As planned, we assembled at the Barge Depot on Wednesday morning. Keith was there, and Dave Morris came up from Coffs Harbour. Ray and Dave travelled together and made a holiday of the trip up. Heinz brought along his sister and nepher from Lismore, and Larry and all his family were there. The arrival of Viv and Nifty was a bit of a surprise... they turned up in a 'Cruiser loaded to the gunwalls! And didn't Viv cop a caning for the rest of the holiday!
The barge trip across was smooth and sunny.
What can we say about Moreton Island? Apart from the sun, surf and sand, our other activities were swimming, beer drinking, eating fresh spanner crabs and fish, drinking beers, swimming with dolphins, drinking some more beers, snorkelling and feeding shoals of fish around artificial reefs inbetween beers, whale spotting over a few beers, and circumcising the island with a few coldies. (And there is no truth in the story that the whale turned out to be Larry collecting a bucket of seawater!)
Our host, Clint, despite not being in the best of health, spent time with us and made our stay a heap more enjoyable. Viv and Nifty brought up a portable beer garden complete with palm trees and lanterns, as well as heaps of party supplies. It's no wonder they took a 'Cruiser... all their gear wouldn't fit in a Wrangler. Our accommodation was in a fishing lodge, which proved to be comfortable and good value. The Jeep Club lived up to its reputation as 'rain bringers', it rained the day we left the island. The return trip on the barge was rough and a few guys 'berleyed the bay'. They reckon it had nothing to do with the previous nights party. Keep your wits about you... it's rumoured there's likely to be a Wrangler going cheap soon. Driven by a little old lady and never been off road (certainly not on Moreton Island). ITCHY WILLY.
In attendance: The Stewart gang, The Rasdall Twins (Dave and Ray), Keith, Viv and The Keg (Nifty), Heinz, Helga and Gary, Me (The Sawtell Satellite 1/2 member), Brett (Arrives late, then rubs it in that he's staying another week) Arriving at Scarborough at 7am on Wednesday, I was pleased to see some familiar faces, It's been 11 years since I moved to Coffs Harbour and the only members I didn't know were Viv and Nifty. I could tell it wouldn't take long to get to know Nifty he had already opened his first beer for the day (this would prove to be a regular occurrence). The barge trip over was nice and smooth, taking about 2 hours. We were met at Bulwer by Clint, the manager of the fishing lodge and soon to be guide and mentor. The lodge is owned by Virginia Nundah Fishing Club and it contained all the comforts of home Fridge, Freezer, Oven, BBQ, Beer Fridge, 1 Double bed and about 8 double bunks. Larry, Penny, Angus (the perv) and the girls had the snobs unit down the back, away from the riff raff. I'm not going to bore you with a day by day report probably because it's been nearly three months since the event but during the week we visited most points of interest on the island.
The Desert a large sand mass in the middle of the island not far from Tangalooma resort it was too damn hot to walk to the centre (except for some who didn't prefer to sit back with the car and drink more beer). Unfortunately unless you are rich, and can afford (or even want to) stay at Tangalooma Resort you can't drive into the Centre of the desert. The Tangalooma buses are the only vehicles allowed to drive on the dunes.
Clint took us out Crabbing, netting about 60 Spanner Crabs, He then cooked them up for us which kept us fed for three days. It's a hard life, when at the end of a hard day driving, drinking (drink driving is compulsory on Moreton), you come home, go down to the beach, watch the sun go down and pig out on Spanner Crabs and beer. On the final night Clint took us up the road where he looks after a small holiday home (sic) for one of the hard done by people who can afford to come over of a weekend. We partied on the verandah till late playing music, drinking, eating, more drinking (Penny!). I thank Larry for organizing this trip and everyone that came along, I felt like it was yesterday I was on my last trip Not much has changed except for the kid's getting older, last trip I did with Angus he was chucking tantrums this year he was spotting potentials for Dave R and me. (Who was that woman that was hugging Angus down on the beach).
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