After a rather hectic Christmas and NYE period, it is time to relax. And you cannot do anything better than in the small town of Agnes Water, where I stayed for 5 nights. This was not only to recover a little from the fast travelling of the past 2 weeks, but also because I had to wait for my Fraser Island tour to start. With a local population of around 1800 people and one main street with some shops and a supermarket, Anges Water is a relatively unknown stop along the touristy East Coast of Australia. But it is worth a stop nonetheless.

Living up to its name (which it got from a lost ship at sea), everything in Agnes Water surrounds itself around water. Not only do you need to drink loads of water to combat the heat, with a main beach of 5.5 km long and several other quiet beaches around, you can really relax here while going for a swim. But more importantly, Anges Water is the most northern town where you can surf. At the Reef to Beach surf school you can take a beginners surfing lesson for just $17 (or if you book through bookme.com $13), a real bargain compared to the 60 bucks you spend on surfing in tourist towns like Byron Bay. As a real backpacker I could not let this deal slip through my fingers so after a day of recovering from a long nightbus to Agnes, it was time for me to become even more Australian and learn how to surf.

After a lenghty introduction it was time to catch our first waves; sandwaves to be precise. To practise our paddling and standing up techniques, our surf trainers made us paddle on the sand until everyone was doing it exactly like they wanted us to. Quite a tiring experience, as you put in all the effort but your board stays in the exact same spot (and it just also looks ridiculous).

Luckily, though, most of us got used to the techniques quite quickly and so it was time to catch real waves this time. The water was really calm and had perfect small waves for beginners, but still the first two or three times I did not manage to stand up before ending up on the sand again. One of the surf trainers, however, took some extra time to explain me his special technique of getting onto his board and right after I surfed on my first wave ever! It really is a magnificent feeling floating on top of the water like that, until you hit the sand and fall off quite ridiculously. For $13 though it is really
worth the effort (and the immense sunburn).


A bit further north of Agnes Water sits the very small town of Seventeen Seventy (1770) with a local population of about 80 people. This somewhat extended part of Agnes Water is a very known spot among both locals and tourists that go off the beaten tracks. What makes this part so special is that it is one of the three places on the East Coast of Australia where you can see the sun set over water. A very friendly guy from our hostel offered to drive me and two other backpackers there and I have to admit that it was quite spectacular.

And so the next day I decided that I had to do another water (and sunset) related activity while spending my time here: I went kayaking during the sunset with a chance of spotting wildlife like dolphins and turtles. The tour was 2,5 hours and took us up and down the estuary near 1770 while we learned a lot about the surrounding national parks, towns and animals. We were a bit unfortunate with the wildlife, but a unexpectedly spectacular sunset made it very much worth it. It was really different from the other sunset, but the colours were so magnificent while colouring the sky that it really felt like it was being painted right before your eyes.


A very different encounter with the water here only occurs during the summer months: thunderstorms with heavy rainfall. Two nights in a row there was a spectacular lightning show right above us while the rain poured down on the roofs. The electricity was cut off and there were even rumours that the Greyhound buses would not drive due to flooded roads. Fortunately, this turned out to be a false rumour, but nonetheless we spent several hours in the dark waiting for the storms to pass. This rainfall also resulted in a very unexpected account with water. Recommended by the hostel I set off to do the Paperbark Forest Walk, a cute 15 minute walk that took me about an hour walking to get there. The first steps into the forest are mindblowing, as the trees are so different than the rest of the surrounding nature. Walking on stepping stones and wooden boardwalks I soon realized, however, that I would not return home with dry feet. The heavy rainfall had flooded the walk, making it look like I was walking on water. Still worth the wet feet though!


Agnes Water really surprised me, and so it does with many other people here. In my hostel there are several people who had planned on being here for either an hour or a night, but ended up staying 2 full months. I can see why, this quaint small town really shows the charms of Australia's East Coast without all the touristy attractions you find in the well-known towns along the way. A definite must-do if you have the time!