Mission Beach

At Mission Beach I realised why it had that name, it was such a mission to get there. I literally walked for an hour and twenty minutes before I finally got there, and guess what it was just a beach! I didn't even see any sky divers. I walked all the way on main roads with no footpaths, I would have walked on the beach but the girl in the hostel told me that crocodiles roam around when the tides coming in so that put me of instantly! It was actually worth the walk though to be honest, despite the weather being pretty average I had the whole beach to myself and could see for miles around and out to all the islands, it was really peaceful just watching the waves. The town, despite being tiny was actually really nice, it reminded me of Byron Bay with all its little independent shops and boutiques, it was kinda hippy too! I only stayed here one night, and ended up eating out with this girl I met in the hostel and watching the sun set over the sea, it was a really nice place and the hostel was lovely!

Cairns

On the way to Cairns we stopped at this little crocodile farm on my last even Oz Experience Bus journey. It was pretty cool, you got to see all the crocs up close and saw them feed, but one part in particular was pretty scary! One of the kangaroos from the farm hopped into this crocodile enclosure and we instanty thought there was going to be a blood bath! He got closer and closer to the water where there were two of the biggest crocs in the farm sat there hungry. The guy even made a point of standing well away to feed them because he did not feel safe around these 2 in particular! Luckily they managed to get the kangaroo to hop back out again, and lucky for them the crocs were in a lazy mood that day!

After the 4 hour drive we finally arrived in Cairns. I spent two days there in a small hostel on the outskirts of the city, it was a little too quiet so after Cape Tribulation I moved to a really cool place round the corner! Cairns was pretty average to be honest. It is a small city which you can pretty much walk around in a few hours and see everything. I expected lovely beaches everywhere and a more party feel to it like Surfers Paradise, but it was fairly quiet most of the time! I literally shopped for warm clothes for Nz and recovered from my days getting bitten in the rainforest.

On my last night I met up with Evan, my Canadian friend and we headed to a bar, managed to get a really good deal on food and a free drink which for a backpacker is extremely exciting! The free drink led to many others and we saw my last night in Australia off in good spirits! It was really nice catching up after three months!