Fridays at Three Wongaling Beach Cottage

This contemporary architect designed beach house is just across the road from the beach. Take a two-minute stroll to get uninterrupted views of Dunk Island and feel the sand under your feet.

Fully air conditioned with stylish furniture and quality appliances, you will appreciate how much you can save by being next to the beach but not absolutely on it.

Perfect holiday beach house for a couple, a couple of couples or family with children. It is fully air conditioned with separate controls in each bedroom and the living area. Quality kitchen and laundry appliances including a dishwasher and clothes dryer and it should have everything you need.

Free fast WiFi. Bluetooth enabled sound bar so you can stream your music from your phone or tablet. Flat screen TV with blue ray player that also lets you connect your hard drive to play your own movies or the range of DVD's provided.

There is a book selection and board games as well for you to enjoy.

On the patio is a Weber Q barbecue for your outdoor cooking needs.

Most of all, relax and enjoy. You are in a tropical Paradise!

The Neighbourhood:

Mission Beach is one of only two places in Australia that offers both World Heritage listed rainforest and Great Barrier Reef in the one area. With little commercial development and just a small permanent population scattered over 23 km’s of rainforest-fringed beaches, Mission Beach is a paradise waiting to be discovered.

A Brief History:

First settled in the late 19th Century by timber cutters, Mission Beach was home, for at least 5,000 years previously, to the Djiru Aboriginal tribe. “Bingil” Bay, the second most northern village of the five settlements known collectively as Mission Beach, is a phonetic spelling of the Aboriginal word meaning “shady and sheltered spot”.

After the timber cutters came the farmers, who introduced coffee, tea, bamboo, and mango plantations to the area. The remnants can still be seen today. The difficulty in shipping produce to markets, combined with a devastating cyclone in 1918, led to a general demise in farming until a road to the area was built in 1936.

The fate of the indigenous Aboriginal inhabitants was similarly afflicted. Initially they were used as a cheap labour source by the white farmers but as they later came to prefer working for Chinese employers, who would often pay in opium, they came to be resented by the white settlers. This led to the establishment of the Hull River Mission in 1914 (from where Mission Beach derives its name) which was destroyed by the 1918 cyclone. Those Aborigines who survived and who could be found were shipped off to Palm Island, near Townsville, ending a long association with the area. A history sadly not uncommon with other indigenous peoples of the world.

The Villages of Mission Beach:

Bingil Bay
Bingil Bay is the most densely forested town of the area. Here lives the smallest part of the Mission Beach community. The Clump Mountain National Park, Bicton Hill Walking Trail also begins here and emerges at the top of the hill to spectacular views of the coast.

Mission Beach
Mission Beach remains a stunningly beautiful place and has escaped the recent commercial development of other areas along the coast. Here you will find the heart of the area, a town which has retained its local charm and hospitality, with a wide range of cafes and restaurants offering take away, café style or a-la-carte dining. Gift shops, internet café, a small supermarket and a post office are all just a short walk from the long stretch of Mission Beach.

Wongaling Beach
The shopping centre here is the home to a few more coffee shops and cafes and is also the location of the area’s first major supermarket and petrol station. The coach station for Greyhound and Premier, is also at the shopping centre in Wongaling Beach, otherwise known as Mission Beach Central.

South Mission
At the most southern township, you will find the end of the Beach Bus service and also the start of the stunning Kennedy Walking Trail, which explores beach and forest until the sandy stretch of paradise is finally interrupted by the Hull River. South Mission Beach is the closest land point to Dunk Island.

Blessed with an abundance of nature, there is much to see and do in Mission Beach. The closest mainland point to the Great Barrier Reef means that travel times are shorter and with only two reef boats, your experience of this amazing natural wonder is shared by only a select few. Just offshore are many deserted islands to sail or sea-kayak to and explore, most of which are protected National Parks.

For the more adventurous, there is some of the best white water rafting in Australia nearby, as well as the opportunity to parachute over and land on one of the most scenic coastlines in the world. The rainforests surrounding Mission Beach offer a wealth of sights and sounds to the walker with a diverse range of habitats and eco-systems to explore.

Getting Around:

As there is no public transport in Mission Beach apart from a taxi, it is strongly advised that you have your own transport. It is possible to arrive by either Greyhound or Premier coaches and then catch the local taxi to Fridays at Three.

Other Things to Note:

Car-parking is available underneath the house but for small or medium size cars only. If you have a full size car, large SUV or 4WD then park it on the street in front of the cottage (I have a Nissan X-Trail - this fits underneath). If you have a boat, there is plenty of room to park this and your vehicle on the street in front.