Blogs from Mission Beach, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 2

Today we drove into Mission Beach which is less than 10 mins from where we are staying in Wongaling. We wondered around, went to the tourist information centre to pick up some leaflets and then went to a cafe to have a coffee and a milkshake. After that we decided to hire a kayak each and go in the sea. We rowed really far over to some rocks to try and spot some Turtles, we think we saw some small ones but aren't to sure! It was hard work rowing in the sea but really good fun! We went back to the campsite to plan the rest of our trip. We booked a quad bike tour for Thursday, can't wait! We've also booked wake boarding for next week in Cairns!... read more

Our next stop was Mission Beach, a very chilled out area that’s made up of five small beachside settlements. Upon our arrival, we went for a little drive to discover the area and promptly decided to stay put at Mission Bay Skydivers. This place is ace! The dropzone has teamed up with the backpacker’s hostel and together they call themselves a “skydiving resort”. And that’s essentially what they are! You don’t have to be up for throwing yourself out of a plane to stay there though – the caravan park is very affordable and we learnt that lot of people who plan to stay for just a couple of nights end up staying for six months! There are even homegrown salad vegetables and herbs that you can help yourself to, so I didn’t waste any time ... read more

Réveil sous la chaleur tropicale à Cardwell, il n'est que 7h mais le soleil tape déjà fort, on ne va pas s'en plaindre! On scrute le littoral, qui n'est pas terrible, on ne voit que des branches mortes pas de crocodiles..La Forest Drive, route de 26km qui soi-disant mène à des piscines naturelles et des rivières, ne correspond pas du tout au descriptif. La route, en plus d'être très mal indiquée est complètement inintéressante, du coup on part plus vite que prévu de Cardwell, où ma foi il n'y pas grand-chose à faire. Sur la route on s'arrête à un "driver reviver" ou stop de survie pour les conducteurs, où le café et les biscuits sont offerts. En plus les bénévoles sont très sympas, pour 2$ on a droit à des fruits locaux: mandarines (vertes, comme ... read more

Ahhh tropical paradise! Originally when we planned Cairns as the longest leg of the trip outside of Melbourne I had some reservations. Specifically I wasn't sure if it would be too hot/muggy this time of the year or if it would rain the entire time, or it would end up being a complete tropical tourist trap up here. I'm happy to report that all doubts have been rendered moot and I'm quite happy that we chose to hit this area instead of the original plan (Brisbane/Gold Coast). The original itinerary for Cairns was to travel north to the towns of Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation. However the rental car rep told us about this place to the south called Mission Beach. We've been trying to do shit on the fly as much as possible so instead ... read more

And then there was three……. We started our Australian jaunt in Sydney and did the usual tourist stuff, Harbour Bridge, Opera house, open top tour bus etc. Although a big city it has a good feel with lots of green parks and ocean views, the ferry to Manly was a great way to see the harbour and as a bonus we spent a few hours lying on the beach watching surfers do their stuff. As an added bonus Liz gets to watch fit young men close up at no cost. Our plan was to head north to tropical Cairns as quick as we could to avoid the worst of the summer heat and humidity. This was to take about a week to drive and then we will slowly travel back south over the next 2-3 months. ... read more