Mission Completed

Things seemed like they had been pretty much non-stop since leaving 'Noosa'; our tours of Fraser Island and The Whitsunday's were great fun, but left little time to ourselves. We'd also made an overnight stay in Townsville with the hope of diving the 'Yongala' wreck but the weather wasn't exactly supportive of the idea. So, when we arrived in Mission Beach, our simple aim was to do nothing, achieve nothing (except in doing nothing), and spend nothing (except for our accommodation, of course).

By virtue of it being the cheapest option, we ended up at a place called 'The Beach Shack.' We'd considered camping again but as heavy rainfall was a definite maybe, and a campsite would only be a few dollars cheaper, we decided to lay our heads here. 'The Beach Shack' resembles a party house from an American teen movie. Its circular layout has a hall / internet area / lounge in the middle with various rooms leading out from it. On the ground floor these include: an open plan kitchen & dining area that lead to the patio and swimming pool; a huge TV room with a monstrous collection of sofas and DVDs; a bathroom with a jacuzzi and shower big enough for two; and a couple of bedrooms. The first floor was restricted to the front of the house with two dorm rooms and a BYO bar with free pool table and an open view of the beach lying less than 50 metres away. It was extremely relaxed, friendly and cheap - all the criteria necessary for a pleasant stay. We broke up our busy schedule of working through the DVD collection with SKY TV interludes and games of pool to get the blood flowing again. We've found very few hostels that we felt at home in, so we're very pleased with finding this one. So much so that our intended 2 night stay ended up being 4 nights, and a reluctant leave even then.

Mission Beach's most famous traveller was a cyclone called 'Larry' who blew in earlier this year. Weighing in at Force 5 on the Australian Intensity Scale and propelling gusts of up to 320 km / hr, his stay wasn't exactly celebrated and his signature remains to be seen all around the area. The buildings of the area all contain some degree of cyclone protection by law, but it hasn't stopped the damage to their tourism industry. The businesses returned to work when Larry wasn't even out of breath but the tourists have unfortunately been slower to return. For our part, we barely did more than support the hostel, although in a moment of rare activity we did join an eco-crocodile tour - a trip down a crocodile infested river to the ocean and back. We stopped on way to drop a couple of traps for mud crabs but nothing big enough was tempted by the bait.

Within the first 10 minutes of setting off, we could see something disturbing the surface in the distance. At first, it seemed like an invisible boat was creating a small wake on the water and heading straight for us. When it was within 50 feet though, the deep red reflection of the eyes gave away the cause. It was a 2.5 metre long salt-water croc. that has been blessed with the terrifying name of 'Cheeky.' Not really playing to the people's fear.

The rain came down and we didn't see many other crocs on this voyage but we were definitely pleased. After missing out on Steve Irwin's zoo, we desperately wanted to see these famous creatures in their more natural setting and could now say we had.