Day 29: To Mission Beach

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The weather today couldn’t be more different than what it was yesterday: it is grey, fully overcast with low hanging clouds and it drizzles continuously. The temperature dropped way down as well, and it now does not get over 18 degrees. With a day of sightseeing in high roads, this does not bode well.

As we only very briefly saw the Platypus we got up early for a rematch, and went back to the location of our first sighting. And, lo and behold, there it was again. This time we followed it quite a large portion of the creek until the rain started to get the better of us and we went back to have our breakfast at the B&B. The Platypus was really photogenic this time, and we have had a lot of fun watching it munching on the food it found under water.

This B&B is the very first one where we have to make our own breakfast, but after that was done we embarked on a journey further down South. This would take us along highway #1 via high roads and lots of waterfalls (Millaa Millaa, Zillie and Ellinjaa to name a few) down to the coast, specifically a town called Mission Beach. This town so happens to be smack dab in the middle of Cassowary country, so we have good faith in seeing one even though they are becoming more and more rare.

All documentation we have found suggests that seeing a Southern Cassowary means you can consider yourself very lucky. I guess we are then, as we spotted a big one just next to the road only a few hundred metres away from the town Mission Beach. What a majestic animal! It has bright blue and red on its neck and head, and on top of its head there is a very large boney crest. It is very much like an Ostrich, but with its war colours on. 🙂 Wow!

The weather has cleared up quite a bit since we have been here, and it even warmed up to about 28 degrees in the afternoon. We hope it stays this way for some time! We will be in a tow next to Mission beach tomorrow, Wongaling Beach as our Resort is located over here. We have nothing planned, so relaxation will be our main occupancy I guess.