Blog : Agnes water and 1770

So officially the longest coach journey i think ive ever done... 11 and a half hours i think it ended up being from Airlie Beach to Agnes water... Overnight. I slept for almost all of it but it was so uncomfortable to be all screwed up on one seat with my backpack at my feet and big headphones on... They're not the most comfortablist things to sleep in when leaning against the window!! I woke up with lines from the cable all over my face - sexy!! But we made it an arrived mid morning to Agnes water and yesss the hostel had a free minibus pick up service waiting. A pick up is literally a dream come true after a long journey on a severely airconned bus and then getting out into 30+ degrees in trousers and a jumper!!

We got to Beachside backpackers and checked in, there was a bit of a problem with our rooms so for one of three we had to sleep in a different dorm to what we booked but it didnt matter. We spent most of the first day moving very slowly as we were all knackered from a fast paced life in Airlie and also the bus journey. We also managed to do two loads of laundry each which is an utter treat as everything either constantly smells in billy the backpack or is covered in sand... Neither great! We even tested ourselves to some proper washing detergent rather than just shoving the clothes in and hoping someone had left some residue in from the last wash! Yes disgusting i know!

KV and i also took a little walk to the supermarket and the beach and to explore the little town, which consisted of about eight shops, a takeaway and a cute beach, so not really that much going on! Not even a bar!! It reminded me of mission beach quite a lot and i was looking forward to a chill couple of days :)

I made the most amazing dinner on the first night, Cous Cous (which reminded me of uni, straight from the packet!!) with fried onions and pepper, salad and sweet chilli sauce... So yummy! The kitchen is split in two at the hostel, with all of the utensils and water/bin etc inside but big hot plates and hob outside which was cool, i fried my veggies on the big hot plate bbq thing outside which was very novel! I was even organised and popped the second half of my cooking into a Tupperware for lunch the following day, the glam life of a backpacker!

On Tuesday we decided to get up relatively early and go to the surf shop and have a lesson that morning, which was so fun! Whisky we were waiting i sat and French braided all of the girls hair so we all looked like twins from primary school! But it worked, none of us had hair in our faces when we were in the water, although i experienced quite a few technical problems with my bikini, after about thirty seconds my top was round my waist and i gave up pulling it back to position as i was wearing a rash vest but the best was the big ol' wedgie i had for the whole three hour surf lesson! There was 40+ people in the class but i suspect my white bum hanging out and no bikini too might have been the reason the instructors spent quite a lot of time helping me to stand up on the board, so it all worked in my favour! I found surfing a bit frustrating as we saw all the cool dudes and locals making it look so easy in the deep water but i couldnt even get out 10m or so without a wave crashing over me and the board smacking me round the face...seriously i am black and blue all over now! And then if i managed to actually catch a wave, i was either to slow "popping" which is the big where you jump up onto the board so the wave had already run its course and id fall off in 2cm of water which is always fun, not! Or id be far to keen and almost jump off the other side if the board and then do some cringe girlie scream and everyone would think id seen a shark or something! It was nice at least that there were no jelly fishes in this part of the easy coast so we don't have to wear those stupid stinger suits, although they might have held everything in place for me!! I did manage to stand up a couple of times, which made all of the falls and tumbles and serious amount of salt water swallowed all worth it because it was an immense feeling!! And so keen to do it again, we discussed renting out boards the following day to give it another go!

When we came out of the water, Krista had arrived from Airlie beach, shed been in the same overnight bus as us, the following evening and was feeling a little lethargic as we had been so we went via the supermarket home and got some nice bits for lunch, i treated myself to a lolly and a whole bag of Doritos, which i polished off before wed walked the ten minutes back to the hostel! Oops!

In our surf lesson both Steffen and Luciano from the Samuari boat were there too so we all arranged to meet up later down by the beach for a bit of a bbq (even though we'd all already just brought dinner! We took down pasta in tupperwares instead!) When we got to the meeting place later that evening it was absolutely pitch black and impossible to tell who was who sat at all the different benches near the bbq area so we had to just go right up to each table and state at people, thank god the first i e we went to was them! Theyd made friends with a couple of other Europeans who were camping in their car in the car park! So we all sat round a couple of head torches and enjoyed some goon and pesto pasta. I got into a pretty intense chat with another Italian bloke about politics and changing the world through revolution and blimey i held my own for all of about ten minutes before i had to confess i had absolute it no idea about politics and had been winging my way through the convo without understanding a word of what he was saying in his broken english!! I thought that night signal the end of the convo and we could go back to the classic "so where else have you travelled" small talk until i could butt into someone else's more interesting convo but oh no, he took it upon himself to try and educate me on the values of such and such a party and why blah blah view means poverty and depression and recession and oppression and other stuff (more big long words!) it was so cringe and the girls were falling all over the place laughing!

We were abruptly stopped though by the beach night warden who absolutely terrified us by just appearing out of the dark and asking us what we thought we were doing there? He was actually really nice, especially as we were a) there way later than the curfew and b) drinking in a public place which carries a pretty hefty fine in Oz! He said "ive not seen you here, but you better be gone by my next round in an hour or so!" We started packing up our stuff and then this really young looking girl, maybe 15 or so came wandering over to us askig if wed seen her friends and although we hadnt we said she should wait for them with us in the light because wed all been telling horror stories and were very jumpy in the dark and thinking the worst... The crazy girl just wandered down to the dark beach on her own instead though! If that had been me i would be clinging to kind people that said i could stand in their light, but oh well!

Just as we were ready to leave, Geoff from Samuari arrived with two of his Swedish friends to where were siting too, theyd driven down the coast in their 4x4 after lots of break downs and stuff and said they'd give us a lift back to the hostel as we said there were spare beds and free breakfast! I was playing on my phone on the ride back and stupid me left my beach bag in their car with my camera, beach scarf, book, purse, sunglasses, ipod, pretty much everything inside :( I realised the next morning and was s***ting it when i couldnt find it... The boys car had been such a mess and wed had to squeeze millions of us into the back and id just slung it in the back as obviously just brought someone else's bag out of the car without really thinking (yes mum i know, stupid! And no i wont do it again!) but Al phoned them as she had Geoffs number and he said yes they did have it but had already set off early to their next destination... Thank god it was the same place we were going the following day, Hervey bay and i could get it back!!

In the afternoon we walked over to the surf shop and we decided to rent one board between three of us for a couple of hours so we could have another go at surfing, although i was really tierd from a late night and god muscles i didnt even know i had were aching! My boobs were especially sore as well from being flattened and jiggled about the previous morning! Krista and i went swimming whilst Vidal have surfing another go, she was really good bless her and so determined to stand up again, even though the current was super strong and dragged you right up the other end of the beach and the waves were so strong and crashing right on our heads whilst we were swimming! It was a workout just walking into the water against the current and trying to say still when the waves came tumbling down over us! Al gave surfing a second quick go to but after the swim i felt quite fragile and thought if give it a miss because i was really terrified of the strength of the current, yes im a baby i know! But i was satisfied with just having my piccy taken with the board! And pretending to look like a surfer chick!

It was our last evening so we decided to go on the historic tour of town 1770, which cost $17.70. I was a bit hesitant at first as it felt like quite a lot of money to spend on just seeing a sunset but as were on the easy coast weve not yet seen one! Anyway the girls and Krista were both game so off we went and it was the guy that had run the surf lessons that also ran the tour - small world! - he drove us around the outskirts f Agnes water and we got to see kangaroos and wallabys which was cool and explained to us about how their different and we saw the cutest little joey in its mummy's pouch! So sweet! He also took us to the historic town of 1770, which is separate to Agnes water and the second landing place for captain cook, who discovered Australia. We took a little bush walk up to a view point and there was the most amazing views and we could see for miles and right into the big creek that 1770 and Agnes water are built around. It was really interesting and he told us lots about the aboriginals that lived in the times that cook was about and how all of the POMs were shipped to sydney, instead of 1770 (which is the year when cook landed there - we had a right old history lesson!) We then went down to the beach and a cute bar/cafe call the the tree house and we got a free beer, cider or coffee, obviously the second i saw they had soy milk i was all over a latte (yummy! Eat your heart out starbucks!) and the girls had real cider which was really tasty, bubbly and not to sweet and we all sat on the rocks and chatted to the other people on the tour - a couple of Germans and two grannies who were brilliant! - whilst the sun went down which was so lovely. The sky was all pink and there was a really nice warm breeze and it felt so romantic and relaxed and we all got back onto the bus sighing and saying we wished we never had to go back to the hustle and bustle of real life! It lightened all of our moods!! Even more so though was when the tour bloke said that just up the road from us was an Italian buffet for $15 - hello!!!

So we dashed home and threw a quick face on (you never know, photo time!) and literally ran up the hill to where he had pointed... Youd have thought none of us had eaten for days! And when we got their and the lady serving said it was one plate only rather than all you can eat we piled our plates so high that they spilled all over the table! We all ate in complete silence apart from when a couple of men near us commented on quite how much food - pasta, salads, breads - we had between us and then a few minutes later at how shocked they were that wed demolished the whole lot!! We were all in a massive food coma afterwards and literally couldnt move. I felt like id have to roll down the hill home! I kinda crave something sweet for afters though so we walked home past a couple of cafes and it was only 830pm but absolutely everywhere was closed!! And it was pitch black so we all huddled together round Al's wind up torch! Its such a weird concept to us that stuff closes so early and there is no one around... I definitely prefer london for that part of life!

We were up early the next morning, Krista even earlier, to get greyhounds south and we all said wed see her again in either noosa or Byron bay for xmas which will be nice... Our little group is growing!! We packed everything up and made a quick bit of lunch for the road, the Tupperware that we brought at the start of Oz were seriously the best but ever! And we have accrued quite a cutlery set as well, nicking knives and girls from hostels, salt/pepper /sugar from restaurants and toilet rolls from where ever we can, to use as plates/napkins everything!! Such pikeys!

Next stop Hervey Bay then and Frazer island!! Lots of love and miss everyone x x x