Mission Beach - Far North QLD

Staying with the Galletta family for the weekend, we went to explore the markets at Missions Beach and on to the beach

Located half way between Cairns and Townsville, Mission Beach comprises of four beach villages, linked by 14km (9miles) of golden sand in an unspoilt, natural environment.

It's boutiques, galleries and restaurants are set against a rainforest backdrop and views across to Dunk Island, just 4km (2.5miles) off the coast.

Dunk Island rugged terrain is covered with a variety of vegetation.

It was nice to go for a walk on the beach

Garry flew a colourful kite

and we went for a paddle

All of this was thirsty work, so we headed to Bingil Beach

where I had a tasty Mango Beer

Lunch was at an idyllic spot called Castaways

with a beautiful view towards the beach

and a very tempting sit down!

After lunch, we went down to the beach to walk it off


before finding lots of starfish

where their fine legs around the outside

seemed to be good for burying themselves into the ground, so we had a competition!

It explains all the tracks down the beach

Then we found a ghost crab

which are responsible for all these tracks

some of them are like fireworks!

pretty impressive for such a little critter