Mission Beach / Tully River

Staying in another YHA it seems as if we had been riding our luck so far in this trip.

The hostel itself is in a great location overlooking the rainforest, only about a mile from the coast. As with Mallacoota (in NSW) there are plenty of quiet coves to explore and have miles of beach to ourselves. Coupled with rainforest literally falling onto the beach it is gorgeous.

This was the first YHA when I feel we really encountered the first 'travellers'. A fine array of travel kit and ethnic clothing- but no toe rings. I must have been ahead of my time all those years ago in India. Anyway- mid night table tennis went down well as we tried to sleep.

We were lucky to make it up to Mission Beach as the roads were shut be torrential rain shortly after we crossed the Tully River. Shannon drove like a legend and did well to get us there in one piece. All the rain was however great news for our River Rafting on the Tully River.

A day long trip down the Tully with 6 people and a guide padding away madly. Despite the guides best efforts we did not flip, though did loose one of our crew overboard. Shannon is the one up front with the light blue arms. *Please note the expressions in both photos!*

You could see the impact of Cyclone Harry, back in 2005, as the rainforest was not quite as dense as it would normally have been- the scenery and waterfalls were stunning- shame we were unable to get any photo's of them.

The photo's of the day should give a good idea of the day we had. Along with the reef dive the time in Queensland has been fantastic....