After the Whitsunday Islands we had to hit the road hard... we had still some km to cover until Cairns, where we would return the van. We decided though to make a stop in Mission Beach which is famous for its tropical forest that reach right into the town. When we arrived there, the town seemed to be dead. We had difficulties finding a coffee place!!!!!
Eventually we found one and the guy working there explained that the floods had damaged most of the restaurants and shops around and they were still fighting with the insurance company. Therefore most of all business were still closed. What a pity .... and slightly boring for us! We wanted to have another BBQ at the beach, as we had already bought a lot of meat. So we were in need of a public BBQ place, which are usually abundant in Australia on the beach... but also all the BBQ places were destroyed by the floods and had not been rebuilt again!!! SUCKS.... so eventually we checked into a campsite, to be able to cook and also take a shower! LUXURY!! Nice nice!
The next day we started visiting the forest and the waterfalls around. After all the waterfalls that I have seen so far on this trip, they are not sooo spectecular anymore but.. they were still nice. Uhh I forgot to mention the incredible beaches in Mission Beach. Empty beaches... for miles... palm trees... white sand and again no people. It would be paradise if you could acutally swim in the sea, but as it is still jelly fish season, you can t. It is such a pity, these Australians have just marvollous beaches but they can only swim in the sea during winter. Jelly fish are not like in Europe, they hurt but its nothing serious, here a „mate“ told us, that recently 2 kids died from jelly fish. They are really nasty bastards here and you really don t wanna get in touch with them. You will even find all along every beach vinegar, to be able to offer first aid, just in case.
After 3 different waterfalls, we decided to sleep somewhere a little bit before Cairns. Fabian and me were defensively not willing to pay a cent for the last night, our German friends though were slightly worried. Anyway we just drove into a field were we wanted to stay overnight. Just in the middle of the field there turned out to be the farmers house, but maybe he would let us stay there anyway. So I went to his house to ask, but I could not really find the main door and I am definitely not entering his house via the terrace. Fabian was following me but suddenly the farmer let his dog out for a piss and the dog spotted us immediatly. Slowly (I as though terrible scared) Fabian and me went backwards to the van. Okay no luck so far.
Okay maybe the field was not the best idea. Therefore we went into Cairns were we first had dinner at the beach next to the Lagoon. Scrambled eggs with ham (we had to finish all our remaining food from the van). Afterwards we started again the search for a place to sleep and we found a perfect place. Just in the middle of the city but hidden between two trees. This night it was very humid and hot, so the inside of the van felt like a sauna. Tonight is was Tim's turn to sleep at the front seat but he could not really manage so eventually he went outside to sleep on a bench :-)
The next morning we enjoyed our last breakfast outside of the van. It was a lovely but quite intensive time in the van. If 4 people spend all their time very close together... it takes a lot of effort not to get too much on each others nerves. For those circumstances, we managed I guess quite well. We checked in into one of the hostels along the beach and the boys returned the van.
Kisses from Cairns
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