22nd -> 25th July (Mission Beach)

Mission Beach was probably the best destination, because it's relaxed, fun attitude came just at the right time. Fanely and I had hitch hiked to a town called Tully, 30 kilometers from Mission Beach, and it was now 8:00pm. The guy who gave us a lift had also given us a warning not to stay out in the dark too long as there had been some bashings recently in the town. Gulp. I decided it was best to wait in the service station up the road a bit and ask if anyone was going our way... but as soon as Fanely put her thumb out a woman driving a 4x4 full of potted plants pulled up and said "Yeah, I live on Mission Beach, hop in!" We had been very lucky up until now with rides, but that was pure fluke! She was a lovely lady and stopped off at a banana plantation and baught some 'pick your own' bananas for us (one of which was a DOUBLE BANANA!!!!) and then gave us a guided tour of Mission Beach before dropping us at one of the two hostels on Mission beach. The guided tour consisted of two restaurants, another hostel, the beach and a petrol station. That was it for Mission Beach, But the reason for it being so great was the Hostel, and the enormous and gorgeous beach.

We walked into the hostel and sat down for a bit. It was called Scotty's, and it was more of a holiday complex than a hostel. It was a series of bungalows joined in a ring around a grass area with palm trees and a swimming pool! Hammocks included! It was gorgeous. That night there was a fireshow going on in the hostel, but one of the performers hadn't turned up. So, with my mountains of experience and showmanship I offered to stand in, and I did pretty well (did all the tricks the woman could do... haha). We spent that night chilling and drinking in the hostel and got to know some awesome people. At the end of the night Fanely and I grabbed our bags and headed for the beach. Fanely had a tent, so we found a hidden area and pitched our tent for a free night. The morning after was worth the hastle... the beach was spotless and the water was smooth as ice. I opened the tent as the sun came up and sat on the beach watching the sun bounce off the small ripples of the water. It was bliss. Absolute silence matched with the tranquility of the water. After a while basking in the solitude we whipped out the didge and broke the silence. We played all morning, and practiced Poi for the onlookers passing by.

Our playing was halted though when a serious looking man asked us to move off the beach, as it was now a landing strip... confused, we moved out of self-preservation. A sat by the trees at the beach edge. A few minutes later a parachuter swooped down from the sky and glided along the wet sand with both feet before stopping and lowering his parachute. He was wearing a helmet, with a camera stuck to the side of it. Another three came down and did the same thing, and were soon followed by four tandem skydivers. It was only once they had all landed that we noticed the skydivers were some of our friends from the night before. We went to chat, and they were all a bit spaced out. The sky dive was from 12,000ft which included a 45 second free fall. They were grinning from ear to ear, and a month later I would understand why, because I would be doing a sky dive in the NZ mountains.

That night I stayed in Scotty's. We had slept in the tent for four nights and I was looking forward to a real bed. That night there was a massive bonfire on the beach, with everyone invited... even the people from the other hostel! Every backpacker on Mission beach was there chatting away by the fire, at least 70 of us. There was beer, wine, a guitar and speakers all getting us in the mood. We swam, we sang, we danced around the fire and kept it up long into the night until it rained. Everyone scattered. It was monsoon size rain drops, soaking you through with one hit. After 10 seconds of it we were soaked so gave up running and skipped home in a long line singing "Singin' in the rain". I'm very glad there weren't many locals. Once back at the hostel we were still partying so we swam in the pool and played music and the girls went off to sing Madonna songs in the girls toilets.

In the morning everyone was a little slow, but we had to check out by 10am, so there was no long lie in for us. I went to the desk and it was only then that I noticed that the whole staff of the hostel had been out partying as well. There was me thinking "I hope we don't get chucked out for making noise and swimming in the pool well past the 11 o'clock curfew" and half the people doing it were the staff members! We were lucky that morning (again)... a friend was driving to Cairns that same morning. So off we went.