Scooteroos Rock – Greyhound Suck!
18th January 2007
Leaving Hervey Bay, we broke the trip up to Airlie Beach with an overnight stop at Town of 1770 which we suspect was named after the year in which Captain Cook landed. Town of 1770 is the last place up the East Coast where you can surf as the remaining stretch of coast is sheltered by the great barrier reef. The plan was to continue to refine our surfing motor skills but sadly the weather was too calm to warrant another day playing in the surf.
As it is there is not a great deal to do around Town of 1770 or its close neighbour Agnes Water but fortunately the backpackers we were staying at was great. It had a wonderful atmosphere with numerous fellow backpackers just chilling out listening to the great music which was playing or with their noses in a book.
One of the few things on offer was a Scooteroo motorbike tour around the two towns and the surrounding bush. Well this tour had our names written all over it as only weeks earlier I had said to Chris how I would love to drive a motorbike….but not just any bike we were to be riding choppers! (if only Chris had kept that 1970’s handlebar moustache he grew whilst in Sydney).
So that’s how we found ourselves cruising around the Australian countryside as the kangaroos were hopping around and the sun was setting thinking we were the coolest people on the planet.
Once the tour was over it was a mad dash to catch the overnight GREYHOUND (those reading please take note of the company – all will become apparent!) bus which was to arrive in Airlie beach at 6.15 am giving us three hours to shower and sort ourselves out before boarding the boat we had booked in the Whitsundays….or would it?
Twenty minutes after boarding the GREYHOUND bus thick black smoke was engulfing the bus. The driver got out to investigate and the smokers got out to fill there lungs! So there we were pulled up by the side of the road in the pitch dark in what I would presume to be ideal snake territory. The back of the bus was open, smoke continued to flume out of the engine and to top all this the engine was leaking fluid which one could only deduce to be either oil or fuel. So what do a couple of passengers do? Stand looking at the engine whilst lighting up another cigarette – genius!
It was at least half an hour before the driver realised we were not going anywhere ….now I am no mechanic but I could have told him that on first sight. The driver was never really took control of the situation he simply bumbled along taking instructions from a car driver who had stopped to help! An hour later we had still not be given any details and we had no clue what was going on (one would think that GREYHOUND had some procedure to follow should the bus break down but apparently not!).
So weighing up the chances of the bus going up in flames against the chances of being bitten by a snake I got back on the bus which was now about 180 degrees as I could no longer keep my eyes open. Chris on the other hand braved the snakes! Finally we were told another bus was on its way but would be at least 2 hours getting to us. We would be cutting it fine to board our boat as would other passengers on the bus the general atmosphere was now tired and extremely p$$$ed off.
Eventually the new bus arrived along with an arsey driver and we were on our way. At one of our many comfort breaks we called the sailing company to alert them to our late arrival only for the owners wife to offer to pick us up when our bus arrived. We finally arrived in Airlie at 9am which was half an hour before we were to depart so we rushed down to the harbour tired and smelly looking forward to a very relaxing three days!
Tags: Australia, Vietnam
Chris and Charl
Not sure how you managed to stay on the bike, when the two wheel peddle variety, has you on the floor more than the seat…