Ella Bay

Ella Bay is located in the Cassowary Coast Regional Council (CCRC) shire in Queensland, Australia. It is within close proximity to the town of Innisfail. Innisfail is positioned in the middle of the Cassowary Coast and is situated 88 km south of Cairns and 260 km north of Townsville.

At the landscape scale, the mountain ranges encircling Ella Bay itself lie mostly within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, recognised for its natural heritage. Parts of Ella Bay are protected within the Ella Bay National Park. The ocean directly offshore at Ella Bay lies within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which is also the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. There are two blocks of private land at the southern end of Ella Bay, a predominantly cleared 470 hectare block and a 65 acre rainforest block named Little Cove by property developer Satori Ella Bay.

The Ella Bay area is home to a large variety of plant and animal life including iconic species like the endangered Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii), endangered and vulnerable frog species (Australian Lacelid, Common Mist Frog, Waterfall Frog), remnant native plants and estuarine (saltwater) crocodiles. Ella Bay is regularly used by green sea turtles as a nesting site. Other threatened marine turtles may nest in this area though this has yet to be confirmed. The waters off Ella Bay are important shallow water habitat for coastal dolphin species including the endemic snub-fin dolphin and the Indo-pacific humpback dolphin. Whales have been observed at Ella Bay including migrating Humpback whales. Dugong have been observed at Ella Bay though the poor condition of seagrass beds in the area currently make this area less than optimal Dugong habitat.

The average annual rainfall at Innisfail is over 3,500 mm or 3.5 m according to the Bureau of Meteorology, and the average number of rainy days per year is 150 days.