For the last weekend of our stay in Queensland we reached our destination returning to Brisbane and flying to Perth. We stayed in a small surf town called Anges Water. First two nights we were in a hostel and the one night camping. We arrived to Agnes Water on Thursday. From Hervey Bay we had booked a tour leaving from nearby Town of 1770 to Lady Musgrave island on Saturday. But while we were driving we got a message that the Saturday tour was canceled cause of strong winds. Gladly we got a chance to rebook the trip for Friday so we still could go swimming and snorkelling on the Great Barrier reef.

Town of 1770 was just a couple of kilometers away from Agnes Water, so on the first evening we went for a walk there to see the spot where the town got its peculiar name. It was the first place in Queensland where Captain Cook set ashore in the year 1770. The walk itself was pretty nice following the shore line. We were told that along the way there would be thousands of butterflies living in the forest. That was a bit of an overstatement, we saw only a few of them but here we saw our first Australian (deadly?) snake.

On Friday we woke up early for the tour to Lady Musgrave island. It was a two hour boat ride before we arrived to the island. It was surrounded with coral reef and there was only one opening which from the boat could sail past the reef and into the lagoon close to island. On the open water the tides were quite strong but in the lagoon it was really calm and clear cause the reef was blocking all the waves coming in making it a pefect spot for snorkeling. So we put our gear on and jumped into the water that turned out to be freezing. The wetsuit didn’t help at all. Still it was really nice swim along the coral reef and there were three turtles swimming there with us. The corals weren’t as colourful as we had seen in the pictures (even though perfect healthy) but still with all the different shapes and fish it was an amazing experience. 

After snorkeling for an hour we got to take a walk on Lady Musgrave island. The island was like from the movie Life of Pi with its flesh eating trees. The island itself is formed of dead coral. Once there was enough dead coral to form an island birds came to rest there. And they brought seeds from inland and fertilized it with their droppings. With time trees started to grow. But there isn’t enough nutrients for the trees naturally on the island so they have developed a system to get those extra nutrients. Once a year trees grow seeds that are clustered with sticky sappy. And when the birds nest on the tree they will get sappy all over the feathers, get sticky and unable to fly. Then they fall to the ground, die of thirst and eventally decompose giving the the nutrients the trees need. 

The last day in Agnes Water we decided to take a surf lesson (only 17$!). Although the wind was indeed strong as predicted, the waves were really small and it was almost impossible to catch them without an extra push from an instructor. Anyway it was still great fun and a nice way to spend a Saturday. In the evening we also went for a little walk in the local paperbark forest, which looked almost enchanted with its charming little boardwalks.