At first glance Rex Smeal Park is the epitome of tropical Australia, swaying palm trees look out to the Coral Sea and the Great Barrier Reef, while another aspect of the horizon is dominated by an impressive mountain range home to the world's oldest rainforest.

But take a closer look and you see one of Port Douglas' most popular and beautiful locations is being trashed.

Thoughtless at best, and lazy and disrespectful at worst, some visitors to the park are using the landmark as an ash tray with a short walk around the perimeter revealing hundreds of discarded cigarette butts, just metres from where dugongs have been sighted, and where couples take their wedding vows.

"It's disgusting," said Derek Peterson, a visitor here for Wednesday's total solar eclipse. "It doesn't make you want to kick back for a picnic. The bottle tops aren't much better either," he said.

Apart from the obvious visual pollution, cigarette butts contain toxic chemicals which, when inevitably washed into our waterways, are a threat to the marine environment.

Seabirds, turtles and some fish ingest butts which swell in the stomach of the animal causing it to feel full and refrain from eating. This can lead to starvation.

A Cairns Regional Council spokesperson said Council staff clean up Rex Smeal Park "on a daily basis." If this is the case the problem is significantly larger than initially thought.

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