A beautiful no man's land and a joyful reunion

After leaving Rainbow Beach, I was supposed to reach my next stop after midnight, which is somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I think that pretty much sums it up 😉 Anyway, from the bus stop I had to take a shuttle to the hostel, which was another good 20 minutes away. There, I pretty much went straight to bed.

Day one was dedicated to exploring the two "towns" of Agnes Water and 1770, as well as the landscape in between. A few minutes before the shuttle was scheduled to leave - the hostel is 3 kilometers away from Agnes Water - I was approached by Jack, who lives on the huge hostel property and offered to drive me into town. Five minutes later, I was in a nice German Mercedes and arrived at the supermarket very comfortably. After a quick stop there, I spontaneously booked a surf lesson for the amazing price of $17 for three hours. There probably isn't anything cheaper in all of Oceania 👌 Afterwards, I visited the shopping center and had a small "snack" for lunch 😋 Then I decided to walk the 7 kilometer distance to 1770. After a long time in the middle of a forest, more and more coastal sections were added as time went on, and in the end it was mostly just along the beach. I spent some time there and then walked back, although it quickly got dark halfway and I walked the last stretch with my flashlight. After the shuttle ride back to the hostel, it was time for dinner and I spent the evening in a really quiet common room...writing my blog 😉

So the next morning, it was time for me to go surfing. I had already tried it twice before: in Tofino 2.5 years ago and in October in Raglan. So this was my third attempt. After a brief introduction with dry exercises, we quickly got into the water. Unfortunately, I didn't do very well 🏄😞 I constantly either fell directly into the waves or only managed to get into the kneeling position without taking the final step. When it was almost over and I only had one more try left, I actually managed to surf all the way to the beach in a standing position. Perfect landing 😆 Unfortunately, the photographer had already left 😅 After changing clothes, I settled for a photo of the activity (a group photo was free) and then treated myself to a delicious burger with fries, for which we as surf course participants received a discount. I also received a participation certificate. After lunch, I went to the beach to enjoy the warm sunshine. As the day came to an end, I climbed up to an observation platform to once again enjoy a beautiful sunset 😍🌄 From there, I went directly to the shuttle and then back to the hostel, where I should stay until shortly before midnight before heading back to the bus stop in the middle of nowhere.

On the bus ride, I was finally able to sleep relatively well. So I didn't see much of the good nine-hour journey to Airlie Beach. In the morning, I reached my next destination, which was also the starting point of my Whitsundays tour. I spent the day relatively unspectacularly in the small center, at Peterpans, and with a walk along the coast. The evening was to be much more eventful. When I arrived in Airlie, I thought to myself: "Well, if I'm not mistaken, four specific people should be returning from their Whitsundays tour today and then staying here..." So I took out my phone and wrote Karen a message - and indeed, my friends from Ireland were just coming back from the boat tour 😊😊 For the evening, they wanted to go to a kind of Whitsundays farewell party, and of course, I gladly joined them. At this party, I found out that quite a few people had been on the boat (55, to be exact), the Atlantic Clipper, which is generally known as a sort of "sex, drugs, and party" boat 😂😂😂 But I believe (or hope) points 1 and 2 were missing from this group 😆 I also found out that I knew Svea and Hanna from Fraser Island in the group, but they preferred to celebrate elsewhere, as well as Samuel, the Swiss guy. I also met some new people - no wonder with such a huge group - and had a great evening with drinks and danceable music 🍻🍸🎶 By the way, if anyone is wondering why I don't upload any photos of the parties in the evenings - the sad truth is: My phone camera is just too bad to take acceptable pictures in the dark 😭 I tried several times, but it's just as good as playing "guess the faces." It's a shame, but then you'll just have to imagine what I'm describing with your imagination 😜

The next morning, after dropping off my luggage for storage, I met up with Caite, Karen, Kathryn, and Niamh one last time to say my final goodbyes. Unfortunately, the four took the word "sleeping in" very literally that morning, so I only had about half an hour in a small cafe where you can have brunch. But at least we sat together for a while and I could say goodbye in detail, including taking a photo 😘 I think it's really a shame that I couldn't spend more time with the Irish girls, like Samuel or Sophia did (yes, I'm a little jealous 😜😢), but that's life. First of all, I was able to make some nice new acquaintances in the following days, and secondly, we'll see each other again on my return flight when I stop in Sydney (I have a specific appointment in mind at the beginning of September 😉🎉).

So I set off on foot to the harbor. At first, I was a little sad about the farewell, but with every minute I got closer to the boat, it was increasingly replaced by anticipation for the next 48 hours that I would spend at sea. Wings, my boat, has a much smaller capacity than the Clipper with 31 people, which I actually liked. It could have been even fewer people, I prefer small groups. Since I experienced so much in these three days and the report will take up a lot of space, I'll tell you in the next report how my time at sea went 😊⛵

See you then! 🙋

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