Mission Beach
Trip Start
Jun 18, 2008
1
55
72
Trip End
Ongoing
Mission Beach,
Queensland,
Australia
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
On paper, Mission Beach is a paradise. Halfway between Townsville and Cairns, it is a series of small towns by the beach, surrounded by rainforest and the Wet Tropic World Hertiage Area. Hiding in that very rainforest is the very rare and somewhat dangerous Cassowary. A few km off the beach, the Great Barrier Reef bubbles away under the tropical sun. Idealic.
In reality though, things were a bit different. The tropical sun was blocked out by a tropical storm for the few days we were there, so anything water or beach based was off limits. It looked more like the English Channel in December than a tropical paradise. The one good thing from this was that a few bits of bobs had washed up on the beach, so we did some beach combing, then got a bit bored
Cassowary
. So we spent our time in the rainforest instead.Who would have thought that a ton of trees, ferns and vines would deafen you? I kid you not, the rainforest around Mission Beach is alive with very loud insects and reptiles, to the point that after an hours walk you have a constant ringing in your ears. It's even worse at night. It's choas in the trees then. Campsite rules say 10pm, all noise to cease. Tell that to the Frogs (the animals, I mean). The yobs.
Saying all that, the rainforest walks, in the nearby national parks, are really worth doing, and not crowded at all, so it's normally just yourself and the loud wildlife. The only quiet animals were the Butterflies, of which there are so many it gets boring. So many of them, all different types, I never expected them to be in a wet, humid rainforest.
It was also the rainforest that gave us a bit of a negative view of Mission Beach. Remember the Cassowary we mentioned? Well we were very fortunate to see one, with two chicks in tow, just off the highway in the forest. Naturally, we wanted photos and a better look, so parked in the appropriate place, well off the highway, trotted down the road to where we saw the Cassowary. A couple of the locals thought it would be hilarious though to drive by slowly, have a gander at the Cassowary and us, and then beep their horns and scare the bird off. Hilarious eh? So, no photos of the big birdie, as it went before we could even get the camera on. Take my word for it though, it's a fantastic bird, almost 2m high, with very large claws which will disembowel you if you decide to touch the chicks
Cassowary Poop - lots of seeds
. The chicks, by the way, look very much like Emu chicks. To be honest, it had been a rough couple of days. On the way to Mission Beach, we drove up into the mountains to Crystal Springs/Paulama and the rainforest above them. Whilst trekking through some random bit of rainforest, I noticed a little Leech feasting on my hand. I say little, it was before it fed. Had I not flicked it off, it would have been a lot bigger, full of my yummy blood.
Then when we stopped off a rock pool for a little dip, we noticed a large bunch of leaves fall from a tree. Weirdly, the leaves were almost glued together. This, of course, is a Green Ant nest. For whatever reason, some Ants live in nests made of leaves stuck together, right up in the tree top. As it was a little gusty, one dropped down, so we had a little look at it. Naturally, the Ants were going mental, and seconds later we discovered that we were both covered in the little things. Well, they're not that little actually, compared to UK Ants, they are huge. And Green. And they were angry. And biting. Suffice to say, we did a little dance, smacking them off. We were still finding them ten minutes later. It was literally a case of Ants in my pants.
Cool Butterfly
Then it rained.
All this, on my holiday? How dare they.
So yeah, Mission Beach was supposed to be a nice little break from these horrors. And it still rained. I'm thinking of making an official complaint to the Australian Government.
Anyway, it was time to crack on a bit, and so we went West over the mountains and through the rainforest, up to Atherton...
