According to Stephen Khu The Bribie Island Baptist Church is running a free program of fun activities for children and youth at Brennan Park. “In 2019, our program will run from Monday, 7th January until Friday, 11th January, and we’ll be doing something a little different.
Rather than just running a program for primary-aged children in the morning and afternoon, we have condensed that program to fit into the morning session, and then we will be adding a high-school/ youth program in the afternoon/ evening,” Stephen said.
“There will be free dinner on offer to the youth Monday through to Thursday. Both programs will then come to a grand conclusion on the Friday evening with the band, the Smashing Bumpkins, joining us for a bush dance, and there’ll be food for sale, a jumping castle, and other fun to be had. The whole community is invited to come and join us,” he said.
Wouldn’t mind going back to the good old days when you could drive through most forestry, beaches or national parks around southeast Queensland without having to pay for permits or fees. Most camping or fishing spots were relatively quiet, and usually, you would be by yourself or have little to no traffic or people around. Camping at Fraser Island, Moreton Island, Double Island point or Bribie Island on the holidays was never that busy. Camping was a great way to escape for a week or two and enjoy the peace and quiet of the great outdoors.
Unfortunately, nowadays with the number of people camping and fishing, the costs of permits and fees, the number of restrictions being introduced and numerous other factors it’s no wonder why the good old days were so bloody good. Finding those beautiful quiet camping and fishing spots nowadays are getting harder and harder to find. Usually, nowadays we try and get away midweek, off-peak or find some of those quiet hidden spots that haven’t been discovered yet.
Mixed reefies from the Caloundra 12 Mile
Having a boat is great, as it gets you away from the crowds and usually, you can find somewhere nice and quiet to set up camp. So yet again another year has gone by and the holiday period is in full swing. The fishing in the passage at present has been great with a wide variety of species being taken. Over the Christmas break try to fish early afternoon through to early morning as the passage gets pretty hectic during the day with boats, jet skis, and traffic.
The duskys have been widespread throughout with some great size fish getting caught and also good numbers around. Plastics, hardbodys, and pillies the best bet. The summer whiting also has been around in good numbers and size. Live worms for the whiting. The jacks and cod also have really started to fire up with the warmer weather. Plastics, hardbodys and live baits the go.
Glassed out days and great fishing
Look for snaggy, rocky deep sections of the river with plenty of cover and shade. Some nice sweetlip, moses perch, parrot and squire coming from the coffee rock patches and ledges throughout the passage. It’s quite surprising how many patches of reefy rubbly patches are actually in the passage. There have been some great mixed reefies getting caught on the shallows around Cape Moreton and the Caloundra 2 to 12-mile areas. Sweetlip, cod, moses, perch, Maori cod, squire, parrot, nanagui and the odd legal red emperor or coral trout being caught.
Nice duskys and cod from the passage
We generally floatline the shallows with 20- 30lb braid and 40-50lb fluorocarbon leaders.6- 10kg spin sticks and 5000 size reels. On the pelagic scene, there has been some nice wahoo, Spanish mackerel, dolphin fish and marlin being caught off the cape. In the bay, there have been some nice spotty and school mackerel around. There’s also been some big longtail tuna and cobia working around the schools also. Cod, snapper, sweetlip, jacks and big parrot getting caught in the bay.
So hope you guys had a great Christmas and new years break. Tight lines and remember “don’t destroy what you came to enjoy “
Featured Image(above): Santa made an appearance for the raffle and prizes. Above with Commodore Liz Radajewski, Janine Jaavuo and winner Heather Pearson
DECEMBER VESSEL ASSISTS:
MON 03/12 0836am – 4m Tinny non-member with motor problem required a tow from near Mosquito Island in Caboolture River to Beachmere.
TUE 04/12 0913am – 5.6m Quintrex non-member motor won’t start required a tow from South Point to Spinnaker Sound Marina.
THU 06/12 0553am – 9m ½ Cabin member vessel had dragged anchor, recover from Ningi Creek to Spinnaker Sound Marina.
FRI 07/12 1534pm – 12.5m Yacht non-member with engine problems and taking on water. Tasked by Water Police to attend near East Bank, vessel OK water leak stopped, CG Mooloolaba also attending, CG towed vessel back to Mooloolaba
FRI 07/12 1721pm – house Boat had broken its mooring at Toorbul, investigate. SAT 08/12 1626pm – Report received from trawler of person slumped over in Yacht near entrance to Pumicestone Passage, B2 investigate, B1 transported Paramedics, vessel towed to Bongaree and met ambulance at Bongaree Jetty.
SUN 09/12 0630am – 15m Cruiser Member at Turners Camp taking on water, appears to have been vandalism, pumped out VKR advised.
SUN 09/12 1103am – 4m Quintrex non-member with motor problems required a tow from Turners Camp to Bellara Ramp.
WED 12/12 0642am – 5m Cuddy Cabin nonmember with electrical problems, required a tow from Gilligan’s Red to Spinnaker Sound Marina.
MON 17/12 1425pm – SAR activated by Water Police to search for missing person along Woorim foreshore. 1751pm stood down man found.
SAT 22/12 1755pm – Investigate sailing vessel dragging anchor just south of bridge – all OK.
SAT 22/12 1941pm – 15m Yacht non-member dismasted in storm no power, and a medical emergency, required tow from shipping channel to Mooloolaba, transferred to CG Mooloolaba. 3-4m seas and strong winds.
SAT 22/12 1947pm – 5.5m ½ Cabin non-member with engine failure required a tow from Tangalooma, VKR referred to C G Redcliffe.
SAT 22/12 1952pm – 8.5m Yacht non-member lost power, sails, anchor & drogue, required a tow from 3rd Lagoon to the Passage.
SAT 22/12 2153pm – 9.5m Cruiser member broke mooring off Banksia Beach, & tender sinking. Secured tender & vessel to recover in the morning.
Andrew Hooper-Nguyen (Marina Owner) with Vice Commodore Ces Luscombe and Tana,13, (owner’s son) and the giant Teddy. Bringing Spinnaker Sound Marina donation to VMR to over $1100.
Graham and Leona Patrick.
”I got it at Lowes” in front Ces Luscombe, at back: John Traill, Eric Holliday, John Burdinat, Graham Gibb and Graham Patrick.
Santa with Busy Fingers staff.
Sheryl Traill receives her raffle prize from Commodore Liz Radajewski and Vice Commodore Ces Luscombe
The bar for the evening was “manned” by Robyn Smith and Peta Schrodter
Ingrid and Ray Fox.
Friday 30th November 2018
Well over 100 members and guests attended our last Sunset Drinks for the year. The Social Committee served over 80 hamburger meals, and Trevor Botham, once again, provided music and vocals for the evening. Commodore Liz Radajewski presented Graham Gibb with a plaque in appreciation for his dedicated effort and hard work in organising the Emergency Services Expo at such short notice, after the event was cancelled in October due to dangerous weather conditions. The day went ahead and was a resounding success with almost all original participants able to man displays and exhibitions.
COMMODORE’S BBQ 11:30am Saturday 1st December 2018
It was the Committee’s turn to cater for active members and partners! The lunch was well- attended, everyone seemed to enjoy the lunch and their complimentary drink. Commodore Liz Radajewski invited the water police who working around the passage over the weekend.
VMRBI XMAS PARTY Saturday 8th December 2018
72 members and their partners attended the Xmas Party at the Base Function Room, beginning at 6pm. Unfortunately, it was a late start for those on crew as 2 late assists ran overtime and crews returned to base around 6.15pm. The music was a big hit with all, and was provided by “One Voice Kellsy”. Dinner was served a little late, which was great for bar takings, and “added to the ambiance” of the wonderful evening. There was plenty of dancing in the limited space available, and hence the inevitable conga line.
TS KOOPA AWARDS Saturday 8th December 2018
TS Koopa, End of the Year Ceremonial Divisions and Awards presentation today. Commodore Liz Radajewski and Vice Commodore Ces Luscombe represented VMRBI and presented an award to the “Recruiter of the Year “
SPINNAKER SOUND MARINA XMAS PARTY Sunday 9th December 2018:
Spinnaker Sound Marina had their annual Christmas Party for all the boaties who moor their vessels at the Marina, the local residents, businesses and staff members.
SANTA VISITS BUSY FINGERS Monday 17th December 2018.
Santa with his helpers visited Busy Fingers at Bongaree this morning with little gifts for their volunteers in appreciation for their generous support of VMRBI for the year. Santa presented those workers on duty today with gifts and left others under the tree for other volunteers, children that were in Busy Fingers today were gifted lolly bags as well.
YEARLY RADIO ROOM STATISTICS To 22nd DECEMBER 2018 12,053 Calls, 3,313 vessels logged on, 243 Vessel Assists, 97 Overdue vessels, 30 Vessel Tracking, 1,282 Sitreps, 645 Requests, 1,518 Radio Checks, 10 Securite Broadcasts, Mayday 1. Pan Pan 1. VHF calls 78.4%, – 27MHz calls 10.6%
Tags: Second-hand store. Charity. Pre-loved. Bribie Island
The staff and volunteers of Busy Fingers sincerely hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. As the New Year begins so does the shop, with us re-opening this Monday 7th January at 8.30, the staff have had a well earned two week break and hopefully are ready to start back at work.
Before we closed we had a raffle and as promised I have the numbers that won 1st Prize Lawn Mower and Shopping Gift Card Black B92, Matt 2nd Prize Gifts/Hamper and Shopping Gift Card Black F48, Vikki 3rd Prize Gifts/Hamper and Shopping Gift Card Orange E01, Colin 4th Prize Gifts/Hamper and Shopping Gift Card Black B80, Han We congratulate all the winners and thank all our supporters who participated.
The week before Christmas we had a few days of a shop wide sale of 50% off and we managed to please many shoppers who thought it was a great idea and found many bargains on the way. This will also allow us to fill the shelves with a lot of new stock that is currently sitting in the storeroom, making more room for any new donations. Our manager Sonia has reorganised the shop once again, I think she is beginning to like making changes, but all in a good cause, she is hoping to keep the shop looking open and fresh. She has also ordered a few more shelves to accommodate more stocks for display.
There will be bargain days again this year and once we know what donations are arriving we will put the bargain items on the noticeboard as you come into the front door. Sonia has also advised me that she will be having $5 baskets of clothes during the last week of the month.
DONATIONS GIVEN IN DECEMBER
During our final committee meeting of the year, we were asked for several items and they included air conditioning in the male and female bunkhouses of the Surf Lifesaving Club. Many use these bunkhouses including visiting nippers on camps as well as the lifeguards, the design of the rooms include small windows that give little airflow and ventilation so air-conditioning will improve the situation greatly.
We were also able to supply the Bribie Island primary school with volunteer T-shirts and also some new ipads to be used to help students with disabilities and learning difficulties to access the curriculum. The old ipads they are using cannot access the current learning apps the school uses. We continue to support the VMR with their monthly fuel needs and also the Bribie Hospice with the Palliative Care suite at the Bribie Island Retirement Village.
Busy Fingers would not be able to continue to support the island residents both young and mature without our customers continually coming to shop and also the wonderful residents who donate their pre-loved treasures. We thank you all.
REQUEST FOR DONATIONS
If you are a member of an island club or association and require assistance please let us know. We try to assist all not for profit associations and sporting clubs, we also assist the Police, SES, VMR and the BI Hospice. Our President Karen is quite happy to come along to your club and present our aims and goals and how your club can apply for assistance.
Please call 3410 1920 or email [email protected] if you wish to have a presentation or if you wish to apply for a grant of assistance. When applying for assistance please include a contact name and phone number and also a current equipment quote, tell us a bit about your association/ club and membership and why you need the equipment you are requesting.
Please be aware we only deal with island associations and groups, not individuals. In closing we would like to thank Mavis Howard for her hard work in supplying so many lucky dip bags for the children during the year, these sell quickly and give so much enjoyment to the kids. Also, we must thank Richard and the gang at The Bribie Islander for our advertising and also allowing us to put an article each month. Hope to see you in the shop soon. Sandra.
At this time, members of sporting clubs everywhere gather for end of year celebrations and to pay tribute to those in the organisation who have shown their skill throughout the year and, during a sumptuous lunch at the Bribie Island Hotel recently, Bribie Island Indoor Bowls Club members were recognised for their achievements.
Featured Image(above): Bribie Island Bowls Club – Club Triples Championship winners. L to R- Eddie James, Sandy Martin & Roger Avern Runners up – Kevin Fuller, Kim Ford & Kerry Smith
After club president Margaret Dunn welcomed everyone to the event and thanked Division One Councillor Brooke Savige for attending, the award recipients were announced and I don’t think that too many people were surprised (except maybe Bruce himself) when Bruce Hennessy was named as Club Champion for the second year in a row. Along with the extensive number of bowlers who received trophies, Lara Patey was honoured with the “Rising Star” award.
2018 Rising Star Lara Patey
Open Fours Consolation Winners GeoffReid, John Grisbrook, 2018 Rising Star Lara Patey Val Davey and Margaret Hughes
Club President Margaret Dunn with Men’s Pairs Consolation Winners Ian Urquhart and Bruce Hennessy
Mixed Pairs winners John Caton and Trish Munce
Ladies Pairs Consolation winner Sue Logan with Ladies Pairs Runner-Up Anne Grisbrook
Following the presentation of awards, the drawing of the raffle winners began and, thanks to the marvellous effort by Roy Bradford who spent many hours collecting donations from local business, there were many prizes to be won. It would be remiss of not to mention that both the food and friendly service at Charlie’s was worthy of praise and all who attended thoroughly enjoyed the occasion.
On a rather sad note, one club member who was missing from the occasion was treasurer Alan Landeman who suffered a severe stroke in the days prior to the event and was in hospital at the time. Regrettably, Alan passed away the following day and the thoughts of all are with Alan’s wife Jenny and the family in their time of grief.
At only 14 years of age Brodi Halliwell is no stranger to success in the boxing ring. This has many in his circle of peers wondering if he could be the next Jeff Horne who just happens to be the young man’s hero. At the recent ABL Australian Boxing Titles held in Hobart Brodi came away with the gold medal in the 48kg class. According to Brodi’s proud father, Ian Halliwell, it has been a bit of a rough journey this year for his son.
“Brodi had to compete in Rockhampton at the State Titles seven weeks after breaking his collarbone playing club footy for the Warrigals,” said Ian. His father says it is a testimony to his fitness level, ability and mental toughness that he was able to do so well at the Australian titles. Brodi’s boxing long-time coach Ty Gilchrest was equally impressed with his protege’s performance. “I have been training Brodi for around 6 years and have seen him do very well at state and national titles winning gold and silver for his weight category,” said Ty.
“There is an old saying ‘Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard’ and Brodi is the personification of that saying. He works extremely hard and is an absolute pleasure to train. He certainly has what it takes to go to the highest level in the sport.” And what does Brodi have to say for himself? Well like his hero Jeff Horne he is a quiet achiever who lets his result in the ring speak for itself.
For a number of years, many within the community have benefited from the outstanding generosity of a local organisation which is funded by money made by the sale of plants at its completely volunteer operated nursery. Not only has the Wallum Action Group supplied countless diabetes pumps and bought wheelchairs for use at the Caboolture Hospital, but they have also paid for the training of an assistance dog for a little girl and provided funding for many other worthy causes.
Featured Image(above): Representatives of Banksia Beach School, Bribie Community Kindy and Beachmere State School were presented with a defibrillator
Among their other donations has been their annual contribution to the Camp Quality project and this year at the Camp Quality picnic in Brennan Park, they once again handed over a cheque for $15,000 to this very worthwhile cause. Another ongoing project has been the donation of defibrillators to various groups and in the past, this has included the Bribie Island Community Arts Centre, the Sandstone Point Community Association, the Bribie Island and District Neighbourhood Centre and the Bribie Island Respite Service.
Earlier in December, the Wallum Action Group presented another three defibrillators to Narelle Dawson from the Bribie Community Kindy, Dianne Carpenter and Shellie Sorrell from the Beachmere State School and Melissa Robinson from Banksia Beach School. Action group President David Wearne has told me that there will be more defibrillators handed out in the near future.
The Wallum Action Group presented a $15,000 cheque to Camp Quality recently
The Wallum Action Group Community Nursery can be found in First Avenue at Bongaree next to the Orchid House. The nursery offers a great variety of plants for sale at very reasonable prices. Open from 8 am until 11 am each weekday, the nursery welcomes enquiries from anyone who would like to become a volunteer or wishes to dispose of unwanted plants. Further information about this wonderful organisation can be obtained by making a call to 0407 699 953.
After being stranded at the Bungle Bungles and time to do repairs at Kununurra, we were finally on our way to Darwin. However not without a stopover at Katherine, where we embarked on a fantastic canoe trip up and down the Katherine Gorge. Ginger, not being a sporty spice and rather uncoordinated with paddles, got a lift in Daddy’s canoe. And occasionally I hooked mine up as well, making sure hubby got a good work out, while I was blissfully contemplating those huge steep cliff walls majestically moving past us.
Sunset at Kakadu
This was topped off by an afternoon watching a horse and dog training show with the fit lads ending up standing on top of a horse and strumming a guitar at sunset. I was thrilled at the chance to dress up in our checked shirts with cowboy boots and hats, all to Ginger’s dismay who felt that we were like an overdressed act with nowhere to go… But on the go we were, and all of a sudden the dust and outback gave way to tropical greenery when we finally arrived in Darwin.
Berry Springs
We were surprised at all the lush colour and humid weather making us reminisce about Bribie! And like Bribie, Darwin is very clean and neat and has lots of wonderful free activities like water parks for kids, manmade lakes to swim without crocs, walks, lookouts and museums just to mention a few. Alternatively, if you want to part with some cash you can go on a harbour, river or crocodile cruise, helicopter flights or muster a handsome cowboy at a rodeo.
Canoeing at Katherine Gorge
However, the one thing that is burned in my mind is the love, hate relationship between Darwin and the ‘Crocodile’. As soon as you arrive you become part of the wave, with one side of you going through all sort of lengths to see a big scary crocodile close up, and the other side constantly observing signs like ‘Don’t go in there!’, ‘Don’t swim here!’, ‘Don’t stick your finger into that…. or the croc will get you!’ Signs like that can be found at the amazing Berry Springs, offering three huge pools filled with warm turquoise water along a river, heaps of room to float your noodle even at the busiest of times except… if a croc decided to have a float as well!
Outback show
As luck had it, the Springs just re-opened after a crocodile was found lounging about, eyeing off the juicy locals and tourists, until it finally was caught a week later. We spent six weeks in Darwin and surrounds, and our favourite caravan park was close to the city centre at Howard Springs with amazing pools, grassed sites and tall shady trees. Ginger made friends the minute we arrived, while I and the girl’s mother Jennifer formed the ‘Bar’ as we called it – sitting around in a circle at sunset with a handful of neighbour caravaners, exchanging experiences and laughs over a wine or two.
Table on Waters Edge
Nevertheless, the possibility of kissing the lawn, once legless, made me keep a lid on my usage of the grape. Nevertheless, fluid was in hot demand as it was the hottest winter on record with daily temperatures reaching 35 degrees, which gave the aircon in the van a rather good workout. One morning I even got woken up with a nice cold dripping rain installation from the ceiling. As usual, when disaster strikes, Richard would be back in Brisbane leaving it up to me to dig out a handyman. Handy he was, telling me its just condensation and not worthwhile him coming around!!! Never mind… I struck luck second time around and the rather sleek aircon specialist fixed the blocked ducts just in time before we ran out of towels and buckets.
The Bar
Just as well, as we had to be ready for Grandma and Grandad’s arrival, who Ginger persuaded at their sturdy age of 89 to jump on a plane in Melbourne and visit us for a couple of weeks in Darwin. Carol and Harry arrived in good shape and in the next few days we covered Litchfield park, swam in some amazing waterholes and even drove through a roadside fire. Then it was time for some city legwork and Ginger as usual forgot her shoes for the all-important museum visit. Richard told her that it was her problem and that she had to talk to the lady at the desk, who looked at Ginger with raised eyebrows and said….’Well its Darwin after all’ and so she got away with it… But one of our favourite activities was the virtual reality show of the ‘Flying Doctors visitors centre’ at the wharf. It was riveting and very scary, as one was viewing the Darwin bombing with special virtual reality goggles.
Holding on to your seat, while you moved through flying parts and bombed out ships, going up in the air with a fighter pilot, just to get bombed out of his plane, tumbling and plunging back down to the oil inflamed sea and slowly sinking to your death… I still felt motion sick for most of the dinner on the wharf and gave the wine a miss. However, this was not our first time on the wharf, where you can sit at your table suspended a few meters above the water level without railing, and watch the huge fish swimming and feeding below, all in the shade and balminess of Darwin city.
Another good place to get some multicultural cuisine is, of course, the most famous Mindil market, offering endless varieties of takeaway meals, while you are entertained by fireeaters! Although this is the end of this episode, I hope you can join me for the next one, when we get back to the dusty outback on ‘The Long Way Round To Bribie’!
Dear Editor, I’ve always preferred your paper over that “Other” Bribie giveaway – yours has usually been free of political input, whereas the other one is a shill for the Liberal Party conservatives and reptilian social conservatives. So I was disappointed to see your “Laugh Riot” section take a spiteful whack at Greens voters (“no job, no plans…”). This is just another inaccurate caricature with no basis in actual fact. Still, I’m sure it raised a few guffaws in your readership, so in the interests of balance, I thought I’d submit a few more jokes for you. I haven’t got them all written yet, just the endings, but I can work on them further if you’d like. In the meantime here are the punchlines: “A typical Liberal voter,” he said, “smug, selfish, uncaring and in the pockets of Big Business!” “Oh no! He’s a Labor voter!” she exclaimed “A hypocritical yobbo… in the pocket of Big Business!” “Just like a One Nation voter,” he groaned “An ignorant bigot… in the pockets of Big Business!” Let me know if you’d like more zingers like these – I got a million of ‘em.
Regards, Tony Longland, Bellara.
Dear Editor, Weather as given on the TV Channels Given that we are advised of forthcoming weather wouldn’t it be nice to have weather presenters do it properly? I cannot accept the need to send a weather presenter on a jolly to the Ski Fields in Canada when presenting Australian weather. It seems to me that it is a total addon cost and unnecessary? So where are these places that are given as – “The Goldie, Tassie, the Alice, etc.”. With possible showers, sunny with occasional rain, windy at times and hot. I ask with the millions spent on weather that more accuracy is given than possible weather, and keep our presenters in Australia rather than junket’s overseas. Come Home Stevie! A Happy 2019 to all.
Farley
YOUR SAY DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR AND VOICE YOUR LOCAL OPINION! [email protected] PO BOX 116, Bribie Island 4507
Vivienne and Terry Bissell of Sandstone Lakes were both successful in making the Australian Seniors Tenpin Bowling Team represent Australia at the 15th Asian Senior Bowling Championships, Japan that was held recently from 9th to 18th December 2018. Countries competing for medals came from Australia, China, Guam, Korea, Macau, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan. Upwards of 300 bowlers were competing in the Championships. Australia was successful in 3 bronze medals. Of which we are all very proud. As a first international tournament for both Terry and Vivienne it was a very amazing experience.
Nothing made me prouder than to be selected to carry the Australian Flag during the opening ceremony. One I will never forget. We would both like to personally thank Bribie RSL, Caboolture Sports Club and Simone Wilson for their sponsorship towards our competition.
The following supplied article from John Boland offers a warning to our readers when sourcing their tradespeople from social media to adhere to the old adage Caveat emptor – “Let the buyer beware” and on a positive note that there are some really decent people in our community. Here’s John’s tale in his own words…. Recently we had to engage a tradesman to replace the dividing fence between the neighbour and us as it had past it used by date. (Some could say a bit like me). Taking responsibility to project manage I sought quotes through a trades site on the Internet for fencers.
Featured Image(above): Jonathon Huston our “Guardian Angel”
Two trades persons made contact and times were set for a quotation. Neither turned up so I commented on Facebook of my disappointment. As a result, there were three responses within a short time frame and times were set for quotations. The first guy was way over the mark as I had a fair idea of costs as I replaced fencing last year. The second person arrived with his wife and three kids sleeping in the car.
Being parents of four and grandparents to seven were decided to go with the young guy as it was just before Christmas and paid a deposit via EFT. On Wednesday 12 our “builder” rocked up around 11 am to start the job. By 4 pm I’d paid him the remainder of the bill in cash not taking too much notice workmanship (or lack of). After he left I discovered that not only was it not on the boundary line but was as crooked as a seaman’s leg, not bedded, palings at all angles and generally shoddy work. (There are other major issues that can’t be mentioned however they are under police investigation).
He decamped in such a hurry he even left his wheelbarrow behind. After running the issue on Facebook showing the “mess” left behind my faith in mankind has been restored. Jonathon Huston (QBCC License 15022051, ABN 20419979871) lobbed on our front door and informed that he would replace the fence the next day at cost. I don’t believe in “Fairy Godmothers” but my “Guardian Angel” is a bloody good bloke. If there were more people like Jonathan Huston in the world it would be a much better place. To my unregistered builder, I look forward to our date at QCAT. My lesson from this is to ensure that any tradesperson you engage is registered with the appropriate authorities and has an ABN as a business.
Hi there, my short stories are all about our family, Richard my hubby, Ginger our daughter and myself, going on a 15 month trip of misadventure in a “big rig” around Australia, on a mission to find the place to call home… After five glorious and relaxing weeks in Darwin, we were sad to leave but excited to get back on the road again. Heading South, we returned for a pit stop at Mataranka, once again immerse ourselves in the Warm Springs and the life from the ‘We of the Never Never’.
Featured Image(above): Climbing Cawnpore lookout
This was our current night time read, causing our imagination to go walkabout, and leaving us eager to have another good look at Jeannie Gunn’s original homestead. The small basic hut without water and electricity was a total contrast to our next destination of Mount Isa, which as a huge mining town was lit up like a Christmas tree all year round. By now our rig was at a bursting point from storing all our rock and shell collections, however, that did not stop us having a ‘day out on town,’ acquiring a set of colourful bookshelves for Ginger, with no plan of where to put them in the rig…
To be honest we could not wait to leave this part of civilization behind and return to our outback mode. With a couple of options to get you out of town, we decided to take a more scenic route via Boulia to get to Winton. Little did we know that this road was narrower than any drive-way, and at best could be called a single lane road! It also came with its own road rules, namely …that the road trains have right of way and do not need to slow down for anyone or anything.
Wings would have been handy, but nothing was big enough to whizz us out of the way when the huge dust cloud was approaching! Veering into the bushes with Dodge, caravan and all was our only option! Not sure how we made it unscathed, however for the next 300 km we obeyed the rule of large comes first… and fogged in anything smaller than us. Now you are thinking, what mongrels! Honestly, one could not help but bury any bypassers with a dust cloud, because that was all there was… lots of dust. And the dusty Dodge was holding up through all those humps and bumps, however not without a couple of flashing warning lights going off!
North Gregory Hotel
One constantly urging us to stop immediately as we were meant to have a ‘flat tire’! We obediently stopped and investigated multiple times, but could not find the flat tire… Ginger realizing our serious situation of possibly being stranded once again in no-mans land told us to think outside the square and to consider that maybe we left the flat one behind … No wiser, we pushed on with our phantom flat tire and instead jumped on the brakes for a couple of wild camels and an emu crossing the road with its chicks.
With all that excitement we missed our powered caravan site at Boulia and instead ended up right next to the gents toilet door, mistaking those mosquito zappers for the infamous Ming Ming lights during the night. Still, on the way to the Queensland outback town of Winton, we came across a spectacular lookout called Cawnpore, reaching above the flat landscape like a red desert cupcake framed by the deep blue sky.
Ginger in danger
To top it off we found a pub in the middle of nowhere, called the Middleton Hotel, which made history in 1862 when the first white men, John McKinlay and his Burke and Wills search party entered the area. I couldn’t resist a Baileys on ice, while studying the old photos and admiring the historic remnants of the ‘town’, which by now had shrunk to a population of three.
In comparison, Winton was a thriving town with multiple historical pubs, one of them being the North Gregory Hotel where Waltzing Matilda was first publicly performed in 1895. There was even a hairdressing salon called ‘Pinky’, made famous through the ABC show ‘Backroads’. Needless to say, my hair was pink and perfect after my visit! But first, we had to go on a search through the pubs to find the booking officer for the Tattersalls Hotel caravan park.
Baileys on ice at Middleton Hotel
As usual, we had to pace out our spot when helping Bob appeared from the neighbouring motorhome. He and his wife Noelene soon became our Winton travelling buddies, and we decided to all go together in the Dodge to the dinosaur museum. This was especially exciting for Ginger as she could talk to her heart’s content with our new friends about her favourite books. Ginger announced that she loves all sort of books except Mummy books because they are sooo boring and send her to sleep…. always talking about how to be happy…
Glassed out days and great fishing
And happy I was when this informative car trip ended, and we arrived at the most impressive Winton dinosaur museum. It was a great combination of in-house information with a bones workshop, where experts and volunteers alike made bones emerge from dirt and rocks. The outdoor activities were just as exciting with a short trip on the shuttle bus to a designated area of dinosaur canyons and boardwalks, which made me feel like I was walking next to those ancient polished giants! By the end of our stay in Winton, I was also in need of some polishing up and was looking for a place to get my eyebrows waxed.
Ginger was surprised and remarked that she thought I wanted to have more hair not less? Leading to a deep and meaningful conversation of how one could implant their ‘plentiful eyebrow hair’ onto the top of one’s head… Before I leave you with that hairy thought… I have to tell you that we have some very exciting news! Can you guess it? Send me an email! Although this is the end of this episode, I hope you can join me in the next edition of ‘The Bribie Islander’, when we try to strike it rich fossicking for gemstones.
Tucked away at the rear of the Ningi Community Hall is a building which, although it takes on the appearance of nothing more than a shed, is the home to an organisation which is not only a meeting place for locals to catch up for the chance to indulge in their own particular type of craft. Going by the title “Crafty Shed,” the organisation is a frequent supporter of various charities, either by way of monetary donations or by supplying the results of their efforts whenever applicable.
Featured Image(above): Jill Heading with the painting by Stephanie Domagala
Members of the Crafty Shed recently gathered for their end of year Christmas party and during the morning, they recognised the wonderful job done by president of twelve years Beryl Higgins by honouring her with a life membership. I think everyone in the building other than Beryl knew that this was on the agenda and, after Pauline Heaslip made the presentation, Beryl, who is retiring from the position, was quite speechless.
As another part of the Christmas get together, I had the pleasure of drawing the winning ticket in the raffle which was for a beautiful painting by Stephanie Domagala and, although Beryl threatened me with dire consequences if I didn’t draw her ticket out, it was Jill Heading who took the painting home. I believe Beryl has insisted that Stephanie do a similar painting for her now.
Pauline Heaslip (L) presented President Beryl Higgins with a Life Membership and a big bunch of flowers.
Thirty six Pamper Packs for domestic violence victims
One of the ways that “Crafty Shed” members support others within the community is by providing “Pamper Packs” for distribution to victims of domestic violence and, in a small ceremony at the Bribie Island and District Neighbourhood Centre recently, Crafty Shed President Beryl Higgins handed over thirty six of the packs to centre staff. Beryl explained to me that many of the items for the packs are supplied by an extremely generous Jenny Smith as well as some donated by Jill Heading.
‘Jenny is a frequent traveller and she even pays the cost of extra baggage to bring us the items that she gets at various places of accommodation,’ said Beryl. ‘The bags that contain the items were made by Diane Dirkson,’ she added.
Rather than just running a program for primary-aged children in the morning and afternoon, we have condensed that program to fit into the morning session, and then we will be adding a high-school/ youth program in the afternoon/ evening,” Stephen said.
Nothing made me prouder than to be selected to carry the Australian Flag during the opening ceremony. One I will never forget. We would both like to personally thank Bribie RSL, Caboolture Sports Club and Simone Wilson for their sponsorship towards our competition.
