DAY 2 - OUT EXPLORING AT AGNES WATERS

Most of us were up early this morning,  adrenaline was still running high as this was the start of our much awaited holiday..

Some of us took an early morning walk down onto the beach, whilst other's slept in and read.  It was really quite lovely on the beach just after day break and we were in the ideal spot at our camping spot to enjoy this.  

path down onto the beach at Agnes Waters...

Early morning coffee on the brew...

We had a pretty leisurely start to the morning, each of us preparing our own breakfast but all joining together to eat it and plan our day.  We only have three full days at Agnes Waters and quite a bit to pack into our time here so we planned to head out for morning tea this morning to the beautiful 1770 Getaway Garden Cafe.  We have had recommendations from others that have been here so thought it would be a great place to start our adventures at Agnes.  

1770 Getaway is a beautiful resort situated at Agnes Water and it is set on acres of beautifully manicured lawns and gardens.  The cafe offers great coffee and fantastic food in a tropical paradise.  The entry takes you through handcrafted teak Balinese doors along a path lined with beautiful tropical plants.

We were seated out on the deck and the  got to choose from the delicious menu of fresh meals, desserts, and fresh juices featuring their locally sourced ingredients which is prepared fresh daily in their kitchen.  We all chose to share a treat with John and Barb choosing cheesecake, Ian and Kathy a vanilla slice and Steve and I, a beautiful nut and fruit bread made on the premises and which we requested to be toasted.  It was totally delicious..  A couple of us choose their beautiful fresh fruit drinks, Steve chose hot chocolate, whilst Ian and Kathy chose a coffee and John a cup of tea.

Our food was served promptly, and it was so good, we really had planned to come back again.  Unfortunately in the end we ran out of time, so now it is back on the list of places to visit again, next time we come back.

The deck we had our morning tea on sits out over a beautiful lagoon area where we enjoyed the pitter-patter of the water feature in the background. 

Beautiful water features

The cafe also had a lovely gift shop with lots of quirky bits and pieces in there, and we had a good look around in there.  They had some great gift ideas and it have been very easy to have had a bit of a splurge.

Once we had finished our morning tea  most of us went for a bit of a walk around the  grounds taking in the natural beauty of lots of flowering plants.

Just down the road from the 1770 Getaway Garden Cafe, was the Reedy creek Reserve which was the home to the famous Paperbark Trail.  This was also on our list of places to visit whilst we were at Agnes  so it was our next stop for the day...

This truly was quite a magical spot to visit...

The trail is not that long only about 400m and the suggested time to walk it is 45minutes.  This is mainly because it is not necessarily an easy walk. Whilst the trail is suitable for most ages and fitness levels, it is not suitable for some including the very young or those with limited mobility or balance as you encounter obstacles, stepping stones, fallen debris, water crossings, steps and rough surfaces that require good balance.  

y

This short but spectacular forest walk took us  into the heart of a very special type of forest, rarely seen in such pristine condition.  The specially designed track made it possible to penetrate the thick lush undergrowth and tiptoe through the wetlands (without getting our feet wet) until we were completely surrounded by hundreds of paperbark tree trunks and the majestic green fronds of the cabbage palm.

It truly was spectacular and we absolutely loved it.  Had we of thought about it, we could have packed a picnic lunch and bought it with us as there was a picnic table set up there for people to have a meal...

 

From here we decided to take a drive around to 1770 and check  out the Marina.  We were familiar with the marina as we visited it often when we were running the Scripture Union Fishing Camps.  We would all meet at the Marina and Desi Merguard would transport us up the beach to Jenny Lind where he would drop us all off and we would camp there for five days.  

 

It was nice to come back and reminise and we had hoped that we might be able to take  a trip out on the LARC for old times sake....

 

We were keen to book a cruise and whilst we loved the sound of the Paradise Tour, it was a full day tour and we were a little time poor this trip so instead decided to do a Sunset Cruise instead which was roughly a two hour cruise towards the end of the day.  The coast was $40 per person or $34 for a senior... Pretty good value we thought.

The afternoon cruise enabled us to experience the delights of the Town of 1770 and the thrill ofa ride on their unique amphibious vessel.  The tour takes in the magic of Round Hill creek and Eurimbula National Park coastline with all of it's wildlife and magnificent views.  We would also get to hear about the fascinating history of the local area, the Birthplace of Queensland.  It also promised glimpses of the abundant wildlife including kangaroos, sea eagles, turtles, dolphins and stringrays just to know a few.

This all sounded pretty good to us, so we booked our seats for Thursday afternoon.

Once we had done this we had a good look around the Marina itself and checked out the boats etc.

It had changed quite a bit since we were last here which must be close to 20 years ago... (where does time go)

In memory of our good friend Des who was all of this and much more....

  

 

 

 Our last port of call for today was a drive to the 1770 Headland and Lookout...

 

We drove out to the end of the peninsula to Round Hill Headlands where there are two walks to Bustard Bay Lookout and Wave Lookout.  The walks around the headland are easy and and the boardwalk around the end of the headland is particularly impressive with excellent views across the bay and out into the Coral Sea. 

Once we hopped out of our cars we did the short 90metres walk to Wave Lookout, it was a short sunny stroll across the headland to a lovely wooden viewing platform  overlooking a small rocky bay.  South easterly winds whip waves into this bay and force the rich array of plants to creep low around this headland… 

Viewing platform at Wave Lookout

From Wave Lookout we double back to the start of the 300m track to Bustard Bay Lookout.. it was a short easy 15 minute walk to the tip of the headland. The coastal beach scrub closes around you and partly shades the track.  Butterflies were prevalent and we managed to get a few good photos before arriving at the large comfortable viewing platform which offered long views of Bustard Bay where the Endeavour anchored so many years ago.  It was definitely worth the walk for the magnificent 360 degree views from the lookout.  Long, golden beaches, white waves crashing into the rocks below, aquamarine ocean as far as the eye can see, turtles swimming below.  All quite magical really.  It was the perfect day with the perfect weather

The views from the tract were quite stunning....

Lots of dolphin swimming below us...

We came across lots of butterflies on this walk also...

By the time we had done this walk and headed back to our car it was almost 3pm.  We were all starting to feel a little peckish as we had not had lunch so we figured it was time to head back to our caravan park for a bite to eat and just to chill out after our busy day out exploring...

wild passionfruit...  brings back childhood memories...

The rest of the afternoon was pretty chilled at with us all relazing back at the park.  Some of us took a late afternoon stroll along the beach, whilst others of us read.  

John and Barb were providing dinner for us all this evening so both Kathy and I could relax.   We have had a wonderful day together as our first full day at Agnes..

Wonder what tomorrow will hold....