Agnes Water: The Kangaroo Place
The Town of 1770 has long piqued my curiosity, purely because it has a number for a name. Officially it’s spelled out as ‘Seventeen Seventy’ in keeping with Queensland’s naming convention, but writing ‘1770’ seems more fitting for the world’s only town with a number for a name.
1770 was called Round Hill until 1970, when it was rechristened to commemorate the bicentenary of then-Lieutenant Cook’s first landing in Queensland. He is impossible to ignore as he sailed all over Oceania ‘discovering’ places, disregarding the history that existed prior to his arrival.

Twinned with 1770 is Agnes Water; the two are connected by a 7km stretch of Captain Cook (!) Drive. It’s considered Queensland’s northernmost surf beach, safe from stingers and still drawing in a bit of swell.
All of these things were interesting, but what finally got me to 1770 & Agnes Water was the promise of camping with kangaroos. (Looks like I’m not that great with history either.)
We use the excellent WikiCamps app when choosing campsites, and that’s how Jared learned about Horizons Kangaroo Sanctuary. This is how that went down:
“Hey this place in Agnes Water lets you camp with kangaroos,” he said.
“BOOK IT NOW.”
Horizons is run by a couple who rehabilitate orphaned joeys before releasing them into the wild. They have about ten campsites on the property and all proceeds go to the joeys, so everybody wins.

Except the neighbours, who are vehemently opposed to an increased number of kangaroos in the area, but that’s a different story.

It was one of our most beautiful campsite vistas to date, on top of a hill with the ocean in front of us and the mountains behind us. And, of course, kangaroos everywhere.


Jared asked me recently if I thought I’d ever get tired of seeing kangaroos—after a combined 5+ years in Australia I still point them out whenever I spot one. In saying that, I still shout ‘COW!’ when I see cows, so my answer was no, I’ll never get sick of roos.


Camping at Horizons made me feel like the kangaroo version of Jane Goodall, surrounded by kangaroos who paid me no attention. I stood watch while Jared backed the car into the site, and even had to physically push one stubborn roo out of the way.
I felt pretty firmly in Australia at that moment, with my hand on the little animal’s furry backside, cooing at Skippy to get out of the way. The days to follow cemented that feeling; each day the kangaroos lounged around eating grass, sunning themselves, and scratching itches as required.


We were slightly more active than the kangaroos, though we had the advantage of wheels and managed to cover more ground. Agnes Water and 1770 are part of the Southern Great Barrier Reef, and the water is stunning.

The best views of our short visit were from the 1770 headland, accessible by walking track from the headland carpark or (surprise surprise) the Cook memorial cairn. Insider tip: if you detour a bit from the main paths, you can get down to secluded swimming beaches without too much trouble.

Obviously, the standout for me was the kangaroo interaction. I’ve already taken to calling Agnes Water/1770 ‘the kangaroo place,’ despite the fact that kangaroos live all over Australia and Horizons isn’t the only place you can hang out with them.
But Agnes Water & 1770 is where I had my kangaroo experience, so the twin towns are forever linked to marsupials in my mind.
Maybe I’ll petition for another name change.


Ugh I love them. They are like giant cats.
Also, we’ve seen SO MANY sheep and cows in the past 3 months and I still get excited every time. Maybe it’s just an animal person thing?
I think it might be. I have noticed that I take way less photos of the kangaroos, but I still definitely stare at them as they stare at me until we’re both uncomfortable.
The nightlife is quiet in Agnes Water and 1770, and with a lot of self-contained accommodation, it suits to eat in. We try a couple of places during the day and stay in at night especially as our beach shack is very cute and cosy!