General News
4 February, 2026
Wet, wetter, wettest
BABINDA is thrilled to have ended 2025 at the top of the rainfall stakes over Tully to take out the year’s ‘Golden Gumboot’ title.
There was a very close finish in the eternal friendly battle for Australia’s wettest town, with Babinda recording a whopping 5324 millimetres total for the year, while Tully finished just under 24mm behind at 5300 mm.
It was a huge year for both towns.
Tully had an exceptionally wet February, recording over 1340 mm – a quarter of its entire annual rainfall in just 31 days. It also saw a big spike in late December: 926 mm from a tropical low that brought heavy falls across the Cassowary Coast.
Babinda’s wettest month was March, at 1146 mm.
The win means Babinda retains the Golden Gumboot, having beaten Tully with a convincing 5724mm over 5456m.m the previous year.
“The friendly banter and rivalry continues between our communities of Babinda and Tully as to the bragging rights of the wettest town in Australia,” Cairns regional councillor (Div. 1) Brett Moller told The Observer.
He said it was of no surprise Babinda won.
“This year the ‘thunderous’ applause goes to Babinda, not surprisingly nestling in between the highest and second highest mountains in Queensland in Mt Bartle Frere and Mt Bellenden Ker,” he said.
“The towns come together to spruik though, if you want to see the real wet tropics of Australia come and visit us here in Babinda and Tully.”
Over a 50-year average, Babinda statistically wins the title more often.
In 2025 both towns received their heaviest daily falls during the first quarter of the year. This was due to a massive monsoonal event which defined the wet season.
Babinda’s wettest day in 2025 was 29 January, with 230mm; while a few days later on 2 February Tully copped 278mm, bringing their total of a 48-hour deluge to 522mm.
While these were the wettest single days, both towns experienced several seven-day totals that exceeded 700mm during that late-January to early-February period – which is what led to the major flooding in the region last year.
To put the 2025 totals in perspective, both towns have a history of truly staggering rainfall.
While 2024 and 2025 were “big” years, they still fall short of the towns’ legendary, all-time records.
The highest ever total rainfall for Tully was way back in 1950: just under eight metres, at 7925mm.
Babinda’s record was set more recently at 7013mm in 2010.
And while we might think the town-based Golden Gumboot title records big rain figures, remember that up the road (and mountain) at Bellenden Ker, it’s next level.
Bellenden Ker top station averages over 8000mm annually and holds the record for the wettest year in Australian history: a massive 12,461mm in 2000.
Innisfail, often the “third wheel” in the Tully-Babinda rivalry, also had an impressive 2025. While not reaching the five-metre mark and above like its neighbours, Innisfail (airport/aerodrome) held its own during the peak monsoonal surges:
2025 total rainfall: 4885mm
Wettest month: February, 1320mm
Wettest day: 31 December 2025, 237.2mm.
Read More: Babinda