Cassawong Cottages

The next lodging stop after Magnetic Island came on Mission Beach. Before we left Oklahoma Wade booked four nights at Cassawong Cottages. It is a fantastic little place with indoor and outdoor cooking facilities, a large bathroom, a living area AND a washer & dryer. HOOOOOOORAY! Our first laundry stop of the tour. All three of us showered and happily put on clean clothes before dinner that night. Meals on Mission Beach were fantastic. We hit the local Woolworth’s just after checking in, and Wade cooked the following meals during our stay: spaghetti and meatballs, calamari, steak, and chicken quesadillas. We also had some yummy sandwiches as a sandwich press was discovered under the cabinets. Even breakfasts were lavish as Emma’s dad loves cooking pancakes, and one morning he even cooked us fried eggs and ham. I’m getting hungry reminiscing about all those great meals.

Now after reading the above, one might think all we did on Mission Beach was eat, but we did oh so much more. Cassawong came with a mascot, Archie. He was a fabulous dog who made the rounds of the cottages morning and night. He’d show up at our door with a tennis ball in his mouth, and Emma would run outside and they’d play for a good while. In fact, our Woolworth’s stop included a purchase of meat strips . . . TWICE! When someone from the cottage headed to the beach, Archie followed. He loved Emma., even ran out into the sea when he thought we were letting her play too far from shore. We did spend a good bit of time at the beach as it was just across the street from our cottage, but we also went on a rainforest walk, walked through a banana plantation, played a couple of games of Monopoly (and then vowed not to play at home as this game does not bring out the best in a couple of highly competitive members of our family), flew a kite, watched a few movies, read and just enjoyed each other’s company. This was definitely one of the more relaxing parts of our journey thus far, and we were all sad to leave.

Emma’s part: I loved the rainforest walks there were so many geckos. Archie is A good dog he loves me he loves the beach and fetch . We watched Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets.

Mom again: Cassawong gets its name from the word Cassowary, a large black bird with a blue crest and a red waddle found in the region. A poisonous spike is found on its foot. Driving into the Mission Beach area we kept seeing warning signs but no birds. The same happened on our exit. It was really getting frustrating. “The Cassowary’s closest living relative is the snipe”, Wade quipped. As we were leaving the area we saw a few cars pulled over and pulled over as well. BINGO! We finally saw a Cassowary in the wild.

Be sure to note the new grin Emma's sportin' in the pic of her with the banana flowers.