Mission Reef Resort Mission Beach

... task of walking back to our hostel along the beach back to our hostel in the 32 degree heat.<br><br>Once we arrived back at our hostel we decided to take a dip in the pool, I got in and realised it was a lot cooler than it initially looked, I soon adjusted to the temperature and tried to get Charlotte to come in, she couldn't be tempted though so I had to play with an inflatable ride on Croc on my own!

... they'd have a cabin for a couple of nights - success - huge holiday unit just near the swimming pool. Not the cheapest but necessary when we'd been travelling all day. Wondered up to the cafe for a bite to find them closing, but the lovely lady put the fryers back on again specially and we had fish and chips as a takeaway - with a bottle of red of course! She was smashing - half wog - half pom - her words not ours!

... br>Some of the artistic flavour of the place can be seen in the range of beachside sculptures and decorations which show strong local involvement (though it is not all inspiring!) There&#8217;s also a local Sunday market with lots of locally made clothes, hats, glass ornaments (including glass jellyfish wind chimes), mobiles from shells and driftwood (interesting because nobody is supposed to take these from the shore), stingray kites as well as the usual fruit ...

... as before mentioned.<br><br>After an uneventful 5 hour journey reached Mamu National Park where there is a rainforest canopy walk which I thought would be worth stopping to take a look at, there is an elevated walkway which meanders though the top of the lush tree canopy ending with a 37m high tower from which there are spectacular rain forest views including a view of Mount Bartle Frere.<br><br>Leaving Mamu I continued for another ...

... and fluffy looking&#8230;No chance of a picture we carried on to the carpark of the retreat..<br><br><br><br><br> Turns out the carpark is some way away from the retreat itself. We had two options &#8230;We could ring through to the retreat and get a 4-wheeler to pick us up, or there was a ...

We arrived back on the Coast yesterday after leaving Atherton and visiting a few more waterfalls on the way down to the coast. Millaa Millaa Falls was good, as well as Zillie Falls and Ellinjaa Falls. Also we stopped at the new 'canopy' rainforest walk about 40 klms out of Innisfail. I know I don't like these high walkways but I had to do it. There is a cantilever section which is 40mt long and hangs suspended for the ...

... the snugness being fairly reassuring!), and were off. the plane ride itself was pretty cool, i was right next to the door and you could see everything below. as we were climbing its fair to say i was feeling a tad nervous, but probably not as much as i thought. when we were nearly there my tandem guy and another bloke asked if me and another lad wanted to try something a bit different. so instead of doing the normal hands in the air shape, we'd try and stay ...

... being added to the river. At one point we were able to get out of the boat and climb up a large rock in the middle of the river and were told where we could jump off into deep water. It was about 5 metres high but was so much fun!! We also on a number of occasions were able to get out of the boat and float ourselves through some of the calmer sections of river which was really fun too. The best rapid on the second section of river was the last ...

... that I was no longer paying Asian prices and my days of living off $20 a day (for everything), were long gone. Oh yes, in fact, the small whimper/ Gasp that I let out, did get the attention of the barman, who looked on in a kind of pitying way. However, after leaving no tip, I was observed like I had just walked into his frail grandmothers 80th birthday party and introduced her to my genitals. <br> So I got to Adelaide after connecting in Perth and was picked up ...

... a tropical forest path on my own - but did it here and loved it even though I'd seen all sorts of spider (taking several off their webs in my face as I went), praying mantas, cane toad, snake, cassawary, bull hen, midgets, lizards - you name it. Amazing. Dunk Island My final escapade here was to Dunk Island on my final day - a little haven about 20 mins boat ride away - after tackling the one hour forest and beach walk to the jetty. On board I met ...