Day 63: Mission Beach

I think we are going to find it really difficult to assume our normal lifestyle when we return home. For starters, I really am going to have to get a job and a well paying one at that, as after my gorgeous morning walk along the beach the wanting of a beach house has significantly increased.

A little later in the morning I convinced the rest of the family to come for a walk along the beach with me. We tried looking for shells but there wasn't a great selection.

We returned to the van to grab some things for our cruise out to the islands before proceeding to the pick up.

The cruise was better than I expected. It is operated by the water taxi company with the owner, Fozzy, our guide. He has what we have affectionately termed 'the FNQ sense of humour'. You know the type of humour where they tell blatant lies and think they are really funny. The receptionist at the park has the same humour. They are good value, easy going people.

The cruise took us for a tour past Dunk Island and Tumanu Island before mooring at Bedarra Island for about an hour and a half allowing us to either swim, snorkel or stay on the beach.

Dunk Island was badly damaged by cyclone Yasi and has been on sold. There are varying accounts as to the new owners plans. One story is it is getting restored the other is it has been purchased for personal use only.

Tumanu Island is also privately owned but apparently the owners have not returned to it since cyclone Larry hit in 2006.

Bedarra is owned by 3 separate entities and was also badly damaged by Yasi. It was at this island we were permitted to disembark. We chose to spend our time there swimming and looking for shells, of which there were an abundance. We initially tried snorkeling but there wasn't much to see. After visiting the outer reef anything else will fail in comparison.

When we returned to the park we managed to catch up with the owner, Jannine. She shared with us the hardship of recovering after Yasi and showed us some photos of the damage. She and Darren talked business for a while sharing stories of common issues faced in the industry.

We are leaving for Townsville tomorrow. Micaela and I are hoping to get up early and watch the sunrise first. It's only about 3 hours drive so there is no necessity to pack up early. The rabbits pace we maintained initially has significantly dissipated, replaced by a more relaxed pace akin to the tortoise!