Last but not least – 259kg!

Saturday morning in Port Macquarie consisted of thick black clouds, long drawn out rumbles of thunder and heavy droplets of water falling from the sky. But with some serious satellite watching underway we managed to give everyone a couple extra hours in bed and started the scavenging action when the sun came out to say hello.

And how happy we were when it did. After all, there was no way the final Scavenge of our east-coast tour could be cancelled. Especially when there was 259kg of litter to be collected. Yep another record broken!!

We had 83 pairs of hands come down and grab a bag. People were scouring the coastline but mostly making their way up the embankments and into the streets around the shores to find hundreds of beer bottles, trolleys, decomposing prams and even the odd Temper Trap CD turned up.

The oddest item however, took the form of a blue piece of foam that had invited a number of oysters to take refuge upon it. We hope Francine Nunnari can’t wait to get her hands on a pair of handmade Zipporra tights for this golden find.

The biggest effort on the day came from Emily and Nathan’s CrossFit Hijacked team. This crew bought in 66kg of litter between them, so we thought we’d switch the prizes so they can all share some treats and enjoy the view of a clean Town Beach with a $50 voucher to Salty Crew Kiosk.

There were people all over the coast but the scavengers that made it the furthest were Misha and Tahli Du Plessis for making it down to Nobbys Head. Now you can learn some coffee skills at Peak and preach reusable cups with your Cheeki coffee cup guys!!

There’s always someone that gets an eye for ciggies and on Saturday it was Dawn and her friend. They scavenged the parks and gutters for butts finding an impressive 600, contributing to the overall 2247 butts. Now you ladies can treat yourseves to the delicious menu at Port Mac’s newest restaurant; Bills Fish House.

Drinking vessels like plastic bottles and coffee cups are always a big find at the Scavenge which is a shame considering drinking water is of a pretty sublime quality in Australia, and especially with such a rich coffee culture it would’ve been nice if it taught us to carry a cup. At least we had Jarret down there to pick up 83 plastic bottles earning himself a $25 to Social Grounds, and Brett who picked up 43 coffee cups now has a new Cheeki Coffee Cup from PEAK and Boomerang Bag – drink responsibly guys!

Speaking of Boomerang Bags, we hope the first 20 people that got down there on Saturday are now lapping up their stylin’ handmade bags donated by the local sewing legends! We had some fun doing our No-Sew Reusable bag workshops run by the Rhi Rebellion.

If you missed it don’t worry Rhi does a bunch of wicked upcycling workshops at the Rhi Rebellion shed in Port. Actually, the winner of our photo competition @sopherellirose snapped her mate Karen checking in on the trash they collected and now she has herself a golden pass to attend one of these amazing workshops!

It was a pretty marvelous day all in all! We had the wondrous Jackson James treat us with some plucking and strumming magic. Lauren Edwards kept us tapping our toes with funky beats alongside a guest appearance from Jeremy Jestin. And the beautiful duo of Sheldon and Lee-Anne who make up Connecting Souls definitely did just that grounding all our energies with their talented rhythms and vocals. Thank you!

Thanks to Port Macquarie Hastings Council for supporting the Scavenge, as well as the folk from Beach House for donating a bunch of beverages to get everyone cleaning up! 117.3kg of second-hand clothes were also donated by local Port Macquarians… biiiig thank you for filling our racks !

And to the lovely volunteers that patiently waited out the rain to set-up and sorted through 259kg litter on their Saturday morning, so we can contribute to Tangaroa Blue’s Australia wide Marine Debris Database, it would have been nothing without you!