After Airlie Beach, we hopped on an overnight Greyhound to the town of 1770. It is named 1770 after the year when Capt. Cook first set foot there. The bus actually drops you off about a half an hour from town and a shuttle picks you up. The shuttle takes you to Agnes Water, the town next to 1770. We ended up staying in Agnes Water, as most people do.
There are 2 hostels in town. "Cool Bananas" was pretty rude and didn't want to show us the room, so we stayed at the other one, "1770 Backpackers". They didn't have any private rooms, but since they weren't too busy, they gave us a dorm room and told us they wouldn't put anyone else in there.
It was pretty early in the day, so we made something to eat and chatted with Janni, a Finnish guy who was on our bus. Then we explored the town a bit (that didn't take long) and headed to the beach.
Paul, the shuttle bus driver, is also the resident surf coach and gives surf lessons every morning on the beach. We opted out since it was pretty windy and it was a bit too chilly for us to hit the waves, but we did hang out and watch the braver souls who were out there attempting it.
Later in the afternoon, we lounged around the hostel and read our books and started talking with some of the other guests and staff. The girl who worked there was so sweet - she gave us each a piece of cake. I couldn't eat it, but the gesture was sweet, nonethelss. She told us about her experience traveling around Uluru and the Olgas. She had an amazing time there.
After dinner, we were loitering in the kitchen and we started chatting with some girls who came in. There was Heather and Grace from the U.K. & Tooey and Van from Sydney. Well, it turns out that they had been in town for a while and they knew the entire hostel. Soon they had brought out the 4 liter cask (we would call it a box) of wine and everyone was hanging out and learning about each other's travels. A huge group of us from the hostel went to the Agnes Water Tavern together for a night out on the town. It was so much fun! It was just cool to hang out with such an interesting mix of people from all over the globe. There was Aurelia from France, Lukas from Germany, Lisa from Ireland and her cousin Sana from Sweden, among others. Of course, Heather & Grace from the UK and Tooey and Van from Sydney were also there. Tooey and Van were actually getting on a bus later that night to start their journey home!
When we left Airlie Beach, we were over hostels. The Whitsundays were amazing, but Airlie Beach was horrible. We were ready to be off the hostel circuit and into our campervan, but we still had one last stop to make in Agnes Water/1770. I am glad that we did. It made us realize that hostels can be fun and they can be good places to meet people. We met a lot of cool people in Agnes Water, but Tooey and Van stood out from the crowd. We look forward to visiting them in Sydney.
Unfortunately, we had to get on a bus the next morning. We would have loved to hang out in Agnes Water for a while longer - it has that laid back beach town kind of vibe that just sucks you in. But we had to be in Brisbane in two days to pick up our campervan. We got on the shuttle that would take us to the Greyhound. We had the same driver, Paul, again. When we got to the bus stop and had all our luggage out, he said, "I want to show you guys something." He got a cloth bag out of the back that had a python in it! He explained that this snake was getting into his boss' chickens. If you call the snake removal people, they are only required to take the snake 1 kilometer away before they release it. The snake will find his way back if you release it that close. So he brings them out to the bus stop because it is 30 k's out of town. He let him go and the snake wriggled away into the grass.
There are 2 hostels in town. "Cool Bananas" was pretty rude and didn't want to show us the room, so we stayed at the other one, "1770 Backpackers". They didn't have any private rooms, but since they weren't too busy, they gave us a dorm room and told us they wouldn't put anyone else in there.
It was pretty early in the day, so we made something to eat and chatted with Janni, a Finnish guy who was on our bus. Then we explored the town a bit (that didn't take long) and headed to the beach.
Paul, the shuttle bus driver, is also the resident surf coach and gives surf lessons every morning on the beach. We opted out since it was pretty windy and it was a bit too chilly for us to hit the waves, but we did hang out and watch the braver souls who were out there attempting it.
Later in the afternoon, we lounged around the hostel and read our books and started talking with some of the other guests and staff. The girl who worked there was so sweet - she gave us each a piece of cake. I couldn't eat it, but the gesture was sweet, nonethelss. She told us about her experience traveling around Uluru and the Olgas. She had an amazing time there.
After dinner, we were loitering in the kitchen and we started chatting with some girls who came in. There was Heather and Grace from the U.K. & Tooey and Van from Sydney. Well, it turns out that they had been in town for a while and they knew the entire hostel. Soon they had brought out the 4 liter cask (we would call it a box) of wine and everyone was hanging out and learning about each other's travels. A huge group of us from the hostel went to the Agnes Water Tavern together for a night out on the town. It was so much fun! It was just cool to hang out with such an interesting mix of people from all over the globe. There was Aurelia from France, Lukas from Germany, Lisa from Ireland and her cousin Sana from Sweden, among others. Of course, Heather & Grace from the UK and Tooey and Van from Sydney were also there. Tooey and Van were actually getting on a bus later that night to start their journey home!
When we left Airlie Beach, we were over hostels. The Whitsundays were amazing, but Airlie Beach was horrible. We were ready to be off the hostel circuit and into our campervan, but we still had one last stop to make in Agnes Water/1770. I am glad that we did. It made us realize that hostels can be fun and they can be good places to meet people. We met a lot of cool people in Agnes Water, but Tooey and Van stood out from the crowd. We look forward to visiting them in Sydney.
Unfortunately, we had to get on a bus the next morning. We would have loved to hang out in Agnes Water for a while longer - it has that laid back beach town kind of vibe that just sucks you in. But we had to be in Brisbane in two days to pick up our campervan. We got on the shuttle that would take us to the Greyhound. We had the same driver, Paul, again. When we got to the bus stop and had all our luggage out, he said, "I want to show you guys something." He got a cloth bag out of the back that had a python in it! He explained that this snake was getting into his boss' chickens. If you call the snake removal people, they are only required to take the snake 1 kilometer away before they release it. The snake will find his way back if you release it that close. So he brings them out to the bus stop because it is 30 k's out of town. He let him go and the snake wriggled away into the grass.
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