Agnes Water

Trip Start Sep 11, 2008
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Trip End Jun 05, 2009


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Flag of Australia  , Queensland,
Friday, December 26, 2008

We got the bus at 6.45am to Agnes Water via a place in the middle of nowhere called Fingerboard Road where a guy called Macca who looks stereotypically Aussie picks you up. The Greyhound bus got a puncture on the way there so we were an hour and a half late meeting Macca but no worries there mate. We stayed at a lovely hostel the 1770 Southern Cross Tourist Retreat about 3km outside the tiny town of Agnes Water, the most northerly surf town in Queensland. It was too far to walk to the village but there was a regular free shuttle bus. The first night we stayed in a dorm with 2 freaky but dead quiet Irish lads then we had our own room for the days over Xmas. There is a pool there, a lake which I fished in every day and swam in once at dusk, and a nice open common room and kitchen. It was a really lovely place set in landscaped tropical grounds, we were so lucky as everywhere else was booked due to it being Xmas. In the town there was just one pub which we didn't actually go to which was attached to a huge drive thru warehouse sized Bottleshop, 2 small supermarkets, a surf shop, a couple of cafes and a post office. The beach was huge with good surf, we learnt to surf one day and went back the next day hiring boards. We sort of got the hang the first day but the second the waves were smaller which actually made it harder.
We did a lot of chilling out there and didn't do much in the 5 days we were there but it went so quickly. Xmas eve there was a campfire at night where we got to know the Finnish guys who had become almost resident and a couple of crazy Aussies drinking solidly. Xmas day was good, everyone except us went down the beach in the morning for games, I wasn't up for it as my skin rash due to the sun has come back in Oz which is a nightmare. We had a quick swim on our own in the pool then when they all came back we had a huge cold buffet lunch with ham, prawns, chicken and beef but no turkey! There was so much food and champagne punch which was dodgy and made Lucy feel rough, I stuck to the XXXX nobody drinks it here but it was the cheapest crate in the bottlo. After lunch we played a game called the Amazing Race based on a TV programme. We had to solve clues to go to the different cabins which were identfied by countries rather than numbers. I was paired with one of the Aussie guys we met the night before and we didn't take it seriously but had fun, it involved running around solving the clues as quick as you can and we weren't up for that after Xmas lunch in 30 degree plus heat. We had everyone laughing at us as we bumbled round half drunk trying not to spill our beer and to solve simple clues, dance German dances, melt ice cubes, ride bikes and yodel. We did excell at one of the tasks, at the England cabin we had to complain like the English about an English Xmas but we didn't even let Kate (one of the staff) finish the question before we both let rip about the hostel, the meal, the game, the staff and everything else. We only had to do 5 complaints and we stood there for about 5 minutes moaning and moaning, all light hearted and had Kate and the other staff in stitches. We got a huge round of applause when we came in last by a long way. Lucy came in third with a Russian lady called Marina who was there with her husband and baby just for the diving like we were. She was wearing a Roatan T-Shirt and had been diving there so Lucy got on well with her.
We had been messed around a bit by the dive shop there, the only one in town and had booked to go on a big boat Seaquest which we could dive from on Boxing Day. We tried to go the 3 days over Xmas but kept being let down. Marina and her husband said they were going out Boxing Day on the diveboat after they told us they couldn't be bothered to take it out and when they phoned to check they found it was cancelled and they weren't going to tell them! Anyone going to Agnes Water don't dive with 1770 Undersea Adventures, they are jokers. When the owner of Seaquest arrived to pick us up he told us we couldn't dive at all as the dive guys were from the dive shop and couldn't be arsed. It was the whole reason we came to Agnes in the first place but Colin the old chap was really nice and explained it wasn't his fault at all. We got to do the advanced snorkelling for free and the Seaquest trip was great. We went to Fitzroy Reef lagoon, one of the most unspolit parts of the Great Barrier Reef. The boat has to enter through a narrow channel in the reef. We went on a glass bottom boat trip, snorkelled the inner lagoon then took a trip on a speedboat to the outer wall of the reef and snorkelled with sharks. The colours on the inner reef were amazing, not too many fish but huge corals. We really didn't need to dive anyway, it wasn't more than 10m deep and the water was crystal clear.
We had a great time there, the staff at Southern Cross were great and also Seaquest, I would recommend both but avoid 1770 Undersea Aventures.
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