I’d been told by various people that Mission beach was quiet and boring, which some people would find a turn off. I’m positively attracted to the idea of total boredom!
I booked for one night, but within 20 minutes of arriving I was in love with the place and extended my stay to three nights. The beach was just fantastic. Absolutely massive with almost nobody on it. The skies were blue and the breeze helped temper the humidity – such a relief after 6 days in Cairns and the rainforest. Palm trees lined the entire beach, hiding any development. If you like long, lonely beach walks, this is the place for you.
I booked for one night, but within 20 minutes of arriving I was in love with the place and extended my stay to three nights. The beach was just fantastic. Absolutely massive with almost nobody on it. The skies were blue and the breeze helped temper the humidity – such a relief after 6 days in Cairns and the rainforest. Palm trees lined the entire beach, hiding any development. If you like long, lonely beach walks, this is the place for you.
The only trouble is at certain times of the year you can’t swim in northern Queensland for fear of marine stingers – certain very dangerous types of jellyfish. The Box Jellyfsh can kill you and the thumbnail sized iricangji can cause some rather nasty problems. There are stinger nets at North Mission and South Mission beach, but I was at Wongaling Beach in the middle and either net is an hour’s walk.
The evening I arrived, which was a Saturday, the hostel – Absolute Backpackers – put on a free barbeque. They even catered for my vegetarian ways! I sat with a bunch of Swedish people and asked them all about their travels. Their trips all seemed to revolve around getting very, very drunk. Whenever I’ve said that’s not what I’m here for, various people have said ‘ooh that’ll change’. Which it most definitely won’t unless there’s a miraculous turnaround in the exchange rate! I’m not stooping to ‘goon’: the horrible cheap wine that everyone here drinks. One of the backpackers had his working holiday visa but was about to fly home after two months. He said ‘I’ve had enough, my liver can’t take it anymore’. I was horrified! How can someone have so little strength of character that they’re willing to give up such a fantastic opportunity because they can’t say no to backpacker partying?!
The evening I arrived, which was a Saturday, the hostel – Absolute Backpackers – put on a free barbeque. They even catered for my vegetarian ways! I sat with a bunch of Swedish people and asked them all about their travels. Their trips all seemed to revolve around getting very, very drunk. Whenever I’ve said that’s not what I’m here for, various people have said ‘ooh that’ll change’. Which it most definitely won’t unless there’s a miraculous turnaround in the exchange rate! I’m not stooping to ‘goon’: the horrible cheap wine that everyone here drinks. One of the backpackers had his working holiday visa but was about to fly home after two months. He said ‘I’ve had enough, my liver can’t take it anymore’. I was horrified! How can someone have so little strength of character that they’re willing to give up such a fantastic opportunity because they can’t say no to backpacker partying?!
The next day (Sunday) I did a rainforest walk which took 1.5hrs. The shuttle that took me there carried the backpackers I’d met the night before up to North Mission beach where there are about 2 shops. When I’d returned having seen a monitor lizard, about half a dozen different butterflies and the most fabulous scenery I asked the guys what they’d been up to and they’d done nothing. They hadn’t even been to the beach!
That afternoon I walked to the creek at South Mission so all up at least 3 hours of walking in a day. My feet hurt a lot. Maybe I should have just sat around drinking goon?!
That afternoon I walked to the creek at South Mission so all up at least 3 hours of walking in a day. My feet hurt a lot. Maybe I should have just sat around drinking goon?!
Monday morning I was up early because I wanted to take a bike out and go cassowary spotting. I didn’t see any cassowaries but I did ride past a squashed cane toad – the first I’d seen. It was the size of it that made me turn around to inspect the corpse….and as I did so I saw my first wallaby! It was quite far away and I couldn’t recognise the way it moved at all. I thought it was a dingo. After that I saw a good handful as I burned around the area. And I was about to see a LOT more….
That afternoon there was a chance to meet a local lady called Tanya who runs a wallaby and kangaroo sanctuary (they are two different animals. Basically roos are bigger). It was amazing – my favourite experience yet! Tanya gets called out to road accidents involving these creatures and she searches the pouches for joeys. We saw animals of all different ages and got to stroke and cuddle them. My favourite was one called Elliot who licked our legs!
That afternoon there was a chance to meet a local lady called Tanya who runs a wallaby and kangaroo sanctuary (they are two different animals. Basically roos are bigger). It was amazing – my favourite experience yet! Tanya gets called out to road accidents involving these creatures and she searches the pouches for joeys. We saw animals of all different ages and got to stroke and cuddle them. My favourite was one called Elliot who licked our legs!
That was quite enough excitement for one day so I spent the entire rest of the day talking…and the people who run Absolute Backpackers convinced me to make my next stop Magnetic Island. It was to be a very good idea.
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