Our little "Adventure"

I know I haven't really been able to post too much lately, so I thought I'd give just a little snippet from our time at the beach town of Agnes Water. Please enjoy this lengthy, verbose rendition of a little escapade we experienced....

A few days ago, after a few days of lazy relaxation at our current hostel located somewhere along the eastern coast-north of brisbane, south of rockhampton is all I know- reading books, swinging in hammocks, watching movies, taking naps, well you get the picture, Chris and I decided to actually be productive, take a shuttle into town, and try out a free kite-surfing lesson on the beach. Sounds like good, simple fun-right? Yeah. I thought so too.

Well it all started out well. We woke up in time, had a nice free breakfast of cereal (which I upgraded with a banana I bought at the market-cha-ching!) and read for an hour before our shuttle was set to depart at 10. We were supposed to meet up with a girl we had met to find out where the lessons were. Unfortunately the first shuttle was full so she didn't make it on. Now here's our error. We decided once dropped off at town we would make our own way down to the beach and scout it out ourselves. Hmmm.

So here we are...fresh and ready after a good nights sleep, well lotioned up with sunblock protection, armed with our towels, a bottle of water, and sunblock reserves we start our way down the street in a direction we think the beach just might be. At this point we're feeling good. The sun is beating down but in a soft, warming, comforting way and we spot a sign proclaiming "public beach access here". Success! We make our way down the footpath and step onto the beach. Not bad-not as pretty as the beach from the weekend before but water and sand nonetheless. However, it's not a very busy beach. There are no flags staking claim where you may safely enter the water without fear of being attacked by jelly box fish or bluebottles or stingrays (seriously, the ocean is freaking dangerous) and we see no sign of promised surf lessons/kite surfing lessons/ect. in the vicinity. Surely we are in the wrong place? So here's our plan...walk down the beach to the turn and see what's around the bend. Maybe the beach of our dreams is just around the corner waiting to be found. Also, we figure this is our way into the small town of 1770 which we would like to see. We congratulate ourselves on our plan and start to make our way hand in hand down the picturesque walk....

Cut to twenty minutes later: at this point we're still feeling rather optimistic...the sand is cool under our toes, the waves are gently tickling our feet, enjoying a little sun and surf as it were. However, that bend that we're heading to does not seem to be getting much closer....

Another twenty minutes elapse: That 'warm and comforting sun' is evolving into a more uncomfortable presence-beating down, reflecting off the water, and stinging my neck, shoulders, arms and even feet; at the same time I'm really starting to 'glisten' which is a nicer way of putting 'sweating like a pig'. I decide to lather up with another round of sunblock. Bugger. That slimy white lotion is just sliding off my sweaty body....

30 minutes later: I'm really gettting a bit nervous....that 'bend' in the beach looks more like a rock fall off and the 'building tops' I imagined at the top of the hill are trees. Oh yeah, and the sand is like fire burning my feet as I continually sink in only to push back out again and repeat. It's like being on a freaking stair stepper. In crazy, sweat inducing, oxygen sucking weather. And lava sand....

After yet another 15 minutes we've reached the end of the beach. Our choices? To hike over the hilly terrain to our left, turn back for a two hour return walk on the now seemingly treacherous beach, or dive into rock infested waters, which I'm pretty sure is the least worrisome type of infestation that we would encounter in doing so. Sigh. Bring it on hill....

So after an 'invigorating' thirty minute hike over the hill, hopping a couple of fences, trudging down a couple of roads, and harassing a few strangers for directions we finally reach the Town of 1770, grab two beers, order some much needed food, and collapse in the shade sweaty and, in my case, sunburnt to a crisp. Hooray adventure (I hope you can sense the sarcasm through the text).

And do you want to know the real kicker? Later that evening we ran into the girl we were supposed to meet up with only to be informed that she had seen us walking down that very same beach at the beginning of our travels, tried to wave us down, and finally gave up. Yep. We were in the right place all along. I'm sure this will be funny in a couple of days. Or months. Or years. Or maybe just when this gosh awful worst sunburn of my life finally subsides. Did you know that after suffering from raw skin for a couple of days, the sunburned areas can actually swell up making one of your feet feel sprained and your forehead look like an alien only to spring up millions of tiny blisters once the swelling subsides and eventually turn into flaky bits of your skin falling off revealing raw, splotchy, disolored skin? Well it does. Needless to say, no pictures with me in them for awhile...

Hope everyone is living sunburn free....I miss you!