A wet week in Seventeen Seventy

Our next destination is the sleepy but picturesque twin towns of 1770 and Agnes Waters about three hours north of Hervey Bay. On the way we broke up the trip, as we tend to do on travelling days, with a stop in a major town for lunch or coffee, a play at the park and a general breather before hitting the road again. On this occasion the stop was at Bundaberg on a delightfully warm sunny day in a park beside the Burnett River.

Driving North out of Bundaberg, we passed through a distinct fruit growing area, the road lined with orchard after orchard of citrus and avocado trees amongst other produce. Tamara spotted a strawberry farm so we promptly stopped to grab a couple of punets for our supplies. I ran in with Tom to find a whole production line of people and machines boxing up fat, bright red strawberries ready for shipping off to the supermarket. This was a good lesson for Tom to see food coming from the source and the process behind the little punnet that you get at the supermarket. In the end we returned to the car with a 1kg tub of the freshest, most delicious strawberries that I have eaten, clearly having been picked earlier that day. Back in the car and underway again I handed out to open hands what was to be just a small sample of the goods but the 1kg tub never stood a chance and was empty by the time we arrived in 1770. 

1770 and Agnes Waters are well off the Bruce highway and so they do not see the great volume of tourist traffic that runs up and down the Queensland coast. That said the picturesque, chilled out setting of the twin towns still makes it a popular spot with those in the know and as we nearly found you need to book well ahead to secure a spot in the limited spaces available. From here on in will we have to start getting organised if we are going to stay in the places that we have planned to stay in.

The very beautiful water of Seventeen Seventy

We managed to sneak in to the simple but well located (beach front) 1770 Caravan Park. Just as we were putting the finishing touches on our sandy little caravan site it promptly began to rain. Apart from the odd couple of hours of sun it remained this way for our time in 1770, which limited our activities to a degree. Either way it still a pretty spot to be stuck in for a couple of days even if it was wet. My first tip in travelling with a Caravan or Camping is finding out where the public library is, as these can be saviors (particularly with kids) when the weather turns foul or even as a good time filler. All the ones we have come across have Internet access (WiFi or a terminal), great kids areas, printing facilities, games and puzzles.

On patrol at Agnes Waters main beach

I can hear some of you asking “a town called 1770, what’s that all about?”. 1770 is significant because Captain James Cook, the first European to explore and chart the Australian east coast, landed on the peninsula where the township sits. Its significant because it was the first landing in the now Queensland and one of a few landings made altogether. So there you go a bit of history. 1770 is also popular surfing spot, as it’s the last real place that you can surf heading north due to the effect of the Great Barrier Reef on the more northern beaches, not to mention the lack of crocodiles and stingers.   

Local surfer, Agnes Waters Beach

So the little Jayco Caravan held up well to its first real rain test, we stayed mostly dry and when the sun did come out we enjoyed our time down at Agnes Waters beach watching groups of very white, northern hemisphere tourists take to the waves under instruction from a local, bronzed, surfie. We finished up our stay by watching the sunset over the water (unusual on the east coast of Oz) at the strategically located The Deck with beers and fire trucks (lemonade & raspberry cordial) in hand. As we wandered back to the van in the dusk I was caught by a moment with the kids playing on the beach with some large driftwood, and trying to make a pyramid with them just for fun. It was such a simple thing but they were having such a blast, giggling and laughing and really enjoying the moment. They seem to be taking to life on the road well.

Sunset over Round Hill Creek, 1770

Recommendations for 1770 / Angus Waters

- Agnes Waters Beach

- Watching the sunset with a beer (or wine) over Round Hill Creek from the bar at The Deck 1770. Be prepared to pay top dollar though.