Mission Beach

The trip to Mission Beach was pretty bleak.  Bleak because it was raining and bleak from the destruction of Yasi.  It is evident EVERYWHERE. We drove through Cardwell which is a tiny town right on the edge of the ocean.  The main highway snakes along the waters edge with a narrow beach and what's left of the palm trees on one side and buildings on the other including a school, a few shops and some houses.  Most had sustained some form of damage and 80% of the trees have been affected.  We didn't go into Tully as you pretty much bypass it and we will go across tomorrow.  The Mission Beach area is spread out with a 15 minute drive between north and south mission beach, with little beaches in between. We booked into the Big 4 at South Mission Beach and the park was smashed.  They have photos in the reception and they are gob smacking.  Total carnage.  Its right on the beach and took the full force of the storm.  It overlooks Dunk Island and the Bedarra Family Islands which are closed indefinitely.  Apparently they both have been decimated.  Bedarra had an exclusive resort for over 15 year olds only.  Fancy and expensive.  Dunk was a little more affordable and catered to all ages.  I hear the owner doesn't have the cash to fix them and they are up for sale, although this could be a tall tale for all I know.  The houses along the waterfront at South Mission are again pretty affected and the gorgeous Elandra Resort is open but still repairing rooms.  We had a little visit and fantasized about staying.  Just gorgeous, too bad we had the kids. They we so badly behaved I wished I was back at Wallaman Falls. Over to Mission Beach and it was pretty uneventful.  The town is only just getting back on its feet and apparently the caravan park reopened only three weeks ago. Needless to say, it was packed to capacity and is a beautiful park at that.  We ate dinner at a pizza shop that only opened on Wednesday.  The choices of eateries were limited with a tavern (more like a cafe), the pizza joint and one other seafood restaurant in the main drag open for business.  The kids were out of control, so we decided to quite while we were still sane and left the tavern for drinks tomorrow.

Photos of Yasi effects tomorrow.