of this fence.
As the development is still private land the council and state government have no direct responsibility to maintain the infrastructure, despite parts of the development being available for public use such as the existing boat ramp that also provides direct access to the Hinchinbrook Channel.
Those crowds that often come from neighbouring regional centres such as Townsville and Cairns of a weekend, often pack the boat ramp out and are believed to be the main cause for the deteriorating resort roads.
Residents of the resort have a responsibility to pay both the resort's body corporate fees and council rates.
Prior to the development being proposed the Joh Bjelke-Peterson government had commissioned a feasibility study to determine the best placement for a port along the Northern Coast, between the Hinchinbrook Channel and Clump Point - at Mission Beach.
In the report, it outlined specifically that the site Oyster Point, which is the site Port Hinchinbrook has been developed on. In the report it said it should not be used, due to the high sedimentation and ongoing dredging costs.
Spokesperson Margaret Moorhouse from the Alliance to Save Hinchinbrook said it was clear the site should have never been developed as a port.
