Agnes Water/1770 - Again

The next day we went on a free “tour” of Agnes Water/1770. It was somewhat of a tour in that it took us around some various parts of the towns, but most of the time the girl spent talking about the different services on offer from her company. She also told us about a party at one of the hostels that night, which included a free pick up and drop off. After the “tour” we hung around the hostel and later that night decided to go to the party. We were picked up in a minivan and driven 3 minutes down the road to the other hostel. That hostel had a full licensed bar on their premises and alcohol wasn’t too expensive. I don’t like beer and wine was too expensive for me to drink so I asked the bar tenders if there was another option for me. They suggested their own concoction of goon, vodka and juice for $3 a glass. I wasn’t convinced there would be a lot of alcohol in it for $3 but they assured me there was. I ordered a glass and drank it like juice. I didn’t taste any alcohol in it. I kept buying and drinking this concoction and very shortly I was very drunk.

Part of the evening were some games you could play to win some prizes. One game involved sitting in a circle while a box was passed around with different dares in it. If the box landed on you, you had to reach in a select a dare and then complete it. Examples would be singing your national anthem or eating a spoonful of veggie mite (disgusting). The box never landed on me and throughout the game Andrew kept brining me drinks. Halfway through I told him I couldn’t drink anymore and that I was very drunk. I could not sit in that chair during the game without feeling dizzy. It turns out there was a lot of alcohol in those drinks! I started drinking water. After some dancing and socializing with people it was time for another game. This time we got a gummy worm and we had to tie it in a knot with our tongue and we would win a trip to the Whitsundays. Since I was not sober I had a brilliant idea to just tie it with my hands and then put it in my mouth. It worked and I was the first one to do it but there were other people who protested so we had to do it again with another gummy bear. This time Andrew won, and I’m still not sure if he used his tongue or did it with his hands too. Either way, we won! It wasn’t really a free trip, it was pay for 1 person and get the other person for free. Unfortunately it was for a very specific boat for only 1 night so we didn’t end up using it. I guess cheating doesn’t pay.

We got back to the hostel around 11pm and a bunch of us were sitting outside in the garden drinking a few beers. Andrew was chatting with a French guy and they started singing “Frere Jacque” when the owner of the hostel, who was right behind us cleaning the kitchen, came out and started saying “No, no, no, no” and took the beer Andrew was holding and started spilling it on people. Needless to say everyone was stunned into silence. Then he started accusing us of getting kicked out of the bar and that we had now brought the party back to the hostel. Besides Andrew and the French guy who had just started singing, everyone was sitting around quietly chatting. Unfortunately we had seen this guy be a jerk to other people since we had arrived at the hostel. He would scream at people if they didn’t dry their dishes. Not just comment on it but actually yell “Are you stupid? Didn’t your mother ever teach you how to clean and dry your dishes properly?” in general we he would treat everyone like imbeciles. The evening ended quite quickly after that and no one was happy. Andrew was livid. The owner acted like a complete jerk and had spilled beer on people, when the least he could have done was said it was too late to be making any noise and to break it up. The decision to check out the next day was very easy to make.

First thing the next morning we went to a surf shop for a cheap surf lesson. The 3 hour lesson would cost us $17 per person. Anne joined us and after filling out all the required paperwork we started heading down to the beach. We had a beautiful sunny day but it wasn’t that hot. Around the 20 degree Celsius mark. Not cold but definitely not swimming weather. At the beach we were handed some shirts to help protect us from the sun but not the cold. The first 45min the instructor explained the basics to us on sand and made us practice. We quickly learned surfing was all about paddling and I didn’t know it then but I would spend most of the morning doing just that. It was easy enough on sand to stand up on the surfboard, but once we got in the water I found it impossible. I tried and tried, even with the help of the instructors I couldn’t do it. My knees would just give out. Andrew managed to get up a few times and I was really proud of him but also annoyed. It seems like everything comes easily to him. I gave up near the end and had a blast just “belly surfing”. I would “surf” the wave on my stomach while lying on a surf board. It was much easier and just as much fun.

The surf lesson ended around lunchtime. We headed back to the hostel, made some food and showered. We wanted to get the most out of the facilities before leaving. After saying goodbye to Anne we left Agnes Water around 2pm and started heading further north.