Fraser Island Clean Up Weekend

23rd-24th-25th April

Wow! If you weren’t there, be there next year. What a weekend, from a packed campsite (19 cars and 60 people) to a visit to a WWII Commando training site to Greg Sims’ moving Last Post at dawn on Eurong Beach, it was one great experience after another. There is no way I can fit it into one report so apologies now for all the things I have left out.

We set off on Friday with the Warrys, Wells, Meyers and McGees in tow, and caught up to the Chapmans and Ekvalls at Gympie. After the usual run to Inskip Point we stopped to lower tyre pressures before catching the barge. At this point it poured rain, only stopping once we were back in our cars.

Once off the barge we set off for camp (hoping that the early birds had secured last year’s prime spot) with an easy run around Hook Point up to “Little Ipswich” just north of Cornwalls Break Road. It was here that we found that the early-bird crew of Team Lucas/Taylor/Hiscox had indeed secured our old spot. Everyone jumped out to set up camp so we could start happy hour. The Ranger came through not long after that and gave a quick chat warning us about the very active dingoes, which resulted in a couple of the girls bringing their tent back closer to base camp! It was no fairy story, as we had a very brave dingo in and out of the campsite all weekend, and during the clean-up one tracking Stewart Bishop and another checking out the back of Lee’s Patrol at very close quarters (it was almost inside!).

The Sims clan arrived not long after that, and we then spent some time after dinner waiting for the very overdue El Presidente and tribe. Given that high tide was at 7.30 we were getting a bit worried until at 7.00 we heard a plaintive “Is there anyone from Ipswich on channel?” and a very relieved Paul and Nicole were talked in just ahead of the tide. It turned out that the central road had bounced their roof rack off the gutter mounts onto the roof and they had slowly driven the last 20-odd kilometers trying not to lose their gear! Not happy Jan! Good thing they have a panel beater in the family.

Saturday started slowly as we waited for the rest of the crew to arrive, being the Elmore’s, Clan Mario, Bill Freeman, Lynch’s, Harris’, Scott’s, and Stu Bishop. We split into 2 groups for trip to the West Coast. Vanessa and I led half the cars to Lake Wabby for smoko (just a small walk to have a look for the first timers) then off to the old Z-Force training site near McKenzies Jetty for lunch, just south of the Kingfisher resort. We had an interesting drive; with Vanessa looking so intimidating in the Prado that even a tour bus backed up 50 metres to let us pass (it had nothing to do with the other 8 Patrols, Jackaroos and Pajeros behind her).

Anyway, her expert navigating soon had us at the old timber mill at McKenzie’s jetty where we explored the beach including an old tractor complete with barnacles (Mal thought it just needed a push start) and a boiler from a small ship. We then walked (yes, on our feet again!) up to the Z-Force site for some history and a bit of an explore, then back to camp via Leading Hill and the Stonewash Blow (another quick walk) for another Happy Hour. Someone said they had done more walking on this one drive than they had done in the previous 3 years in the club! The other group didn’t make it to the jetty, deciding to sample the delights of the Resort instead. Either that or they got lost.

Sunday was clean-up day, and we had the little bit of beach from Dilli Village south to Hook Point, about 25km long give or take. With Vanessa setting the day up and shepherding the group down the beach we hoovered up over a tonne of rubbish into 80 large bags, 4 roof racks and a Cruiser Ute! The Ranger found us at Eurong and because we had so much took us around to the Transfer Station where we filled a very large skip. It seemed that we collected more than all the other clubs put together! Unusual items included a message in a bottle, a long piece of 200mm mooring rope (it filled the tray of the Scott’s ute), a drum of toxic waste, a 44 gallon drum that John Lucas souvenired for work, a strip of Japanese shampoo sachets, a Japanese tea diffuser and some UHT milk from the USA just to name a few. It was an amazing amount of rubbish, mostly from passing boats. The Ranger was absolutely blown away, and hopefully we have earned our free camping for another year.
The BBQ that night put on by the Association and sponsored by Toyota was a lot of fun (can’t wait to see Joe E in his Toyota shirt!) and despite a little rain at the start we all enjoyed ourselves, including a brief and moving memorial service with Greg Sims playing the Last Post.

With a little prompting from Joe, Trish and I Greg agreed to play Reveille at 5 am the next morning to rouse the camp for the Dawn Service. This service was run by the Queensland Scout 4WD Fellowship, and 26 of us made the quiet walk up to a very special service. As mentioned above Greg played the Last Post, and there were a few tears and sombre faces as we walked back for breakfast.
Mal and Trish packed up just before the rain hit, and were able to sit in the comfort of their car awning as the rest of us raced around trying to get wet gear stashed without getting drowned.

Once again the group split with some leaving to run down the central road with Vanessa and I and another group running down the beach a bit later to meet us near the barge. First to the barge were the Chapmans who braved Hook Point, and according to Betty this was the first time they had not been last to the barge! Lastly we lunched in Rainbow Beach and then a drive home via beach, highway and mountains.

Thanks to all who came, it was a great camp and our efforts in the clean-up were absolutely legendary.

Kelby