Mags and Mike's Travel Blog: Caribbean with Roos!

11 - 14 May

Drove about 160k south of Cairns to South Mission beach. Wow! The beach is about 40kms in total, lovely soft sand, calm sea, palm trees and with some warm sunshine (as well as the odd shower!). So like the Caribbean we would still have been confused about which country we were in had it not been for the local gardeners! There are loads of Kangaroos everywhere, mostly seemingly very content munching on the grass and foliage in the gardens of the homes across from the beach. They're pretty tame, hardly bothering to move when a car passes (admittedly it was a quiet street) and mostly staying still when people approach. Some even posed for photographs!

My best profile

Roo gardeners out in force

I look quite good from this angle too!

There's another much more unusual inhabitant in these parts. Cassowaries are large flightless birds who are pretty rare these days. The Mission beach area is a conservation area for them and there have been several recent sightings, though alas not by us.

Cassowary - unlikely to attack unless protecting its young

The local road signs leave you in no doubt who's most important!

The thing about Australia is that it's got all sorts of dangerous animals. The sea here looks gorgeous but between October and June it has not one but at least 8 types of dangerous stingers in it. There is a netted area that's supposed to be safe to swim in but thanks to the Cyclone that passed through here about a week ago, we were warned not to swim even in the netted area. There are also crocodiles in some parts of the sea and local rivers.

But the wonderful beach was right opposite our lovely apartment and we were lulled into a deep sleep each night by the sound of the ocean. We walked miles up the beach and had a thoroughly relaxing 3 days here. It's the shoulder season between Autumn and winter (equivalent of November in the UK) so there are very few tourists and it was very quiet. We were the only guests in Taihoa Apartments so it was like having our own private complex with pool etc