Agnes Waters & The Beginning of my Pro Surfing Career
Yesterday was an unexpectedly exciting and fun-filled day for me in the little town of Agnes Waters. What I thought would be a boring stop in a small town with nothing to do turned out to be another amazing day in the beautiful land of Australia. I got off the bus the night before to find that a Dutch couple who was on my Fraser tour with me were going to the same hostel. We ended up spending the rest of the night together with one other Swiss girl and we walked to the beach to look at the stars. I know it sounds like I dropped in on a romantic date night but I promise I was welcome and that they are the most relaxed and social couple ever.
The next morning I ate 5 pieces of toast for breakfast (help. More on that later) and the four of us headed to a $17 surf lesson! What a deal! Since Agnes Waters is the last place you can surf on the east coast before the reef starts up, I knew I had to give it a try. And thank goodness I did because it was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done!! I actually stood up and caught a wave 8 times, but who’s counting…. so yeah, you could say I am a natural. I even got a certificate for passing level 2 of surf lessons (as did every single other person even if they didn’t catch 8 waves like the expert here but shh) so that will be going up on the fridge as soon as I’m home, obviously. Is there anything I can’t do?!?!
After the lesson we hung out for lunch and then went to the beach for a bit before catching a shuttle bus to a gorgeous lookout point to watch the sunset. The neighbouring town of 1770 is the only spot on the east coast where the sun actually sets over the ocean. We joined up with four other girls we met at the surf lesson and enjoyed the unbeatable views of the sun falling behind the sea.
The rest of the night was just spent hanging out and laughing before I left to catch my overnight bus to Airlie Beach, and it was another sad goodbye to the Dutch couple that I had quickly become good friends with. It’s so sad meeting people you genuinely like only to never see them again. That’s the only downside to meeting great people when travelling.
So here’s the thing. I am seeking some advice because I have been in major discomfort recently as a result of my diet. I have been eating a minimum of 5 pieces of bread every day, often times more, and I’m starting to worry that I have some level of intolerance to gluten… but I’ve never really noticed problems before and I LOVE bread and would be devastated if I had to cut it out. **edit: after reading this I now realize maybe it is just absurd to consume that much bread and it has nothing to do with gluten and everything to do with the fact that I am eating extremely abnormal amounts of bread.
The other option is that raw food doesn’t sit well with me, and I think that’s the real problem here. Aside from some fruits and veggies, I’ve never felt great after eating an abundance of raw foods. Last night I made a really crappy and unsatisfying salad with just spinach, mushrooms, and chickpeas. Ew, I know. I was trying to be healthy after so much bread and cookies and crackers but man it was so unenjoyable. I was also trying to be cheap and only buy a few things to make a salad but we all know I love food so when it comes to meal time and I don’t in the least bit enjoy shoving my face with food, you know there’s a problem.
Back to the point. After my salad, if you can even call it that, my stomach was bloated to the max and felt all bubbly and in pain. I took an Ayurvedic quiz once which asks you about your blood circulation, body type, physical activity and so on and then tells you what types of foods are best for you. My results said I should stay away from raw foods and eat mostly warm, cooked foods and I think I should have listened. So I’m going to try to eat less raw foods and see if I feel better before I go crazy and assume it’s gluten, because gluten is my best friend. I am nothing without bread and bread is nothing without me.
If anyone has any others ideas as to why my stomach feels like there’s a giant rock sitting in it that is fizzing and bubbling uncontrollably, please let me know. I hope my Ayurvedic medicine results are right and I will just have to put more effort into cooking… I’m so lazy when travelling and can’t even be bothered to whip up some pasta and tomato sauce which is a staple for most travellers, but I always stick to sandwiches and uncooked foods. It clearly isn’t working for me so I will have to make a change.
Luckily I have all day to research into it and make myself some proper food since my new location of Airlie Beach is raining like a mother trucker and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. It’s also supposed to rain for the next few days while I’m on my Whitsundays sailing trip and I’m really not thrilled about it. Apparently you can hardly see anything if you get bad weather and after the huge chunk of money I’ve coughed up for this, I will be heartbroken if I can’t even snorkel off those heavenly white sand beaches.
This is also my first time being alone again after almost five days of constant company and friends, so it’s a little weird but honestly kind of nice. Don’t get me wrong, I had so much fun with all the awesome people I met and would love to hang out with them again if they were here, but I also kind of missed doing my own thing and having my own agenda. Travelling alone is so great for that because you get the best of both worlds.
Anywho! Time for me to find a cure for my tummy troubles on this gloomy, depressing, constant down pour of a day. This place would be so beautiful in the sunshine, I can already tell, but it’s very unenjoyable in the pouring rain. I think I will try to find a cafe and get a warm drink, find some good wifi and look into my Ayurvedic healing plan… Lol I swear it’s not some made up hippie stuff. Well I don’t really know, but it was accurate for me and I’m going to roll with it.
Tal
