Friday 1st October

The journey to Agnes Waters & Town of 1770 from Airlie Beach took 10hours. Not the best way to travel but did get some sleep.

The countryside has changed, we still have the mountains of the Great Dividing Range to our right as we travel down the coast but the trees now have more leaves and less fonds. There are more fields of grass - more like hay - upon which graze an increasing number of cows and horses. There are also more trees in the fields, presumably to shade the animals. The small town of Agnes Waters would have trouble getting village status in England and appears to be totally reliant on tourism. A surf shop has more boards than St Ives and that was in the afternoon when presumably most of the hiring had been done. There are several cafes, 2 'supermarkets' and alternative lifestyle shop selling incense, beads and clothes from Thailand. There's a notice saying "hippies use backdoor". So far by comparison with the UK, everyone in Oz is a hippy. Steve is sometimes the smartest dressed person in town. Now you may find that difficult to believe but he owns and has worn long trousers, which is more than anyone else here does, even at the state opening of parliament. Apparently the only time you have to wear long trousers is if you're working in the nuclear power station and you have to go in and dust spiders off the reactor core.

We're in JAPAN chalet and although its sunny there's a cool breeze. We watched the surfers on the long sandy beach. After the long journey we were both very tired, so just a meal and an early night.