Ishicilelwe: 22.04.2017
After a long journey, I arrived at my hostel in Hervey Bay. The 'Flashbackers Hervey Bay' is really cute and clean. It offers free breakfast, which is really good for the price. The owner is very dedicated, very friendly and interested in the different backpackers. Hervey Bay is a sweet little town, where it was quite quiet, but therefore ideal to just relax on the beach and chill with an Englishman.
Hervey Bay
I only stayed one night and then went on to Agnes Water, which my dear colleague at the travel desk recommended to me, but I honestly don't understand why. The "town" consists of 10 shops or restaurants, all very cute and small... in the Southern Cross hostel, there is no cell phone reception and I somehow felt excluded from the rest of the outside world. You sleep in cabins in a forest and it was very cold there at night.
To get to the "town" or the beach, you have to rely on shuttle buses, which was very unusual for me. I like to be free and decide when to leave the place or if I want to stay longer. Constantly checking the time because you're afraid of missing the shuttle was very exhausting. I was used to just quickly walking to the supermarket if I forgot something.
The highlight in Agnes Water was my first surf course. I was already a bit excited and afraid of looking really stupid. In the hostel, I found three other girls who also wanted to take a surf course and I was very glad that I didn't have to do it alone, so it was much more fun. The group consisted, as it should be, mainly of Germans without experience and two French people with experience. It's hard to describe how I felt... Those who know me know that I don't give up easily and I can't say it wasn't fun. I think we had a bit of bad luck with the surf instructor, he showed us how to do it on land and then we went into the water, few tips and little enthusiasm were conveyed for the sport. Everyone tried on their own, not knowing if what they were doing was even right :D The surf course started at two, everyone knows that the waves get stronger around noon, he himself said that it would be too intense for beginners that day, at some point it got so crazy that we unfortunately couldn't get into the water anymore without the surfboard hitting us or us being carried away, that was a shame because I would have liked to continue trying my luck. But I had one wave semi-standing, all the way to the beach, I'm very proud of that and I could feel the joy of surfing, the feeling of being carried. I'm glad I tried it and maybe I'll try my luck with surfing somewhere else...
I continued on to Airlie Beach by night bus, I left at 9:40 pm and was supposed to arrive here at 7:30 am. Well, sometimes things don't go as planned... During the journey, we suddenly heard a loud bang, and then our bus was just rattling... we barely made it to the next gas station, the driver went out and came back quite embarrassed, the tire had more or less exploded and he had to change it. First he tried to order a replacement bus for the fully booked bus, but since we were somewhere in the middle of nowhere, that unfortunately didn't work out. We tried to help as much as we could. We spent more than an hour before we continued. At 10:30 am, exhausted and pretty tired, I arrived at the hostel after a 20-minute walk. Check-in was only possible from 2 pm, so I tried to pass the time somehow, but unfortunately it was raining, so I couldn't go into town. And my legs somehow didn't want to walk anymore! On the day of arrival, I just chilled out and it felt so good!
On the second day, I explored Airlie Beach with more energy! And checked in for the sailing catamaran tour to the Whitsunday Islands on Saturday! It doesn't matter if it's raining, it will definitely be great and unique! And I'm very excited to have this experience and tell you all about it :)
Lots of Love <3