Agnes Waters
Agnes Waters was a very pleasant surprise. I had no idea of what to expect, as I had not even heard of the town until speaking to someone at Rainbow Beach.
I hadn’t made a reservation for anywhere to stay in Agnes Waters, I just left that to a wing and a pray. I talked with a girl, who was staying at a hostel that sounded nice, so I just decided to go along and see if here were any beds available. When we arrived in Agnes Waters the hostel bus was waiting at the Greyhound bus drop off point which then took us on a tour around the town, to show us all that the place had to offer. After a quick stop off at the bottle shop we headed to the hostel.
The hostel seemed more like a resort when we arrived. It was an amazing place with a great swimming pool and each room was an alpine lodge with it's own private bathroom. The main building which was an open fronted large aluminium shed, Shed being used lightly, as it was a great building that gave you the sense of relaxation from the outset. In the large grounds, with its own lake, stood a Buddhists temple adawned with relaxing hammocks. I was very impressed with this hostel as it was the first place where I could truly feel like I could relax and chill out for a few days.
The members of staff were very helpful and friendly and would stop and have a good conversation with you. They had various activities linked with the hostel all bookable through the hostel such as a national park walks day and a ‘scooteroo’ scooter tour.
I booked myself onto both these trips which were great. The scooter tour was especially good, which was a three hour trip around Agnes Waters and 1770 (the town) on a chopper style scooter that could get you travelling around 110 kph if you wanted to. What a site it is to see about 25-30 scooters, all in a line in your rear view mirror, flying along on country type roads heading to see a sunset along the coast in 1770. I even manage to get a second night’s trip free as I help the guy who ran the trip out by making sure everyone got across the roads safely and helped people out at the back. But be warned it does get you hooked on bikes and already I’m planning to buy a bike as soon as I am settled somewhere.
On the morning, I had booked to be on the Greyhound bus to Airley Beach, I heard that there was a free trip out to the reef on a brand new boat that had just been launched and they were wanting to do a test run of the boat and crew. After rearranging my bus journey and hostel booking I headed out onto the reef for a day of snorkelling. The boat was impressive and it was great to be the first person to put the wet suit and snorkel gear on without it already been worn and wet. The down side to the trip was the fact that my water proof camera, after 5 minutes snorkelling, proved not to be water proof so a new camera cost me about the same as the trip would have cost if I had payed for it.
Agnes waters and 1770 is a place I would advice everyone to stop off at especially as it would break up the very long journey from Rainbow Beach to Aireley Beach that some people do.
