road trippin': 1770 / agnes water

Agnes Water Beach

Agnes Water Beach

Leaving Airlie heading back down south. We checked out went back to where we set the crab pot and were disappointed to only find one small crab with two legs missing. No yummy crab dinner for us. We headed back to Gladstone to stay a night with Shane's cousin again to break up the driving.  

The next morning we got up early to drive to 1770 / Agnes Water. It took about 2 hours to get there. We checked out the beach at Agnes Water, went to the lookout at Joseph Banks, then to 1770 campground, which is about 15 minutes from Agnes, and got a great camp spot on the beach. When we got there it was low tide so the boats looked like they were stranded.  Shane and I set up the tent, went for a walk around the beach, then we went to get some groceries in town. 

1770 Campground - our campsite by the beach

1770 Beach during low tide

1770 Beach during low tide, the boats look stranded

1770 Beach during low tide

Having a walk, exploring around 1770 beach

Looks like crabs have been here.. haha

Sting ray prints

1770 Beach

Then we thought we would go adventuring and tried to find some 4WD tracks and a place to set our crab pot. However, we ran into some trouble and Shane got stuck in a mud flat... like really, really stuck and it was near high tide time as well. So, we tried a few times to get ourselves unstuck but we had no luck. Then shane ran, to find some help, to the house we saw as we were driving towards the tracks. I just sat in the car and watched nervously the water rising and getting closer to where we got stuck. Thank goodness the old man was home and he came to the our rescue and he pulled us out with a wench just as the water was coming in, just touching the tires. Whew! Anyways, that killed about 2 hours of our exploring time haha but we are so glad we got out okay. We just went back to our camp site just in time for the sunset! It was really pretty and the tide was high so it looked like a different beach. We stayed one night at 1770 and then the next day off to Fraser Island!

Went off adventuring and found ourselves stuck in a mudflat!

And got pulled out in the nick of time as high tide comes in. *Phew* close call!

1770 Beach sunset and at high tide

1770 Beach sunset and at high tide. 

Campers enjoying the pretty sunset

Found an injured butterfly crawling on my camping chair.

road trippin': whitehaven beach, great barrier reef

At Abel Point Marina.

We sailed through Whitsunday Passage to Whitehaven, snorkelled at Hook Passage. Cruised to Knuckle Reef.

Sailing in the Whitsunday Islands

We had to catch the bus nice and early at 7am and caught the bright, purple catamaran, Camira, at Abel Point Marina. It was an inclusive day trip sailing through the Whitsunday Islands with a BBQ lunch and free beer and wine. The day started with a bit of overcast and had a bit of rain. The water was still a little choppy so I got kinda motion sick and didn't have any Gravol with me. Once the sun came out, it was so much fun and the water was such a deep blue colour.

Our first stop was the magnificent Whitehaven Beach, it was soo beautiful. Nice white, super fine, soft sand that stretches for 7 km. Lucky for us the sun stayed out the whole time we were there, which was only an hour, but got to soak in some, chill out and throw a frisbee around.

The Camira that took us sailing around the Whitsunday Islands.

Rain clouds ahead..

The clouds are clearing up. Captian Steve

On our way to Whitehaven Beach. There's me and my nervous smile haha.

Arriving at Whitehaven. The boat taking groups at a time over to the island.

The beautiful Whitehaven Beach with super soft, white sand and deep blue water.

We got back to the boat just as the BBQ lunch was cooking and served. The rest of the afternoon was cloudy and rainy. We stopped at Hook's Passage for some snorkelling. Shane went in but I stayed back talking to a few people I met on the boat. I didn't miss much anyways because they said the water was a bit murkey from it being so windy the past few days. Some people said they saw turtles and a few fish.

We spent the rest of the trip, back to the marina, talking to a few people and having a few drinks. Got back to the bay just as the sun was setting.

Cloud and rain came back as we got to our snorkelling part.

The sunsetting as we got back to the marina

Sunset over the marina

The Great Barrier Reef

Another early morning start. We caught the same bus to the same marina, but this time boarding on the Seaflight cruise ship. It takes about 2 hours to get to Knuckle Reef, where the pontoon is stationed, which claims to be Queensland's "most innovative and spacious reef pontoon". I got a bit sea sick again on the way there so I a had a little snooze which helped. On the way there were some whales breaching near the ship, so we stopped to talk a look. I got there a bit slower because I was a little dizzy and I missed a good photo opp plus there were too many people in the way. They were so close to the ship! When we reached the reef and pontoon, the sight was so amazing. You always see it in photographs and tv and stuff but when you see it in person, it is almost unreal. The different shades of blue in the water.. just amazing to see.

Whales breaching, missed a good shot. You can see the tail there.

Knuckle Reef Pontoon

Knuckle Reef of the Great Barrier Reef

We had 4 hours to spend on the pontoon. We booked time in for the guided snorkel around the reef in the afternoon. So before that, we took a ride on the glass bottom boat and the 'Subsea Adventure' and saw some colourful coral, fish, clams and more. Had a quick lunch and then went for our own mini snorkel, cam back up and met up with our guide. Snorkelling in the reef was soo much fun and it was probably my favourite experience so far. It was like I was in the movie Finding Nemo haha! And I got to see little Nemos, cuttlefish, parrotfish and just so many neat things. You could easily spend hours in the water just looking at all the life that goes on underwater! We got to see a big Maori wrasse fish in midst of a sex change where the female was changing to a male. The story is that there was a pair and one of them disappeared and they think a shark got him so the female was left on her own and so had to take the male role. It's very common for reef fish to change sex at some point in their life cycle. After our tour we went down the big slide and did some more snorkelling. On the way back, on the ship, they played the movie Finding Nemo!

On the glass bottom boat

On the 'Subsea Adventure'

The coral and reef life. Little bubble fish that followed the sub around.

Snorkelling

It was our last night in Airlie, so we had a nice dinner out at a Japanese restaurant, but unfortunately the food wasn't that great. I hate not having a satisfying meal when you're looking forward to it! We did a little bit of research after to where we wanted to go next, on our way back down!

Last night in Airlie. Out for dinner.

road trippin': to Dingo Beach, Cedar Falls, Mud Crabs

The little mud crab we threw back into the water.

Hideaway Bay & Dingo Beach

We stayed another night at Island Gataway and the next day we got some information about some four-wheel-driving tracks and, since the winds were still really bad at sea, we decided to check out Dingo Beach and Hideaway Bay and do some adventuring! It's about a 45 min drive from Airlie. We had a delicious lunch at the beautiful Hideaway Bay at Montes Resort.

Montes Resort at Hideaway Bay

the view of the water

the view from our table

rainbow lorikeet came by our table to say hello

right: shane's seafood basket, left: my calamari mango salad

After lunch, we cruised around the area for a bit, stopped to try our luck at some fishing but it started raining on us. So we made our way to check out Dingo Beach, which is another beautiful beach and a little further along we found a 4WD track that was pretty exciting and intense to say the least haha! A bit of a rough terrain driving downhill and getting to the other side of the beach. We thought we got stuck there because we kept getting bogged, it was starting to rain and the tide was coming in so we were freaking out a little because we thought that we would get stuck there but silly Shane it wasn't in 4WD! Once we got it back into 4W we made it out of there with no problems!

fishing at hideaway bay, with no luck and it started raining on us

the 4WD track we found at ding and the view overlooking dingo beach

a bit of a rough terrain

The view while we were 4WDing at the top

checking the tracks before we got ourselves into trouble, that's the beach where we panicked a little.

That night we went out for a night in the town. Did our own bar/pub/club hopping from one to the next.. started at Beaches, then Paddy's Shenanigans, then Mama's Africa it was a really fun night!

Cedar Falls, Conway Beach and Mud Crabs!

The next day we checked at of Island Getaway to stay at Magnums, a backpackers (hostel) on the main strip because we were booking our day trips for the next couple days. We figured it just made things easier, no leaky air mattress, didn't have to wake up as early, backpacker prices for day trips, right in town.. and it was cheap too! $50/night for a private room, it was a pretty nice backpackers and, bonus, we got some free drink vouchers out of it! We checked in and booked our day trips, sailing in the Whitsundays and a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef! Then we spent the rest of the afternoon checking out some of the other sights around the area.

1. cuts in the mullet | 2. mullet as bait for the crab pot | 3. attach bait to crab pot | 4. throw the pot in and wait!

We went to Cedar Falls and on the way we found a place to throw our crab pot into some mangroves and then we went to check out the falls. Some travelllers were there right in the middle of the picture just sitting there talking but still got a few photos though. We saw some turtles in the water, it was a pretty serene setting. 

snapping a few pics on the way to cedar falls (near where we set the crab pot)

another shot

Cedar Falls

one of the turtles we saw at cedar falls

Then we went to Conway and Wilson Beach. We found a 4WD track that lead to a look out point over looking Conway Beach. It was nothing too special compared to the beaches we saw the day before. The water was just really muddy. After that we went back to where we set out crab pot, pulled it out and we got two mud crabs... just within an hour and half! We threw the little one back in and kept the bigger one. Shane stabbed it in the head and we put him in ice in the cooler. He put the trap back in to, hopefully, catch some more.

Conway Beach with muddy waters

Yay we caught a couple mud crabs! We put the little one back.

and kept the bigger one! 

Then we went back to town and got a few ingredients to cook the crab in. Then we went to town supermarket to get some ingredients and the worker there was helpful as well and just told us to throw some rock salt and garlic cloves in the water when we boil the crab. We cooked it at the backpackers small kitchen. It was a mess in there and there wasn't any pots big enough for us to use and we hadd to use our butane cooker so it would be hot enough to boil the crab. We smashed the shell up a bit before cooking it, so it would be easier to eat after, and we cut up the crab so that it would fit into the small pot we had. It was messy process but it got the job done. It was definitely worth the effort, the crab was sooo delicious! Didn't need any butter or anything and it tasted so nice and left us wanting more.

yum yum!!