South Mission Beach

 19 - 22 October 2025

We left Cairns feeling very proud of our efforts to find some furniture for our new home, and hoping that we would be able to move in soon. We headed for Mission Beach where Mick would spend a couple of nights with friends Mick and Bill, while I would stay at a caravan park at South Mission Beach, but first we had to visit the turf farm at Edmonton once again. It's a good birding spot and Mick is always hopeful of getting something special.

We arrived at South Mission Beach and were set up in time for lunch. I am happy to camp on my own, but am not confident that I could set up the camper trailer, with the awning, on my own. We set up and had lunch together then headed in to Mission Beach so Mick could meet up with his mates and check in to their accommodation.

I enjoyed a couple of nights on my own - walking on the beach, swimming in the pool, and being visited by the local cassowary family. Dad and three chicks roamed the caravan park several times each day and showed a great interest in anything vaguely resembling food. This created quite a challenge for me - preparing, cooking and eating outside on my own - all the while keeping an eye out for the free-loaders.

It's not easy photographing
a cassowary that's on its way
 into your kitchen and dining area

Mick returned to have a night with me at South Mission Beach where he also enjoyed the close encounters with the cassowary family, and of course took lots of photos. While we were there we took part in the "Aussie Bird Count", starting our 20 minute survey once the cassowaries arrived. Although our list wasn't very long, we were pretty chuffed to be able to include 4 cassowaries.

We decided to return to Cairns and possibly do a birding reef trip so, when we left Mission Beach, we headed back to our favourite Cairns caravan park,, but first we had a bit of a detour to enable us to pick up Mick's new laptop.