Mission Beach

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Mission Beach and the aftermath of Cyclone Larry

When we left Cairns on 11th of July (yes there’s lots more Blog entries to come) we headed south on the coast road to Mission Beach. Unfortunately for us, it virtually rained all the time we were there. It’s a small township with a long lovely beach that regularly gets hit in the cyclone season; evidence of Cyclone Larry was obvious. We took a trip in the water taxi over to Dunk Island, again it rained and you have to walk into the sea to get in the boat, not much fun for short people like me!

Cassowaries inhabit the area and we got the message about not hitting these endangered species. We had in fact already seen 5 of these weird looking prehistoric birds in Cape Tribulation, they may be endangered but they are also dangerous. We saw the large wound one had inflicted on a dog with its razor sharp claws and apparently they are capable of disemboweling a human. A local paper said experts thought the birds have become ferocious and demented in the aftermath of the cyclone and several vicious attacks had been reported. They can run at 50k an hour so not much chance for us there! We saw no signs on how to avoid being attacked by a Cassowary, but then we didn't see any in Mission Beach-only the signs.

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