Blogs from Mission Beach, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 12

Wed 13th We actually saw a group of wild kangaroos at Mareeba golf course. We'd been told they were there by the barmaid of the Ant Hill Hotel in Mareeba. There were a whole group of them lounging under the trees by the 7th hole and they let us take some decent photos. We stayed the night in Atherton and walked to a platypus viewing area on the way to the pub. we saw a few turtles but no platypuses, but there was a noisy youth group of girls having a barbecue there which may have put them off. Thurs 14th The Camperman mechanic turned up at breakfast time to fix the van. He took the rear hubcap off and two bolts fell out. He took the front wheel brakes apart and eased where the pads ... read more

So after a very sad farewell to the parents we headed south again to Mission Beach, a small chilled out village with 14km of beautiful beaches (where we spent Christmas). We decided it would be a nice place to relax over new year with a few bars to have a drink or two and celebrate the arrival of a new year. At midnight we were actually on the beach with groups of people enjoying drinks around their bonfires, not that they needed them as it was still warm - a complete contrast to what we usually do in the coldness of the UK! Anyway, the following day was a definate chill-out day by the pool and preparing ourselves for the 14,000ft sky dive that we had booked for the following day - yikes! Finally the morning ... read more

Hello all. Thanks for the notes G Fran, and no we are not renting a car, but instead taking a bus down the coast. And yesterday we took that bus down to Mission Beach which is 2hr south of Cairns. We even got to watch Star Trek VI during the ride! I love public transportation :) We got to our hostel which luckily enough was walking distance from the bus stop, and then we walked along the gorgeous beach for an hour to get to the town center. We had to make sure to time our walk along the beach with low tide because if we traveled that route during high tide we would have to wade through a crocodile infested river. I'm not even joking. We were also warned against swimming in the ocean because ... read more

On the 20/12 we hooked up with Helens parents who were kindly treating us to some decent accommodation and food over the Christmas period. We flew to Cairns arriving late evening. On the 21/12 we picked up a 6 berth campervan that would be our home for the next 10 days - it was a beast! Our first leg took us to Daintree National Park - north of Cairns. On route we stopped off at Mossman Gorge for a refreshing dip as the sun was punishing us! We then headed to the Daintree River and took a 2 minute ferry across and officially entered the National Park. We then had a further 35km drive to the campsite - this was as far as we could go before hitting dirt roads unsuitable for our vehicle, we stayed ... read more

We left Cairns and caught the Greyhound to start seeing all the various beaches along the Queensland Coast. Our first stop was Mission Beach where we spent a couple of days relaxing on the beach (where the skydivers land next to you), swimming in the refreshing pool and chilling in front of the TV (it was so hot and humid!!). We had a close encounter with an enormous lizard whilst walking in the bush, but didn't see any jelly fish because of the stinger safe swimming areas. From Mission Beach we took the 4hr bus journey to Townsville where we got straight on a ferry over to Magnetic Island. This is a small island just off the coast with really nice beaches (stinger suits required) and crazy wildlife. The island is very small and we managed ... read more