Cute little village of Mission Beach…I’m sure a lot of people could just stay here forever! Every morning a little miracle shows on the beach, where thousands of little crabs create the most amazing decorations on the sand by digging little holes to escape the sun and birds during low tide (presumably). They push out of the hole hundreds of sand balls which will be flushed out in the late afternoon when the sea reclaims the beach at high tide. It’s just an amazing show, going on all day and every day. The beach itself is huge and we understand why the owners of the hostel where we are staying where shocked about who little space you have on the beaches in Italy, as they were just coming back from three weeks in Italy. We get to share the room with a couple of young Britons who are here on a working holiday, picking and packing bananas, which is the main produce of this region.

The days here are wonderful, and we are not surprised some people decide to spend months in the area, but after 4 days of nice sun and a lot of relax it’s time to move south towards the town of Townsville, just opposite the most visited Magnetic Island.

The hostel we picked had as main attraction a terrace pool which these days is closed for renovation. So we just have to take a long walk to the Esplanade, which is the heart of town: a long walkway along the beach, immersed in green gardens, with trees and palms, much like that in Cairns. All along this walk there are plenty of facilities for everybody, from showers to BBQ grills, tables and benches, gyms and games for children. It’s very nice indeed to see how much the people from here enjoy their town. By the time we are down at the beach we are lucky enough to experience a fantastic sunset close to the artificial lagoon which has some net preventing stinging jellyfish from getting into it. Time for a run along the beach and then to the restaurant for a well deserved crocodile meal (see food section). A couple of days to enjoy the sun and visit the Museum of Tropical Queensland.