MISSION BEACH, Queensland

After Tashi and I headed back to Melbourne, Michael decided it was time to give Jesse and Gemmy a little fun. They’d been incredibly patient, attending hospital day after day without complaint to support Tasha when she needed it most.

They headed to Mission Beach to enjoy the warm waters of the Coral Sea. They were content walking along the golden sands and paddling in the shallows, gazing out across the beautiful, glistening water to Dunk Island. They visited Clump Mountain National Park where someone told them of a cassowary at the lookout. Despite making a hasty climb to the viewing spot, they missed the feathered attraction.

Mission Beach lies in the Cassowary Coast region so it wasn’t surprising to find the town was the home of the ‘big cassowary’. The kids were eager to have the customary photograph with the iconic statue before heading off for a spot of fishing. The fishing experience was a success with 12 fish caught. Unfortunately none were big enough to eat so they all got a second chance at life after being thrown back in! Jesse was proud of his ‘big catch’ after a crab got snared on his line and was reeled in.

They were fortunate to have another cassowary encounter the following morning – this time with a living one! A baby greeted them at breakfast looking a little hungry. However, it soon decided Jesse’s new bouncy ball was more enthralling and soon forgot about the culinary offerings.

The kids also found a stray coconut lying on the ground at the caravan park. They’d been eager to crack the hairy nuts all year so were excited by their discovery. They spent almost an hour skinning, dehairing and cracking it before tasting the milk and the flakey flesh. Jesse was pretty impressed but Gemma was less convinced!

Unsurprisingly, the Mission Beach region’s first white settlers farmed tropical fruits, citrus and coffee in the 1880’s. There was also a small group of Europeans who collected timber from the adjacent rainforests with the assistance of local Aborigines, whom they paid with tobacco and tools. What was perhaps a little unexpected to learn about the region’s history was the settlement of Chinese farmers in the early 20th century. They used Aboriginal labour on their banana plantations but opium addiction and conflict with European settlers led to many of them being sent to a ‘mission’, which was, predictably, run more like a penal settlement than a religious centre.