HIS shirt ripped and his backside bruised, an Australian tourist chased off a cliff by a cassowary says the experience hasn't put him off returning to the Far North for another holiday.

Dennis Ward was at Babinda Boulders, near Cairns, with his Innisfail-based family on Sunday, watching from what he thought was a safe distance of up to 15 metres away as a photographer snapped pictures of a large male cassowary, the Cairns Post reported.

Just minutes later Mr Ward was bouncing down the cliff and into the water, after being kicked in the back by the bullying bird.

"It looked like it was going to attack the photographer then next moment it charged towards me and my grandson," Mr Ward said.

"It was looking right at me, kind of standing up, so I turned my back to it because I didn't want a claw right up my middle - I have heard those things can gut you with their claws.

"Next thing, thump, I copped a boot in the back and I was tumbling down the bank, it was pretty high - about seven foot (2m) - I hit this ledge near the bottom and bounced off into the drink."

Witnesses called the ambulance as the giant bird peered over the bank at its victim and the bird disappeared into the rainforest.

"What a holiday story to tell - flew into Cairns one day and the next I am attacked by a giant chook," he said.

Rangers are investigating the attack along with another incident the same day which involved a woman on a nearby property.

Read more about the encounter at the Cairns Post.