I arrived in 1770/Agnes Water last Tuesday at around 6pm. I had suffered some travel sickness on the journey to my destination and despite attempting to sleep to try to ward off the threat of nausea was unable to get any shut eye. And so I stumbled off the coach in somewhat of a daze to collect my bag and take the minibus to my hostel and who should call my name to attract my attention, but Leanne the girl I had made friends with in Hervey Bay and Fraser Island. She had used the service of her hostel minibus to head in to the town and was waiting for the return leg along with a few new additions. Since there in no phone reception for Vodafone users in the town, and since we had previously discussed calling each other to meet up once we had both arrived, it was a blessing that we should run in to each other like this so that we could make plans to meet the following day in the old-fashioned style of agreeing a time and place through conversation! I checked in to 1770 beachside backpackers (a really nice, clean hostel with excellent and friendly staff), mosied along to my room and met my new roommates for the next two nights, and then myself and three Canadian guys set about finding some food. The only option available at this time, since the only supermarket in this somewhat-of-a-ghost-town closed at 7pm, was a restaurant about 200m from the hostel. We took a walk along the unlit, winding road and I was grateful for the company as I am not sure I would have taken the road alone. The restaurant was putting on a backpacker table tennis tournament and so we ordered pizza and drinks, and the guys entered the competition, whilst I opted to merely spectate. With a second place bottle of wine in one of the Canadian's hands, we headed back 'home' to call it a night.

The following morning, with a noticeable breeze but a strong sun I headed for the beach. I lay in the warmth and read my book until it was time to meet Leanne. We strolled around the town catching up on the 20 or so hours that had separated us and then sat once more on the beach. That evening Leanne and her Dutch roommate Bob came over to my hostel, along with most other backpackers in the town for a free BBQ, games and drinks. Apparently Wednesday night is the only night anything happens in this town, but even then it was a little disappointing, and despite the deceit of the day's weather I think it was almost certainly the wrong time of year to visit this desolately quiet little place.

To fill the next day before I boarded the Greyhound for Airlie Beach, Leanne and I took a 5k walk in to 1770 itself and since it presented absolutely nothing whatsoever to see (other than perhaps a snake we spotted en route - my first live one yet in Australia) and then we were caught in a downpour I think we both wished we hadn't. We returned to Agnes Water for a spot of lunch at an ingeniously named little café - The Nosh Pit - before retiring to our respective hostels, where I spent my afternoon passing time and sheltering the rain by watching films. I was shuttled to the Greyhound pick-up point ready for my 9pm bus and bumped in to Bob as well as three guys I met on Fraser Island. The carpark was filling up with fellow travellers and my hopes of a double seat and an uninterrupted sleep quickly vanished. The journey to Airlie Beach, whom I shared with Bob alongside me, was definitely the longest so far!