We drove to Mission Beach on Friday morning, and have spent 3 days here. The sun broke through a few times yesterday but it has been generally consistently wet and grey. So it says a lot about this place's charms that I still think it is absolutley gorgeous. The rainforest meets the beach here and the long, slightly curving beach is stunning, even in the rain. We met a couple of blokes from Burnley who are working over here, about 20km inland, helping with the clean up operation after the cyclone. Spent a few nights with them; they're like a double act, one is loud, like a thin Peter kaye and the other one is quiet but with facial expressions that speak volumes..... Saw a funk band tonight called Juice, in a very cool beach front bar called The Shrubbery, and had the best bruschetta ever in the place next door, which is run by a guy from Morley!