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Greetings from Agnes Waters or do I say 1770? Exactly... slightly confusing, however after speaking with the locals and learning of some of the territorial debates over land, we can confirm that our hostel called "Cool Banannas 1770" is in fact technically located in Agnes Waters, which is about 6km from 1770.
Myself, Brenda and Lindsay arrived at our hostel around 6pm on Monday evening and quickly warmed to the extremely laid back mentality/atmosphere of the hostel. For example, we were given one key for an eight person room and told not to worry because the doors are never locked anyway. There were also these really funky bananna hammocks adorning the outside of each room and a really sweet dining area ladden with oriental paper latterns, gaslamps, shrubbery and a fire pit. Shortly after attacking our dinner we were introduced to the "Clay King" aka Scotty, who offered to give us a free clay/mud facial. As it was late in the day and we had some remnants of make up on our faces we decided to believe how great the clay was and declined his offer for a free facial. We did however let him test a bit on
our hands, and to our surprise the various ingredients actually smelled pretty good, and felt refreshing on the skin. So we let him continue talking, turns out he was running a wilderness tour the next day which included a walk through the bush, a full body clay treatment along the beach, swimming, conspiracy theories galore, local history, personal history and snacks all for only $10. We decided it would be good for a bit of a laugh, so we agreed to go the next morning. Initially we were slightly troubled by the fact that we were the only people on his tour, but we soon warmed to him after realising he was as mad as we are..ha.. He shared several conspiracy theories re: the government and pharmaceutical companies, and took us through the bush pointing out wild animals, spiders and various trees. The real fun however began down on the beach. One by one, like turkeys ready for a basting we were lathered with the clay, which was applied using a thick paint brush. The heat from the sun quickly dried the clay and I can safely say that we looked like three mummies gone wrong! ha. We then all
ran into the ocean to rinse off the clay, and then ventured around some of the rocks and various formations down at the beach. Then we continued back inland along the bush (which ps.- absolutely killed my feet, gashes alll over the poor things!) to the next beach. All in all it was an entertaining four hours and my skin is just glowing post-clay treatment..ha. jk. Later that nite we made a yummy pasta dish with brocolli, corn, onions, and carrots (seriously people, when travelling and eatting starch all the time, the body craves veggies! I even ate brusselsprouts (which i never eat) and enjoyed them) and then sat around watching "Desperate Housewives" and "Brothers and Sisters" (my new favourite television programme).
The next morning we went on the 1770 orientation tour to see a bit more of the area and learn about the different activities in the area. We soon regretted that we didn't book another day or two here because things in this place are about 1/4th the price they are on the rest of the coast. For example, we could have booked a 2 hour plane ride with a beach landing for only $65, and the
best part is that 2 of the 3 people who went up would even get to fly the plane! Unfortunately, this was booked for the days we were there. We did however manage to get onto the three hour motorbike tour with "Scooteroos 1770." I picked out a beautiful black chopper with red flames up her side panels. In total there were at least 30 others, and we all met for our "driving lesson." Within no time at all they let us loose on the road, we all drove in convoy with the guides accompanying us. It was quite amusing because initially everyone was driving like 99 yr old grannies, but within about 90 minutes people were flooring it at speeds over 80kph
and passing each other out. It was such an adrenaline rush, I really enjoyed it and whenever we saw kangaroos we would stop to see them. We drove all over Agnes Waters and 1770 and as dusk approached we pulled in to get potatoe wedges and beer. Don't worry I was responsible and just had a Coke, but thought it was rather ironic that they were letting people drink beer and operate their motorbikes afterwards..ah well,
Ces la vie! We all sat around the rocks at the beach, enjoying our wedges and drinks and watched a stunning sunset. I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone and our guide Rod was a real "Hells Angel" , it was well worth every penny (ps-it was only $39 Australian dollars for 3 hours!).
Later that nite we took the Greyhound to Rockhampton, which is known as the beef capital of Australia. As we arrived quite late we had to get a taxi to our hostel, "Downtown Backpackers" and fortunately had the room all to ourselves. Thursday morning we decided to walk around, go online, and find phone credit as there wasn't a whole lot left to do in this creepy creepy place. I know its called the beef capital, but seriously....it was as if there were no women at all in the place, the men were cat calling everywhere. Later that nite, we decided to make the best of a bad place and treated ourselves to a steak dinner at the Criterion Hotel. I am nearly certain we were the only females in the joint, but we didn't let that phase us as we dug into our
beef and enjoyed our Bundaberg rum and coke. Things seemed to be looking up, but wait...spoke too soon, luckily we had just finished our meals, but soon after a giant cochroach emerged from behind the seat...so you can bet that we ran like bats outta hell from that joint. This morning (Friday, the 18th) we all came to the conclusion that Rockhampton was safely the worst nite sleep we had (even camping Fraser Island was better!) because of all the noise coming from outside our hostel, there were cars drag racing, drunk people, drunk prostitutes, oh yeah.. it was bad, but only at nite, daylite was deceptive. Thank god we are getting outta here today for our bus trip up to Airlie Beach! Yay, Whitsundays!!
Next stop: Airlie Beach/the magnificant Whitsundays. 3 days and 2 nite's onboard "The Clipper".
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laura
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miss u
u luk so cool in d fotos...is dat a tan i c......haha!!miss u xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx