Day 104 July 26 2012 - Mission Beach

Had a really good day today.  This morning I relaxed and read my book whilst Graham washed the back and front of the van and then cleaned the car.  We then went to South Mission Beach and got on the Water Taxi which took us on a tour of 3 islands - Dunk, Bedarra and Timana Islands.  Unfortunately we were not able to get off the boat at Dunk Island - after Cyclone Yasi it has been sold again and is now privately owned and the resort has never been re-opened and doesn't look like anyone has any intentions of opening it again.  We were able to get a couple of photographs of the resort and if you look closely you can see that the roof is missing on some of the buildings.  We then had a look at Timana Island and then we went to Bedara which was once an exclusive resort but  after the cyclone is not used as a resort, it is privately owned by eight people.  Our guide today thought that it might be re-opened on a much smaller scale than it used to be in the near future.  We then went ashore at Bedara and we had one and a half hours to soak up the sun, swim and have lunch.  What a beautiful place to sit and have lunch.  In all we were out at sea for about three hours and again it was good value for money, it cost $30 each and it was money well spent.  

There is evidence all around of Cyclone Yasi, it must have been a horrible experience for the people of Mission Beach and surrounds.  You can see how the trees have been damaged on the islands.  Apparenty Yasi was the worst cyclone in history worldwide with winds of up to 285 kms per hour, it was a third again more damaging that Cyclone Katrina.

Dunk Island - the old resort

Jetty at Dunk Island

Bedara

Thought this was an amazing rock formation out at sea

Lovely place for lunch

Bedara

Cyclone damaged trees

Below is something that I downloaded, these were the islands that we went around in the water taxi -

In 1770 Captain James Cook discovered The Family Group of Islands. The largest he named "The Father Isle" and titled it Dunk Island, the second largest he named "The Mother Isle", now Bedarra, and the smallest islands where the children, Timana Island the baby, the Twins and the triplets. Thorpe is privately owned with one residence. This is one of only several Australian islands which are owned Freehold .