Hey everyone

Today we went to Mission Beach!

Our day began as it always does once every few days - getting up, packing our bags and checking out. We took the bus to the ferry terminal and boarded the catamaran back to Townsville. We could see the water looked rougher than it did on the way out to the island, but didn't expect the bumpy ride we were in for. Moments after leaving the harbour and speeding up, the huge catamaran was bouncing over the waves, rocking back and forth, giving our stomaches a rough ride. 20 queasy minutes later we were glad to be off the boat and only had to wait a few minutes before boarding the Greyhound to Mission Beach.

The weather progressively got worse as we headed north, and though we drove through some torrential rain, it wasn't raining when we pulled up at the bus stop in Mission Beach. We took the courtesy bus to the hostel, which was 20 minutes away from the centre and in the middle of the tropical rainforest. Appropriately, the hostel was called 'The Treehouse'.

We stayed at The Treehouse for 3 nights, but we really didn't actually do very much. We would have gone for a walk, but there were tropical rainstorms all throughout the day, everyday, so we decided we would be happier staying dry. In the wet season, which Queensland was just coming towards the end of, it can rain for weeks at a time.

Our days pretty much consisted of reading, sitting in hammocks, and playing board games. Things got a little more exciting when we had a huge thunderstorm in the middle of our second night. The thunder was so loud that it actually shook the room.

Another highlight was when Christina saw a beautiful butterfly, that's famous in tropical Queensland. It was sapphire blue and is said to bring happiness to everyone that sees it.

And that was Mission Beach. Our next and final stop on our journey through Australia would be Cairns... Xxx