Travelling Worm

This is the blog of Mark Wordsworm, the travelling worm. I’m a 36-year-old bookmark (give or take a few years) and I proudly boast my own Hallmark serial number, 95 HBM 80-1. You’ll probably want to read all about me and my Travelling Companion (the TC).

Today’s travel notes

Last weekend, the TC and I were in Tropical North Queensland. It was our first trip in more than a year, due to a global pandemic that’s currently holding sway over the world. We spent the bulk of our time in Townsville, but on Saturday we ventured north to a little place called Mission Beach.

This worm was impressed by the sheer chutzpah of Mission Beach. A small place on the large continent of Australia, Mission Beach might not shout out to travellers as a highly visible place on the map, except for one consideration: Mission Beach is home to the closest thing we have to a living dinosaur: Casuarius casuarius johnsonii.

The book I’m in

ashley bell by Dean Koontz. This book is right up my street. A good story with a touch of the supernatural that’s keeping me guessing.

Travel tips

Choose the dry season (May to October) to visit Tropical North Queensland. When we hit the area, the weather was ideal. The days were warm to hot, at around 28℃ maximum. The air cooled down nicely in the late afternoon, and early mornings were a pleasure.

The photos

Me and one of the many warning signs that Cassowaries roam these climes:

Weighing in at around 60 kilograms, a Cassowary is a bird not to be taken lightly. It has a strong, pointy beak at the top end and a long, sharp claw at the bottom end. It runs at around 50 kilometres per hour, and swims certainly better than this worm can. Imagine my despair then, dear reader, when the TC announced that we were to go in search of this very behemoth.

And lo, we found one!

One thing to the bird’s disadvantage is that it can’t fly. At worst, if attacked, I could entrust myself to the vagaries of a passing breeze and hope to escape in its tender embrace. The TC has posted pics and videos of this bird on her blog, aptly titled, In search of a dinosaur uh Cassowary. Drop by there if you’d like to see more.

This worm says, let’s move on to more about the town of Mission Beach! After all, this blog is about me. Oh, and about places and travel and things to see. But primarily about me.

Me on the eponymous Mission Beach:

In the above picture, the camera view looks northwards from the middle of Mission Beach towards Clump Point Lookout.

Other worms have found a home here too, it seems:

Tiny crabs leave patterns of sand balls, dug up to create their homes:

This view of the beach looks south towards the stinger net in the distance:

The stinger net carves out a section of the sand and sea, keeping it relatively safe for human swimmers during marine stinger season. Marine stingers are jellyfish that can cause serious pain and even death for people. This worm advises to steer clear of stingers. And of Cassowaries.

Dunk Island looms enticingly in the distance:

Here’s the main drag of Mission Beach town, just a short crawl from the beach, where you can grab a tasty meal and browse other wares:

That’s all for today, folks.