Surfers Paradise to 1770, Agnes Waters

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Bit of a rush in the end leaving Kincumber, but made it with 3 minutes to catch our breath, before getting on board the first proper train in Australia. Now we have done planes, trains and automobiles. The 1 1/2 train trip to Newcastle went really fast and before we knew it we we're getting of the train and putting our bags in the cloakroom. 5 hours needed to be killed in Newcastle while we we're waiting for the bus and we found ourselves learning all about the convict history, grabbing some food and having a few drinks by the harbour before getting our bags and catching the night bus to Surfers Paradise (12 hours on the Greyhound JOY!)

We got the later bus and so missed the film but we're lucky to get two seats to ourselves so manage to get a pretty decent sleep when we managed to get to sleep but we both kept waking up all the time so didn't have a full on sleep.

Got in to Surfers Paradise about 9am and with 3 hours to kill before we could check in to our hostel we headed to the beach, the sun was out and for the first time in a while we we're able to spend a full day chillin on the beach. Was 25C and its winter here MENTAL.

Got in to our room, had a shower and headed out to see what Surfers had to offer. We were lucky to be there over a festival so got to see random street performers and night markets. Decided that we needed to stay another day and have another day on the beach. Unfortunately the hostel we were in was fully booked so we checked out at 10 and booked in to a different one. Same issue couldn't check in till 12 so bags in storage headed back to beach after shopping at the shop to get some breakfast.

Was the last day of the festival so checked out some graffiti, market stalls, wrote on the "before I die......" board and listened to some Australian bands before meeting up with Amanda & her sister Vera (James friends) and going out for some Japanese food ummmmmmm.

Bus booked for 1770/Agnes Waters for 9am (our first day bus) and after a chat and a few drinks with our neighbours headed to bed.

Got on the bus in daylight - which was very different and after a quick stop in Brisbane getting addicted to an Australian game show 60 seconds (bit like the cube) we got on the Cairns bus up to 1770. Got in about 9.30pm and was nice to be able to see out of the windows in between naps rather than looking at darkness. Actually made the journey seems shorter.

Got collected from the bus stop by our hostel "Cool Banana's" dumped our bags and got a drink and instantly settled in to laid back vibe of 1770. The hostel has pretty much everything you need to relax, hammocks, camp fires, loads of comfy sofa's, bean bags and cushions, cheap(ish) drinks and BYO rule.

After a decent sleep, went for a mooch round Agnes Water and decided to go on a guided electric bike tour! Had loads of fun, spent most of the time laughing - have to get one of them when we get home.

The guys on the tour told us loads about the local plants and how the local aboriginal tribe used then for food, tool making and medicine. We even got to try out some berries and used the leaves off the soap tree to clean our hands. After watching the sunset we got our faces painted with clay by the tour guide and went downhill most of the way back to the bike shop!

The next day we had normal pedal bikes which we we're really excited about! (well me anyway). Sadly my bike riding dream was not to be, the bike i had was too big for me the handles were too far away from the seat and could just about grip them with my fingers arms at full stretch looking like I was on a Harley Davidson. Had to sit really far forward on the seat which meant it spent most of the time up my bum which was not comfortable I can tell you and am suffering with it today - feels like i've been punched in the arse.

Ended up locking them up in a carpark and made our way on foot to Workmans Beach which was really secluded, we had the entire beach to ourselves so managed to top up on our all over tan!

Was awesome to fall asleep to the sound of the waves crashing ashore (which has to be one of the best sounds on the planet), the sun keeping me warm and the sand cushioning me. BLISSED OUT!

Headed back about 4 hours later to hand in the devil bike and grabbed some beer from the bottle-o and headed to the beach to see the sunless sunset!

Back to the hostel for some food a few drinks round the fire and off to bed!

1770 and Agnes Water is amazing, really sleepy and relaxed you feel comfortable almost instantly, is nice to have a bit of calm after the last few months.

Not sure what our plans are yet, it all depends on the Great Barrier Reef tours, can do then southern Barrier Reef from here and might be able to work in exchange for it or might head up to Cairns and do it from there!!! Decision Decision, but for now we will just chill out and see what happens, if we stay another night we stay another night or we'll be on the night bus at 9pm.

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