More than meets the eye

By Bobbi-Jo // 11 May 2010 // Comments: 0 // Related Categories: adventure, Best Backpacker Job, Hostels, Things to do

Agnes Waters is an interesting little place.

For one, it can be a black hole for cell phone reception.

For two, the town is so small that there isn’t even a high school nearby - kids have to be shuttled off to boarding school.

For three, it’s incredibly charming.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect as we made our way to Southern Cross, our hostel hosts for the cities of Agnes Waters and the nearby Town of 1770. I’m not sure how Agnes Waters got its name, but the Town of 1770 is named for the second landing of Captain James Cook in, well, 1770.

The Southern Cross Tourist Retreat is located just a few minutes from town, with regular free shuttles to and from the (one) bar and any shopping you might need to do. The hostel itself sits on 16 acres of tropical gardens, and it’s not uncommon to see a horse or two running around the grounds. It was actually really nice to be cut off from cell service in a place like this as you can’t help but relax and unwind in the surroundings.

I say that the area is interesting, though, because of the fact that I managed to do to insanely exciting things in such a quiet place: scooter riding with Scooter Roo and an acrobatic flight with Thrills and Spills.

I don’t know what I thought I was getting into with Scooter Roo, but it was nothing like I imagined. There’s a reason this is the #1 backpacker activity in 1770: everyone does it. On any given day, you are likely to see 60+ choppers scooting along down the road, with each rider tricked out in a leather jacket with flames emblazoned on the back. It’s cheeky, yes. There’s no way you can describe it as anything but cheesy, but it’s fun. Like, really, really fun. I surprised myself by getting up to 70 kilometers per hour on the open road and even though I was a little scared when it started raining (pouring), once I got the hang of it I could understand why people love riding motorcycles and zipping in between cars on them. You only need a driver’s license to ride and the tours run about 3 hours with a stop to watch the sunset and enjoy the famous wedges in 1770.

Next up was some flight time. I originally opted for a scenic flight over the Great Barrier Reef over an acrobatic flight. I got talked in to walking on the wild side a little bit, but my concern skyrocketed once we got to the airstrip and going up in a plane and flipping around became a reality. The flight itself was exhilarating and well worth the experience. Unfortunately my camera died the minute we had photo opportunities, lucky me that the memories of dipping and turning in a tiny plane are forever seared into my brain. If you like roller coasters, this is definitely for you.

There are tons of great cities to stop in if you need some down time in your Australian travels. Agnes Water and The Town of 1770 are great options if you don’t want that downtime to revolve solely around kangaroo spotting and laying on the beach. We managed to also get in some kite surfing (I use that term loosely as I didn’t even make it off of the beach and into the water) with Kite Surf 1770 and I can humbly report to you that I came in 1st place among the girls in a wax-on/wax-off surf board contest.

Cell phone reception or no cell phone reception, I had a blast!

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Many special thanks to VIP Backpackers for being our gracious hosts throughout this trip! You can also receive amazing discounts the activities mentioned in this post with VIP Membership!