Debut Scavenge in Queensland
Seaside Scavenge’s debut in Queensland went down a treat. We catered for everyone; from tinder dates through to keen blokes looking for a good squats session.
Over 4 stunning hours of sunshine and beautiful beats 65 diverse souls visited us in Justins Park, Burleigh Heads to clean the beach. 82% of which had never previously attended a cleanup… awesome achievement in itself!
We unveiled our cooool homemade pallet racks to display 163kg of clothing, vintage leather goods, kids toys and everything in between ALL priced in litter! A HUGE THANKS to the Burleigh locals and the trendy folk from Brahminy Exchange for these donations in the name of cleaning up our ocean.
As the sun was bearing down on us and the ocean glistening it was an absolute pleasure to be able to reward our over-age scavengers with a beer for their efforts. The crew, particularly Adrian Costello, from the Burleigh Heads Hotel deserves a pat on the back for generously donating 100 beer tokens that could also be traded for litter -- 20 pieces of litter a pop scored you a thirst quenching schooner!
We probably could’ve stopped there with the incentives but when there are so many amazing businesses around yearning to do what they can to get litter away from our waterways how could we not!
Seaworld Research Foundation sponsored the Burleigh event and also donated a wicked duo annual pass for all the Gold Coast Theme Parks for the Scavenger that grabbed the biggest litter haul… we’re stoked to say that local ocean warrior Alli Taylor took it out with 1,356 pieces!
Next up, cigarette butts… One of these toxic bombs contaminates the surrounding 50L of water and as they’re one of the most littered items we definitely want them in the bin. Donna Carvolth had her eye on the prize - an indulgent pamper pack at Ocean Day Spa – which she’s definitely earned after taking 610 butts away from our waterways!
With 4.2 million beverage containers used everyday in Australia, unfortunately a lot of them get left behind… But thanks to Marcus and Christy-Lee who managed to save 9 in-one-go from floating out to sea, they get to be exhilarated at an indoor sky-diving session with iFLY!
Larisa Cavello went above and beyond and put together a snappy litter video of the Scavenge which has landed her an Intro Dive Course at Devocean. Natalieanne___ and freeinthesea2014 took a couple sweet snaps of their scavenged goods and can now delight in a 7-day yoga pass at BSKT Café.
We’re always on the hunt to locate the weirdest item left behind on the beach and on Saturday Janina Wolf salvaged an odd figurine from the sand. It took the form of a baby pink skeleton wielding a starve that potentially a small child or grown man could be missing but either way, now Janina can eat her way through $50 of filling goodness from Mandala Organic Arts Café!
Needless to say we were well equipped with encouragement for all ages! The music by Sean Fitzgerald, Matthew Armitage and Jade Peterson was also a much appreciated backdrop to the scavenge antics – all powered by our bike powered generator! Volunteers did their dues and peddled away so the rest of us could tap our toes to their soothing sounds.
And oh the volunteers… couldn’t have wished upon a better bunch of smiley, diligent and respectful lot of ocean lovers! The day ran as smooth as a babies bum thanks to their commitment and it would not have been the same without their energy.
The icing on the cake was a brilliant display by a humpback whales breaching 6 times for all us volunteers watching the sunset. Think its safe to say the reach of the Scavenge was definitely felt by all… and even the marine life appreciated our efforts. So we’re amped to get back here or to see it happening on its own!
You can see all the pics from the event here!
