One thing Agnes Water has made me realise is the type of traveller I want to be. Sam and I have lived and worked at Cool Banana’s for nearly six weeks now and it was just what we needed. After being on such a strict budget in Asia and New Zealand, then working and living in a hell hole in Bundaberg we just were not ready to get onto the busy tourist trail, spend all our hard earned cash in 3 weeks and have to work again. Living in Agnes has provided us with the chill out time we needed and really given us a home in Australia.
Let me describe the hostel to you. A two story, Balinese themed beach house with ten, eight share, dorms, a spotless well stocked kitchen, huge cosy lounge room, lovely showers and you can reach a four kilometre white sand beach in just five minutes. Need I go on?
Agnes itself only had a population of around two and a half thousand. There is a tiny town centre with a few shops and cafes and several other beaches within ten minutes’ walk. Many people only use this as a one night stop over between Fraser and Whitsundays and that is just such a shame as there is so much to do here. Sam and I had surf lessons (predictably he succeeded at this far better than me!), went for a kayaking trip in 1770 and learnt to surf waves, paddling home in the sunset drinking wine and eating fruit cake! There was also Scooteroo, flamed leather jackets, choppers and bombing around the countryside and free 4wd national park tours from the kindest locals you have ever met. Not to mention Lady Musgrove island where we snorkelled with about eight turtles all day long. We even had a staff trip out to Lowmead – the smallest village I have ever seen. We had a picnic in the meadow behind the pub and went kangaroo spotting at the golf range on the way home. And the above only covers the day activities – we enjoyed getting to know so many other travellers around the nightly campfire, cooking delicious fresh meals in the spotless kitchen, visiting the meat raffles and drinking a lot of red wine while dancing in the kitchen.
We definitely worked hard in Agnes (and sweated hard too with the tropical climate and cyclones) but all the fun activities, laughs with friends made here and countless sunny days at the beach totally outweighed it all. I am so glad we came here and managed to wangle an extra six weeks without working. We even still have one more trip to do before we leave – Castaway where we fly a tiny plane over to an island and fend for ourselves for a night. Shame about the camping but it will be another adventure! Despite how much I hate to leave Agnes it feels time to move on and travel the east coast, and end up in Sydney for some city life and comforts, but Agnes has definitely reminded me of what sort of traveller I want to be. I love all the key attractions and awesome photo opportunities as much as the next person, but to be stuck to a rigid schedule of bus times and tour operators, to always be rushed only ever meet English people does not feel right. I want to be someone who is happy to jump off the beaten track, get to know the locals and discover as much of the ‘real’ country as I can, because the traveling experience I have had so far, tells me those are the stories to write home about.
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Fraser Island - written March 7th, Agnes Water
After a very drunken farewell at Cellbock that included raving in the TV room, games of muck muck and shots of something disgusting that was 55% (Thanks Steve) it was time to board the 3:30am bus heading to Rainbow Beach. Our fellow British traveller Kerry, who we met in New Zealand was coming to Fraser with us and met us from the bus stop at 7:30am with hot tea and a hangover very similar to ours.
We checked into Pippie’s beach house and spent the day relaxing, eating Caesar salad and meeting our Fraser group. We shopped for alcohol and food for the trip and spent an hour watching videos about car accidents and dingo attacks. Hmmm maybe not so excited about going now!
We left at 9am the next morning. Our group was sixteen of us; Eight in two cars with the guide Jen driving the lead vehicle and the rest of the drivers taking turns in the second car. Our group was Sam and Emma, two hairdressers from London on a six week campervan adventure on the east coast. One Welsh girl called Hannah traveling alone, who we forced to do countless Gavin and Stacey impressions. Also two other British girls Sam and Leanne who were traveling alone but met on the Oz experience bus. Lastly there was myself, Sam and Kerry. We all got on really well and the first stop was Lake Mckenzie a fresh water lake formed in the middles of the largest sand island in the world. The lakes sand was 97% silica and you could brush your teeth with it. You could also wash your hair and it came out really soft. Unfortunately the weather was grey so we did not get the postcard pictures but still had a great time.
We headed off to camp for a fire, dinner and some beers. Our group took some beers down to the beach and took some photos and had a few drinks. Then back to camp to freak out at the huge spiders around the campsite – literally massive. We asked our tour guide Jen what we should do if we got bit by one. Her serious reply was ‘Have a beer and a cigarette because it will be your last’ Excellent news! We had a sausage barbeque and sat round the campfire roasting marshmallows. It was a really nice evening.
We had been warned many times before we went not to have any item of food (even chewing gum) in the tents as the campsite was unfenced and many dingos patrolled round at night. If they smelt you had food in the tent there was a good chance they would just tear it down. Although we had no food in the tent I woke up at 3am to hear a dingo panting right outside the tent door and pacing up and down sniffing our tent. Bit of a struggle to get back to sleep after that!
We woke up in the morning and tried to go for a long walk on the beach to a shipwreck, but we were stopped by the giant march flies that plagued the beach. Around 5 times the size of a normal fly they just did not leave you alone and there were hundreds of them – we actually had to turn back! We went to Eli creek with the whole group that day, another freshwater creek which you could float down on rubber tubes. The boys also had a big game of beach football until it started to rain and we headed back to camp for lunch.
After lunch we visited the champagne pools, if you are thinking pools of champagne and a beach party it is not the case! The pools are several large rock Jacuzzis and as you sit in them and the wave crash over it bubbles like champagne. The waves are much stronger than they look and nearly knocked Kerry off her feet! After a sea soak we climbed up to the highest point on Fraser to get an ariel view. On a calm nice day we were told you can spot sharks and dolphins down in the water but this day was windy and rainy so no luck there!
Another night round the campfire with goon and marshmallows again and then the next morning we awoke to sunshine! Hurrah! Today we were visiting Lake Wabby and this was definitely a highlight of Fraser. A forty minute treck through the rainforest and out onto a giant sand bar. A really stunning view was waiting for us at the top of sea to the east and rainforest to the west. After trekking along the sand bar for about ten minutes we then hiked down the extremely steep sand hill to a beautiful emerald lake below. The sun was out, the water was lovely and there were dozens of catfish surrounding us in the lake! It was a really great way to finish off Fraser – we drove all the way back to the ferry listening to Queen and joined in a group head bashing to Bohemian Rhapsody. Off back to Rainbow Beach for some cold beers and a proper sleep. I really do hate camping….
We checked into Pippie’s beach house and spent the day relaxing, eating Caesar salad and meeting our Fraser group. We shopped for alcohol and food for the trip and spent an hour watching videos about car accidents and dingo attacks. Hmmm maybe not so excited about going now!
We left at 9am the next morning. Our group was sixteen of us; Eight in two cars with the guide Jen driving the lead vehicle and the rest of the drivers taking turns in the second car. Our group was Sam and Emma, two hairdressers from London on a six week campervan adventure on the east coast. One Welsh girl called Hannah traveling alone, who we forced to do countless Gavin and Stacey impressions. Also two other British girls Sam and Leanne who were traveling alone but met on the Oz experience bus. Lastly there was myself, Sam and Kerry. We all got on really well and the first stop was Lake Mckenzie a fresh water lake formed in the middles of the largest sand island in the world. The lakes sand was 97% silica and you could brush your teeth with it. You could also wash your hair and it came out really soft. Unfortunately the weather was grey so we did not get the postcard pictures but still had a great time.
We headed off to camp for a fire, dinner and some beers. Our group took some beers down to the beach and took some photos and had a few drinks. Then back to camp to freak out at the huge spiders around the campsite – literally massive. We asked our tour guide Jen what we should do if we got bit by one. Her serious reply was ‘Have a beer and a cigarette because it will be your last’ Excellent news! We had a sausage barbeque and sat round the campfire roasting marshmallows. It was a really nice evening.
We had been warned many times before we went not to have any item of food (even chewing gum) in the tents as the campsite was unfenced and many dingos patrolled round at night. If they smelt you had food in the tent there was a good chance they would just tear it down. Although we had no food in the tent I woke up at 3am to hear a dingo panting right outside the tent door and pacing up and down sniffing our tent. Bit of a struggle to get back to sleep after that!
We woke up in the morning and tried to go for a long walk on the beach to a shipwreck, but we were stopped by the giant march flies that plagued the beach. Around 5 times the size of a normal fly they just did not leave you alone and there were hundreds of them – we actually had to turn back! We went to Eli creek with the whole group that day, another freshwater creek which you could float down on rubber tubes. The boys also had a big game of beach football until it started to rain and we headed back to camp for lunch.
After lunch we visited the champagne pools, if you are thinking pools of champagne and a beach party it is not the case! The pools are several large rock Jacuzzis and as you sit in them and the wave crash over it bubbles like champagne. The waves are much stronger than they look and nearly knocked Kerry off her feet! After a sea soak we climbed up to the highest point on Fraser to get an ariel view. On a calm nice day we were told you can spot sharks and dolphins down in the water but this day was windy and rainy so no luck there!
Another night round the campfire with goon and marshmallows again and then the next morning we awoke to sunshine! Hurrah! Today we were visiting Lake Wabby and this was definitely a highlight of Fraser. A forty minute treck through the rainforest and out onto a giant sand bar. A really stunning view was waiting for us at the top of sea to the east and rainforest to the west. After trekking along the sand bar for about ten minutes we then hiked down the extremely steep sand hill to a beautiful emerald lake below. The sun was out, the water was lovely and there were dozens of catfish surrounding us in the lake! It was a really great way to finish off Fraser – we drove all the way back to the ferry listening to Queen and joined in a group head bashing to Bohemian Rhapsody. Off back to Rainbow Beach for some cold beers and a proper sleep. I really do hate camping….
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