We drove up to Mission beach as we had been told it was a must to go and visit this place. They were not wrong we LOVED it!
Mission Beach is full of luscious rainforest and you first experience all the road signs for the cassowaries which are a bizarre mixture of emu-like birds with a rainbow face and a hard, axe-like horn on the top of their heads. Not something you would want to meet in the forest!
We saw some of these birds wandering around in the wild, in fact we saw a family with a small baby chick strutting alongside its parents. We saw another one the following day, so they do exist but they are endangered so the whole area is a reserve to these birds. This is part of what I loved about Mission beach!
Actually, it is not just one place but four: South Mission, Wongaling, North Mission and Bingil Bay. It was all very wild and unkempt, in the nicest possible way.
The greenies would love it if all of the people moved out of Mission Beach and made it a cassowary safety zone but that isn’t going to happen. That the developers have not taken over this area is just amazing, probably largely due to the fact that the area has not long gone on mains sewage and the greenies oppose any plans for developers to build anything to major there.
Mission Beach has the beauty of coconut palm covered beaches overlooking serene islands just off the coastline. The main island in sight is Dunk Island to which you can get a water taxi for a few dollars. There is a resort on the Island so you can get a cup of coffee but other than that it is a place to go to escape onto the beach for a day.
However, I prefer looking at the island not being on it looking at the mainland. If that makes sense? The only thing better is being on a boat and sailing around all of the islands!
