High Drama Unfolds During Seniors’ Island House Party

High Drama Unfolds During Remote

Island House Party in Gippsland

Elderly Grandfather Barely Escapes From Deadly Peat Bog as his Friends Party On

Near-death Experience Unfazes Most at Rockin’ House Party on Gippsland Lakes’ Fraser Island

(Last updated Nov. 9, 2006)

FRASER ISLAND, GIPPSLAND—A solitary walk along a windswept sandbar just offshore of beautiful Fraser Island near Lakes Entrance nearly ended badly for an overly curious fitness fanatic recently while his partner and a group of friends partied on in a nearby lodge, oblivious to the drama unfolding barely 300 meters away. Unconfirmed reports said that the hapless hiker, identified as Geoffrey, was accompanied during his walk along the sandbar by a fully-grown kangaroo, who did not survive the pair’s tumble into a deep mud hole.

Geoff told authorities that he was attempting to cross the sandbar in order to reach a small island adjacent to Fraser Island when what looked like solid ground suddenly gave way underneath him and he quickly sank up to his armpits in thick, gooey mud. Widely known for his analytical mind and steely organizational skills, Geoff said later that ideas for extracating himself from his dilemma seemed to desert him and that in what he envisioned as his last moments on earth all he could think of was a cowboy on a horse who might throw him a rope lasso tied to the pommel of his saddle. Unfortunately, no cowboys with lassos happened by at that moment, and it would be reasonable to assume that Geoffrey’s reassuring mental image of being pulled out of the mud hole by a horse gave way to the somewhat more disturbing images that appear in the final scene of the film version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”

To his credit, Geoffrey kept his wits about him and with absolutely no thanks to the now-dead kangaroo alongside him, he managed to slowly (and painfully, because of the broken collar bone he recently suffered in a cycling spill) pull himself out of the quicksand. He made his way back to the lodge and was greeted by much hooting and heckling by some of the nearly two dozen house party revelers having a bit of drink on the veranda. He was hosed down by friend Ron and welcomed back to the world of the living by those party-goers who had sense enough to see the difference in the relative dangers of walking amidst mud holes or sitting on a verandah drinking.

Here are some photographs of the mud hole drama, followed by a more uplifting account of the weekend’s drama-free but highly entertaining social activities. As Geoffrey said, the only event that could be the lead story ahead of his mud bath would be if Dennis’ lovely new sailboat, the “Woodpecker,” sank with all hands. And, fortunately, that didn’t happen. (Although Sally points out that it almost happened when the boat ran aground in high winds while transporting Geoffrey and her to the mainland on their way home).

The mud drama pictures:

Geoffrey returns to Fraser island lodge after his encounter with what he described as a peat bog

Ron gives Geoff a much-needed cleanup

Revisiting the famous mud hole (but Geoff refused numerous requests to do a re-enactment of his mishap)

Geoff’s sinkhole(left) and his dead kangaroo companion (in foreground) present ominous images to those who later visited the site

A kangaroo similar to the one which accompanied Geoffrey at the fateful mud hole on the sandbar

Meanwhile, the Party Goes On

The former East Gippsland lakes Colonial homestead formerly owned by the Syme family (owners of Melbourne’s Age newspaper) was the scene of a five-day house party that continued a tradition which for years has brought together a group of friends of those well-known hostesses with the mostest, Jan and Pat, for fun and frivolity. The occasion was the one weekend of the year in which everything but horseracing comes to a standstill in Australia—the running of the famous Melbourne Cup. Alma and I happily were included in this delightful tradition, and we had a wonderful time with a very entertaining and fun-loving mob of people whose company we already had enjoyed at Pat and Dennis’ house many times and also in Bali and elsewhere.

The venue for this revelry was Fraser Island, a beautiful 80-acre island near Lakes Entrance in Victoria’s East Gippsland district. The island that we collectively hired for the five-nights has an l1-bedroom lodge, a 9-hole golf course, a swimming pool, tennis courts, a private landing strip, a billiards and game room and beautiful views of the native bush land and surrounding lakes. We had the island to ourselves (and caretakers Pauline and Norm) and thanks to the talented gourmet cooks amongst us, we ate like royalty at every lunch and dinner. We also consumed a fair bit of wine come to think of it, but there’s no need to quantify that statement other than to say that the enormous glass recycling bin on the back porch had to be emptied quite a few times. The launch that carried us from Lakes Entrance to the island staggered in under the load of food and grog.

Dennis and Bill and Pat and Alma hauled Dennis’ lovely 14-foot sailboat, the “Woodpecker,” to Lakes Entrance on a trailer, and Dennis, aided by John, an accomplished ocean-going yachtsman, wasted little time in getting it under sail. Dennis, who had spent years manufacturing toy boats in his Collingwood factory, painstakingly built the “Woodpecker” by hand, finishing it earlier this year. Made entirely of wood (from plans, not a kit) it has the graceful lines of sailboats of a bygone era, and it turns heads wherever it goes. Good on ya, Dennis!

Our days on Fraser Island were spent variously, depending on the moods and habits of the house party attendees. Some people were up early to play golf, some hiked around the island and marveled at the abundance of game and the huge variety of birds, Some played tennis or swam in the pool, while others played bridge on the wide verandah that surrounds the lodge. Games were played, including: bridge, “500,” charades, “Articulate,” “Pictionary” and more. Sally, a national championship bridge player, provided much-appreciated coaching of the social players. Roger and Alma organized a Treasure Hunt with very clever clues, and the A-team and B-team scurried around the property looking for bits of paper with new clues. The B-team won the prize (a bottle of desert wine) and hooted derisively at the losers as they belatedly crossed the finish line. Almost everyone watched a TV show favored by this age group—“New Tricks,” whose theme song starts “It’s all right, it’s okay. We don’t care if we’re old and gray.” And many of the house party participants caught up on their reading while sitting on the wide verandas and basking in the sun.

But at the center of everything throughout the weekend was the wonderful lineup of meals prepared by some very talented gourmet cooks. The fare included prawns and salmon, roast beef, deliciously marinated lamb, wonderful curried meats, Mediterranean-style chicken and more. Roger whipped up his unique Bloody Marys with pepper-infused vodka suspended at the tops of the glasses. There seemed to be an endless stream of bottles of very nice wines, and the sound of popping champagne bottles could generally be heard from noon to midnight. You’d have been hard-pressed to find anyone younger 60 on the island during this continuous house party, but we demonstrated once again our extraordinary ability to prolong adolescence.

On Cup Day (Saturday, Nov. 4) Bill and Ron organized a horse betting Sweeps and Pauline and Norm organized a Calcutta auction in which everyone bid against each other to “buy” a bet on an entrant in the 24-horse field. Bill drew the Japanese-owned Delta Blues in the Sweeps and then successfully bid for the same horse in the Calcutta auction. Delta Blues won by a nose and Bill fancied himself as a pretty good punter, even though the decision to pick Delta Blues was based solely on a love of that genre of music. (Bill’s $300 Calcutta jackpot and $50 Sweeps payoff, along with winnings by Dennis and Fiona that pushed the total to nearly $400, are all being donated to Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital because te winners decided it would be a nice way to spend the ill-gotten gains).

Following are the photos: