I'm leaving today - Mission Beach / 03.11.2018

This morning, after we packed our bags and headed to the Railway Central Station in Cairns, we finally arrived at the Premierbus bus stop, drenched and disoriented after getting caught in a little rain shower. It was strange to leave Cairns after these last few days, and it almost hurt a bit because it had really grown on me, with all its details, the feeling of welcome, and the fact that you could just chat with someone on every street corner. Not to mention that we had met some really great friends here, who we might never see again - but maybe we will, you never know. In any case, we promised to stay in touch.

There were only a few people on the bus, so we were able to spread out on the ride to Mission Beach, where we would spend the next night before continuing south. It rained a lot during the two hour journey, but as we were almost there, the rain cleared up a bit and we were able to watch a beautiful rainbow over the nearby fields. That was actually the first time I had seen a complete rainbow, with a beginning and an end. But there was still no pot of gold in sight.

Arriving in Mission Beach, feeling like we were in the middle of nowhere, Linni in particular felt quite exposed, especially because we were the only ones here, along with a few others. However, we found our new hostel with no problem and even ran into two of our previous roommates, Maresa and Tim. Our route down the east coast was surprisingly predictable.

Next, we looked for a Woolworths to do our daily grocery shopping. This time, we bought a bit more because we were told that there would be overpriced food on Magnetic Island - our next stop tomorrow - and it would be advisable to stock up on food beforehand to survive there.

Afterwards, we wanted to go to the beach and reached it after a 5-minute walk along the road. However, it started raining again and we had to seek shelter in the forest between the beach and the road to avoid getting too wet. I was impressed by how quickly the weather changed here, but in general, you could feel that the beginning of the rainy season was in the air.

Then we sat on the white, long, almost deserted strip of sand, with two big watermelon slices in hand, with a few restless waves ending just a few meters away in the sea. And suddenly, I felt so happy to be experiencing this. In the past few hours and days, I finally understood what this free backpacker feeling was and why so many people strive for it and want to experience it.

You could just sit here in the sun, feel the wind in your hair, the sticky saltwater and the melon on your skin, and notice how your soul was being cleansed and all negativity disappeared. I really enjoyed being so free.

The water was also really warm, but we didn't dare to go further than our ankles because we were mainly afraid of jellyfish, as there was hardly anyone around who could help us in an emergency. That surprised me a lot in general because you always hear that the east coast is completely overcrowded, but here we were completely alone on a stretch of beach within a hundred meters.

Later at the hostel, we carefully planned the next stops by bus and also decided to rent two scooters on Magnetic Island to explore the island on our own. I'm really looking forward to that.

Song of the day: "Keep Your Head Up" by Ben Howard, because the lyrics are just so beautiful and have an even more beautiful meaning, especially here somehow.