Mission Beach and Magnetic Island

12-15 February 2010

February 12th was the day we boarded our first ever Oz Experience bus and headed south to Mission Beach. It was also the day I confronted a lifelong fear. Of birds. We stopped en route to Mission Beach at Johnstone River Crocodile Farm where visitors can hold and feed the various animals. I entered the reception area (aready terrified at the prospect of emus running amock) to find a baby crocodile, a snake and a huge red-tailed black cockatoo waiting for us. I held the baby croc first (very wriggly) and had the snake around my neck next. It felt smooth, not rough and scaly as I imagined it would, and also baggy, as though there was too much skin for the body. I was initially determined to give the bird a wide berth but decided that there was no better time to confront my fear than now. So I went for it. Still can't believe it. I was terrified - my heart was pumping the whole time. Wasn't as bad as I thought though once he was actually on my shoulder - hoping this is the first step towards conquering my phobia. Afterwards, we wandered around the farm, feeding the kangaroos, stroking the dingoes and watching the crocodile feeding tour (and I didn't even run away from the emus)!

There isn't much to do in Mission Beach - you can't even swim at the amazing beach because of the jellyfish - so we only stayed one night. We attempted to walk to the section of the beach with a stinger net (kindly circled on the map for us by the hostel) but walked for thirty minutes before someone told us it was actually an hour away! Could have done with knowing that before we set off! Ended up just staying by the pool for the afternoon and having a BBQ with everyone we met on the bus in the evening so not very eventful. Although the next morning we did see what most people come here for - a cassowary. Mission Beach is home to the largest surviving population of wild cassowaries and we were lucky enough to see one the next morning tramping through the undergrowth with its two chicks.

From there, we headed to Magnetic Island, a little way off the coast of Townsville. Spent a relaxing three days staying in stilted wooden huts by the beach, lazing around the pool and getting tipsy with everyone from our Oz bus in the hostel bar by night. On the final day, a group of us hired mini-mokes and set off in convoy to explore the island - all 35km of it! Walked up through the gum tree woodland to the forts, built during WWII to protect Townsville from Japanese attack. The remains - mostly concrete blocks - weren't as exicting as I had hoped (think we are spoilt for places of historic interest in the UK). Just couldn't get much of a feel for human history staring at a gun emplacement. The view out across the ocean was stunning though and made the climb worthwhile. Magnetic Island definitely delivers in terms of scenery.