There is a land sale boom in Mission Beach, mainly due to mains drainage being connected, but it’s still one of those rare places where it is relatively untouched by developers.
This made it one of our top places to settle for investment purposes.
I love the fact that it still has the feeling of being a very personal sort of place where everyone knows everyone and it has a very safe sort of feel about it. At school chuck out time there are kids everywhere which, to me, reaffirms it is a family area.
We caught up with some friends we had made whilst travelling around the area. It felt as though we didn’t have a spare moment to ourselves as we were invited to several barbecues and get-togethers which was fantastic. One man we met on our reef tour, and who we discovered worked in a Melbourne zoo, was touring Australia with a load of creatures to show at the local schools.
It also happened he was staying at the same caravan park as us, so that night he promised to introduce the kids to some of his animals. First we were shown some stick insects (I could handle these) … then came the several snakes he had … followed by more snakes … followed by a funnel web spider which I had to hold for him (in a box I have to say but still not what I wanted!) Then there was a bird spider … followed by various types of geckos … and ending up eventually with a crocodile! By the time he had got out the various boxes and started to show the kids the animals, a crowd had formed so an impromptu show occurred with about 50 people in the crowd!
It is this sort of thing that amazes me about Australia. When people start telling you they have 40 odd animals with them on tour you kind of think they are bragging and when they mention they have a crocodile you kind of think it’s a load of rubbish, but low and behold they amaze you with these true stories!
