Day thirty-four meant another day in our new favorite paradise, Agnes Waters and the town of 1770. It was a special day in a lot of ways. We were in the middle of our eight weeks and really enjoying the lifestyle, we were in a really special place in Agnes and 1770, but most of all Jimi was twelve today. We were hoping that the trip would land us somewhere great for his birthday and by the looks of it the road-trip gods had delivered for us once again.

We started off the day with a late-morning dip at Agnes Water, but decided to have a look round first of all, and so we drove a bit further down the coast, through a backstreet or two and then dropped into a different section of the the beach. Funnily enough, we parked in what we thought was the car park for the Agnes Water surf lifesaving club, but we later found it went bust due to a lack of numbers.

I met another new best mate on my way down to the beach, who was some local bloke. Man and boy of Agnes Waters etc etc. But he had an interesting tale to tell, which one of the big money moving into the area, locals being priced out of houses and rents and lots of huge custom-built houses being left empty apart from a few weeks per year. I heard a similar story when I was to chatting the surf shop owner in Cabarita so it looks like that is the course of action whenever these backwater gems are discovered by the cashed-up. Anyway, it was new best mate who also informed me about the local Agnes Waters surf lifesaving club. Apparently they lobbied hard for years for decent facilities and when they finally arrived they built the club one or two k’s down the road from the main beach and the headland. The end result, was that the club folded due to a lack of numbers. It’s now a school, so the building has not gone to waste, but somehow there is no surf lifesaving club in existence.

Back to our little beach visit for the morning, and it was obvious why people stuck to the main beach, near to the headland – the remainder of the beach was rippy as hell, and there was no shortage of rocks. So we continued to wander down the beach towards the safety of the headland, when eventually we found another family who were happily boogie-boarding. After a chat to the Dad we understood this section of beach to be safe. He’d seen the beach in low tide, and knew this section was rock-free, and there was a small section, maybe less than 100metres wide that was rip-free. He looked like he knew his stuff, and after a few minutes watching the waves roll in, we waded in and had an absolute blast. The surf was up as they say, and both Jimi and Mazzy caught a shedload of waves, both on the board or just using their bodies. Jimi’s face-sting was also manageable and it was a great session. Warm water, great waves and a few thousand k’s from home and work.

Mum kind of forgot to take more pictures, but as it turned out she’d also made a new best mate. Wifey of the surf-dad, and she was very knowledgeable on the trip up the East coast. So much so, we abandoned Gladstone (a future leg) based on her info which would later give us an extra day of our choosing.

This beach session, as much as it was amazing had to come to an end as we had booked into a LARC tour as part of Jimi’s birthday celebrations. Apart from having seen these odd-looking boat-car things parked up at the marina at 1770 we knew very little about this tour, other than its some kind of boat-car thing. So their was an air of mystery around exactly how it would shape up. As it turned out, it was a fantastic hour or so, possibly one of the most enjoyable excursion type things any of us had done in a long time.

The basis of the trip, was that these amphibious craft ride out of the marina and across numerous tidal creeks. There was a huge emphasis on the ecology of the environment, and a background on how these craft came to be here. But it wasn’t all theory as driver-bloke routinely drove off the steeper tidal creeks with enough speed to generate plenty of excitement and a fair old splash.

Other features which were impossible to ignore were the views of the environment that the Larc was providing us with, as well as the tranquility, especially since the Larc gave us access to areas you could not normally get to. There were small islands in the background, as well as the surrounding mountains. It was pretty spectacular. And thankfully, nobody needed the loo. First time for everything!

There are a few pics attached which were taken from the tablet, so there is a chance the quality is not the best but hopefully they are ok.

It was a fantastic trip, so much so, that when it ended there was only one thing for it – have a quick beer and soak up more of the scenery. Kind of like we were still out there messing around on the Larc.

And with a happy-juice or two flowing around, we had time for one more gelato visit.

This time back to original-favourite beach alongside the headland.

So with the sun setting, and feeding being required, we headed back to the 1770 marina, in search of Australia’s best fish and chip shop – the Rusty Pelican.

As if by magic, or through more intervention from the road-trip gods, we had ring side seats, fish and chips and a great little sunset all viewed from the grounds of the chippy. Another great day, and we had definitely packed in a lot once again. Oh yeah, and our gorgeous boy was now twelve!