Mission Beach

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Travelled from Cairns to Mission Beach (27th Jan). The Greyhound was very hot when we got on it and didn't cool down until we drove into some wet weather. We watched a trashy film ("Wynn Dixie" anyone?) but still it was something to do for the 2 and half hour journey.

We stayed at The Sanctuary, set up in the rainforest. We had to get the owners to pick us up from the Greyhound stop and take us by 4WD...even so, I really don't know how any vehicle manages to deal with the steep, muddy inclines this thing took us up! Here we had our own little jungle hut with wall to wall rainforest views (the walls of the hut were actually made from mesh so that you could see out into the rainforest.) The courtesy notes that pointed out what to do should a Huntsman spider join in your hut for the night was a little unnerving, particularly in the depths of darkness when there were all manner of strange noises all around. Despite this, we managed to chill out here and decided not to do any tours - besides, the budget wasn't going well. Jason found the first night a bit of a trauma, having dreams about nasty spiders and thrashing about in the bed, waking me up in the process. A quick check with the torch confirmed there was nothing nasty crawling around the bed and what he had thought was something attacking him turned out to be a earplug that had fallen out of his ear. I had the joy of walking (well slightly running) through the jungle to go to the loo in the middle of the night, luckily our hut wasn't that far from them. It all added to the excitement.

Food was fantastic, nice heathly breakfasts, filling lunches and unusual dinners. Would thoroughly recommend this place to you should you decide to head to Mission Beach (its closed in February for maintenance) - but upgrade to a more spacious, insect repelling cabin rather than the huts (unless you want to experience getting closer to the rainforest, then go for the $65 hut.)

We saw a wild Cassoway up here and given how rare these flightless birds now are, this was a lucky encounter. Pretty much had the beach to ourselves here - once we'd trekked the rainforest to get there. Even though it was cloudy, we still managed to get burnt - be warned the sun's rays are incredibly powerful up here.

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Photos

The Sanctuary
View across the rainforest canopy from the bar/restaurant balcony