About 1770
Seventy Seventy is a new town. Captain Cook Drive was only sealed in the 1990s and all the houses now scattered around Ocean Drive, and surrounded by the Joseph Banks Regional Park, look as though they have been built this century. It is a place with a marina, a pub (The Tree Hotel), a few shops, a camping ground, and pleasant walks with delightful, tropical views across Bustard Bay. The area’s chief appeal, as indicated by the name of the town, is its celebration of Captain James Cook’s journey up the east coast of Australia. It was the second place (after Botany Bay) where he landed on the continent and that is worth celebrating. It barely has a separate identity which is why the area is often known by the combined name – Agnes Water 1770 (sourced from the Aussie Towns website – click for more).
I first heard of 1770 back in 2013 on our 1st caravaning trip up the east coast of Australia. Nearly everyone we met told us how cool it is. So we put that into our “must stay at” bucket list back then. There were no vacancies when we were travelling up the coast in August and we were extremely lucky to book 2 days at this idyllic location.
Settling into our beach-side site at the 1770 Camping Ground (very lucky to get this site as well – just sayin’) we took a stroll along the beach to to the nearby Captain Cook memorial cairn commemorating the first landing of the “Endeavour” in Queensland at Bustard Bay. It stands on the site where one of Cook’s crew carved the date on a tree near where they came ashore.
Seventeen Seventy Campground
One of the most “cramped in” places we had stayed at where people park caravans, motor-homes and tents into every skerrick of available space. Hope they do not have to evacuate this park in a hurry as there’s only one exit! BUT, we were parked right next to the beach and it was beautiful.
Our 1st sunset
With only 2 nights in 1770 we were hoping to view the iconic sunsets which it’s renowned for and the 1st night wasn’t too shabby.
Captain Cook Memorial
After circumnavigating New Zealand, Captain James Cook’s expedition sailed west for Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) but winds forced the Endeavour north and the expedition came upon the east coast of Australia, landing at this location on 24th May 1770 (hence the town’s name). They anchored in the bay and set off to find fresh water.
We found a memorial cairn just a short walk to the east of the campground.
A trip on the LARC
One of the quirky things you can do while in 1770 is to take a trip on the pink LARC – an amphibious bus come boat. So off we went to support the local tour industry and booked in for the 1 hour afternoon cruise. It was a bit of a novelty thing to do but we managed to see a sea eagle perched in a tree as well as many smaller sea birds. The trip finished with a “splash down” as the driver drives full bore into the water from the beach – pretty cool.
The LARC
1770 storm and stunning sunset
Toward the end of our second day we noticed the sky darkening while we finished the LARC tour and once back at our campsite decided to pack some of our gear up as it looked really stormy.
Lucky we did some packing up as a massive storm hit the park with extremely strong wind and really heavy rain. The place was flooded in no-time at all. Palm fronds were flying through the air covering tents, cars and caravans – it was really scary. Our poor neighbours tent had so many palm fronds over it that it started looking more like a bush hut than a tent.
Our fellow campers all got together to clean up the mess left by the storm and to make the place safe again. It was then followed up by an amazing pink and orange sunset.
Summing up…
- Accommodation – 1770 Camping Ground (website)
- Cost per night – $48.00 (@ 26-Oct-2020)
- Facilities – not too bad
- CP Location – 641 Captain Cook Dr, Seventeen Seventy (maplink)
- Our rating/score – 8/10
- Was it a nice town to visit? – absolutely
- Activities & places of interest – plenty to do – check out TripAdvisor
- Tourist info centre? – 71 Springs Rd, Agnes Water (website)
- Would we return? – yes
- Overall Score – 9/10
- Summing up – this was a bucket list being ticked off – loved it
