Mission Beach is a small, hippy town stretched along 14 kilometres of beach. It’s a main stop on the backpacker route between Brisbane to Cairns, where tired backpackers relax on the beach while the more adventurous travelers sky-dive or river-raft the mad Tully River. I came to Mission Beach from Townsville after an incredible diving trip on the outer Great Barrier Reef. Still getting my land legs back, I checked into Scotty’s Beachhouse hostel to chill out for a few days.
I pushed through the open and airy saloon-style doors of the Nunnery, the suitably-named all-girls dorm, and picked a bunk by the door. Bella, who I met on the dive boat, dumped her backpack on the next bed. Full of spunk, Bella came to Mission Beach to white-water raft. I, on the other hand, just wanted to dig into a good book.
After an afternoon by the water, we headed to the hostel’s bar: really just a shoebox with a black-light, watered-down drinks and bad music. I managed to stay for an hour before heading back alone and crawling into bed. Using my sarong as a sheet, I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. Little did I know, my brief presence at the “bar” that night put a huge target on my back.
A few hours later, I got a strange feeling and opened my eyes. Bella was leaning over in her bed. She whispered to me for the second time: “Dude, someone just stole your clothes!” We both took a second to rub the sleep out of our eyes, and then Bella sprung into action and raced out the door.
I sat up and looked at my backpack, still sitting beside my bed. Thoroughly confused, I wracked my brain to find something that was missing. Before I could properly think, Bella popped her head back inside the door.
“C’mon, dude, someone just stole your clothes! Get up, let’s GO!”
I jumped out of bed, wearing only my underwear and a tank top. I hugged my sarong around my body and reluctantly followed Bella.
We sprinted back to the bar, huge Australian raindrops hitting our faces. Mud squished between our toes as we cut a path through the cane toads croaking on the grass. The bar was closing. Bella stopped and quickly scanned the crowd.
“I see him. Follow me,” she said. Bella was a small girl, but feisty and fearless. She ran up to an average-looking guy talking on his cell phone.
“Dude, where are my friend’s clothes? I saw you take them,” she demanded, oblivious to the fact that we were standing in the rain in our wet underwear in front of a bar. I, on the other hand, felt very uncomfortable – and very vulnerable. With my hair plastered to my face, I stood silently as he and Bella argued. Much to my surprise, he finally relented and apologized!
“Yeah, sorry - I took your clothes, but I stashed them in a bush so they’re safe. I’ll take you to them. Follow me.” He took off towards the dorm. We followed him, Bella holding on to the back of his T-shirt in a death grip to make sure he didn’t try to lose us in the dark. When he reached the back bushes, he pulled out my clothes, one by one.
I was shocked. He had snatched every piece of clothing I had right out of my backpack, which was less than a foot from my sleeping head - he had even snatched my underwear and bras. My underwear and bras. Feeling the full creepiness of the situation, I just wanted to get out of there. The rain was so loud we were shouting to hear each other - if something happened, we were in trouble. Bella, however, wasn't going to let him off so easy - she wanted to know why.
The guy, of course, had no real explanation but instead opened his wallet and pulled out a wad of cash.
“Here, take it,” he said, shoving $80 into my shaking hands and promising more if we let him go to the ATM machine back at the bar. All of a sudden, the situation became funny. Suppressing laughs, we gladly took his guilt-money and went back to the dorm, full of adrenalin and little bit richer.
The next morning, we reported the attempted burglary to the front desk – it turned out there had been a similar robbery every Friday night for the last several weeks; the only things that were ever taken were girl’s clothing, in a size 3-4.
Bella and I concluded the perp (can you tell I watch a lot of Law and Order?) singled me out at the bar, followed me back to the dorm and waited until I was asleep. Understandably, Bella and I decided to split the money and move on from Scotty’s. I never did found out what Bella bought with her share, but I found a great deal on a pink polka-dot bikini.
