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00:30This time, we're heading for Great Keppel Island.
00:34It's a Queensland paradise, but its future hangs in the balance.
00:44Looks like we're getting close, are we?
00:46Yep, so Great Keppel's just that big one right in front of us there.
00:50What a job you've got.
00:51I love it.
01:00It's so rich with life.
01:11Oysters galore.
01:13There you go.
01:14Oh, so good.
01:16Can I have one more?
01:17Yep, certainly can.
01:18Am I greedy?
01:20No, no, no.
01:22Beauty everywhere you turn.
01:25Hey, what's it like out there?
01:26It's good.
01:27It's really nice.
01:27There's lots of coral.
01:30Little wonder this place is so cherished.
01:33It's magic.
01:34There's so much to see.
01:35There's so much to explore.
01:36The water is so crystal clear.
01:38It's really, really special.
01:39But in the 80s, Keppel was the capital of raunch.
01:45Great Keppel Island.
01:47It's a great place to get wrecked.
01:50Now the fabled resort is a wreck itself.
01:54I want to find out how things went so wrong.
01:58It's disgusting, isn't it?
01:59You've got a beautiful beach to your right and an eyesore to the left.
02:03And if it's too late to save this heavenly spot.
02:07This island can be a very, very special place.
02:11But it needs to be nurtured and it needs to be looked after.
02:17I'm going to check out what's going on here
02:19and find out if Great Keppel really can shake off the past
02:23and carve out a new future.
02:26G'day, Geordie.
02:28Hi, Heather.
02:28It's so nice to meet you.
02:29Good to meet you face to face at last.
02:31Beautiful.
02:31Come show me around.
02:33Geordie Bressick's a Keppel kid.
02:35She mostly grew up here.
02:37Oh, wow.
02:38Just look at that.
02:40Get a load of this.
02:41I know.
02:42And you get this every day.
02:43You're so lucky to call it home, hey?
02:45Someone's got to do it.
02:48But more than the beauty,
02:50I'm thinking the best treasure the island has
02:53might be the people who love it.
02:56This is my beautiful Mama the turtle.
02:58Oh, hello.
02:59Thank you, Geordie.
03:00That's...
03:00Mama the turtle?
03:03What sort of name is that?
03:04I know.
03:05We've been here a long time together
03:06and she's like my work baby,
03:07so I'm Mama Turtle and she's Bubba Turtle.
03:10I love it.
03:11What's with the turtles?
03:12Why turtles?
03:13Yeah, well, we started a little turtle fund
03:15about eight years ago,
03:16raising money to look after them
03:18if they're sick and injured and...
03:20Oh, you've got heaps here.
03:21Yes.
03:21I've got a lot of lovely local ladies
03:23that make all sorts of stuff.
03:25This is cute.
03:26Turns out Mama Turtle's other name is Denise,
03:29and I can't resist her sales pitch.
03:33So a lot of the money goes to the turtle hospital
03:35in Coyne Island,
03:36supporting environmental education generally,
03:39so people will look after the turtles as well.
03:41Well, I'll take this one as a reminder.
03:43I'll take this one as a reminder.
03:46Geordie's going to show me around.
03:49Among the holiday homes, a few families live here.
03:53This looks like where all the locals live, is it?
03:55Yeah, so there's 18 houses on the island
03:57and this is lucky enough to be my grandparents' house, actually,
04:00right in the middle of Fisherman's Beach.
04:02Oh, this is where you got to spend your time as a kid?
04:05Yes, grew up here.
04:06Right on that beach.
04:07Yes.
04:08Placing the beach.
04:08I think it's the best spot on the island, I'll say.
04:12But this certainly isn't the best spot.
04:16This is the old resort.
04:17Oh, really?
04:18Yes.
04:19This used to be the wreck bar
04:20and this used to be where I learnt how to swim.
04:23Hang on, this used to be a big swimming pool?
04:26Yeah, it used to be a big swimming pool
04:27and a little kid's swimming pool next to it as well.
04:29It was a swinging place in its heyday,
04:40developed by the old TAA airline in the 1970s
04:44with a notorious reputation as a party aisle.
04:49Great Kepple Island, it's a great place to get wrecked.
04:54Get Wrecked is such a memorable ad campaign.
04:57But the resort lost its luster
05:01and over the years, passed from owner to owner.
05:06The doors shut suddenly in 2008
05:10and the place was abandoned.
05:14Just all shut down and everyone left.
05:17They just shut the doors on them.
05:19So it was all a bit of a shock?
05:20Yes, it was actually.
05:21We went to the restaurant
05:22and the staff member there was so upset
05:25because she lost her job that day.
05:26After lying dormant for five years,
05:30in 2013, fancy plans for a plush resort got a green light.
05:38It boasted hundreds of villas in a swathe across the island.
05:43A Greg Norman-designed golf course.
05:46A vast marina.
05:48Swanky accommodation.
05:50And the lure of a possible casino licence to boot.
05:55Investors swarmed.
05:56Oh yes, we will definitely get wrecked on Kepple again.
06:00But it all came to nothing.
06:04Finally, the state government took back the lease in 2023,
06:09saying it was owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
06:13Now it's released a master plan reflecting a big change of direction
06:17towards low-key development.
06:20But most people aren't holding their breath.
06:25Oh, I mean, I'll always say something when there's a shovel in the ground,
06:28but I mean, they're going to have to pull the whole thing down and restart up.
06:32It's going to cost a lot of money and take a lot of time.
06:35So I might be old and in my wheelchair by the time I come back anyway.
06:39I'm amazed at how big Kepple is.
06:461,300 hectares.
06:48Mostly, all you can see is bush and beaches.
06:52And the gorgeous shimmering water surrounding it.
07:02I managed to catch up with Denise again on her way home from work.
07:06It's no ordinary commute.
07:11Heather, welcome aboard Moonlight.
07:13This is Mark, Heather.
07:14Hey, Mark.
07:14Nice to meet you, Heather.
07:14Lovely to meet you.
07:16Now, Mark is officially the captain of the vessel.
07:18However, today I'd like to present you with the captain's hat.
07:22Oh, what?
07:23Yes, just have a bit of fun with the day.
07:25I'm no captain.
07:26Oh, look, I don't know.
07:27By the end of the day, I think you will be the captain.
07:29What do you think?
07:31God, I can't believe you live here.
07:34This is their full-time home.
07:36So we've got the stove and an oven.
07:38Good little stove.
07:39It's really not so squeezy.
07:42I don't know how neat it is in here, but there's a pantry this side too.
07:45Oh, you've got everything.
07:46This is the guest room, yes?
07:48It's a mansion.
07:49People say, oh, living the dream, you know, the only bad thing is that when there's storms.
07:55Storms are the worst.
07:56We have been through a couple of cyclones out here.
07:58The rain just poured down every little nook and cranny.
08:03It's like a waterfall coming off the island.
08:07It was very scary, but it was also very sad because we knew our boat was under duress.
08:12We ended up getting rescued, but unfortunately, yeah, we didn't manage to rescue the boat.
08:17So you lost your boat and you lost your home.
08:20You really had to start over.
08:21We did, we did, yes, yes.
08:27Oh, that's better.
08:28That's better.
08:33Okay.
08:44Even after all that, Denise and Mark set up their new boat home as soon as they could.
08:50Well, that's looking better.
08:53I love it.
08:53I just love the sound of the waves lapping on the boat.
08:57We've been out here now 10 years.
08:59We can just go off sailing and, you know, we love going snorkeling and kayaking and that.
09:04Wake up and you just go for a plunge in the water.
09:08They're taking me to Kenome Island, also known as North Keppel.
09:13And I can't think of a finer way to get there.
09:15I had my first yacht when I was 19 and we've had a lot of time in the bay with Dad as well.
09:23My dad, he was such a capable seaman, towing barges, full of machinery and materials.
09:30Was this the period when they were building the big new resort?
09:33Yes, it was the first stage of what is the big resort.
09:36Besides, you know, barging stuff out, he took the last of the sheep off the island as well.
09:41Mark's dad, Tom, brought some of the first tourists to the island.
09:46Well, my dad, he grew up in the area.
09:48He was one of the first.
09:50And that was in 66.
09:51I remember Denise raises funds for sea turtles, and I'm curious to hear why she loves them so much.
10:01Because you're actually in the water with them, and you're swimming along with them, and they're so calm.
10:06And they're ancient, the ancient mariners of the sea.
10:11Then we'd find that they'd been run over by boats.
10:13We have discovered some terrible, terrible situations with turtles that have been chopped up.
10:19Yeah, so we really need to look after them and save them if we can.
10:24It's not just turtles.
10:27The sea life here is really extraordinary.
10:43I've arrived at Konomi Island, and I've found a whole bunch of school kids learning to appreciate it.
11:06Turn to your partner.
11:09Check their life jacket's done up nice and tight.
11:11They come from schools all over Queensland, for a week at a time.
11:17Sometimes they've never even seen the ocean before.
11:21That's so powerful!
11:23How great that they can be so hands-on with their science course.
11:29Andrew Gill runs the school here.
11:32What a different way to educate the kids, Andrew.
11:34Yeah, isn't it great?
11:35They did a lesson on coral before they came out,
11:38so they actually can identify four different types of coral that they're looking at.
11:42I grew up in the area, so I'm very passionate about sharing this beautiful spot.
11:48Hey, what's it like out there?
11:50It's good, it's really nice.
11:51There's lots of coral.
11:53I really hope I see this as a very big fish or a dolphin.
11:56That'd be pretty cool.
11:57I just want it for future generations and for future generations to care for it and to make sure it's here well into the future.
12:05It's about those students, when they walk away from here, the change we see from Monday to when they leave on a Friday is just amazing.
12:12The Keppel Islands were occupied by the Wapaburra people for at least the past 5,000 years.
12:21I'm meeting Sonny Van Issam, a Wapaburra elder who has studied the history.
12:27He says Konomi holds a special significance.
12:30It means a lot to our people around here.
12:33It's important for ceremony and also a place where our totem comes through.
12:38Mugga Mugga is the name of our totem, which is a humpback whale.
12:43And it comes from the north and comes back through this area.
12:47When you talk to any Wapaburra person, we come back to this spiritual homeland.
12:58It's something that sort of goes through your body.
13:00It's like a feeling of you belong here.
13:05The Wapaburra recently made an exclusive native title claim of a part of Great Keppel Island.
13:12And it has some people worried.
13:15We're about being inclusive.
13:17Having people enjoy the islands.
13:19We don't reject development per se.
13:21We really just want it done the right way where we're safeguarding the natural beauty of the islands.
13:28Sonny's ancestors had nurtured the environment.
13:32But they were all forcibly removed from the Keppel Islands by 1902.
13:38His great-great-grandfather was Munquadam.
13:42His older sister, Konomi, was named after the island.
13:47It means north wind.
13:52We might just clear this out, because what we want to do is make sure it's clear for the seagrass.
13:57Now, Sonny and other descendants are reconnecting with their country.
14:02Darcy and Shinta are employed as rangers.
14:07A lot of their work, like this seagrass nursery project, involves healing the environment.
14:13At the moment, we are trying to figure out what makes it grow, what helps it grow.
14:19And why do you need to do that?
14:20For revegetation out in the sea country and to bring the dugongs back to the islands and feed all the sea creatures that we have out there.
14:30They aim to replant seagrass beds in Keppel Bay, damaged by boats and storms.
14:39It restores habitat for dugongs and other sea life.
14:43Being here has also taken them on a heartfelt journey.
14:48Darcy's discovered he's directly descended from Konomi.
14:52My great-great-grandmother, she was a descendant from here, so...
14:58From this island?
14:59Yep.
15:00So you're really reconnecting here?
15:03Well, I'm a city boy, so just coming back home to the country and reconnect with my culture is a big thing for me.
15:09I found out that I am Mon Quodham's family line, which is great to finally know and learn about, yeah.
15:18Yeah, I mean, it's just a longing.
15:21You know what I mean?
15:22I've had this, um, figure out who it was, my identity, yeah, and I'm back home, you know what I mean?
15:28Still a lot to learn, but, I mean, this is just a start.
15:31And do you feel like that too, Shinta?
15:33Oh, definitely, oh, it makes me want to cry, I'm tearing up, just thinking about it.
15:39If, after feeling lost for so long, being able to come here, learn and get to know who I am, it's been an amazing feeling.
15:52It's powerful to hear how healing it's been for Darcy and Shinta
15:57to reconnect with their home country.
16:01And I'm keen to find out how great Keppel can balance development with the environment.
16:07Come through the curtain.
16:09Oh, very glam.
16:10Thank you, Geoff.
16:11This is the engine room here, is it?
16:13Yeah, this is all the back door workings of it all, yeah.
16:16Geoff Mercer's a keen supporter of ecotourism.
16:21He's been running different resorts here since the 1980s.
16:25Yeah, we function pretty much 98 per cent solar.
16:29He says there's an economic reality to developing resorts on an island.
16:35The big resort that's now closed, they spent $20,000 a month desalinating and they spent $40,000, $50,000 a week just for diesel.
16:43End of the day, the mega resort is finished with, there's no doubt about that.
16:48It just doesn't work.
16:49The numbers don't stack.
16:50Geoff wants me to see what he thinks is the most beautiful spot on the island.
16:56It is pretty stunning.
16:58Look at this, all the way up here on its own.
17:01Seeing this old farmhouse is quite a surprise.
17:06I'm going to have it poke around.
17:08You want a hand?
17:09Yes.
17:10This is a heritage listed property.
17:12Ah.
17:13Pretty bare bones these days.
17:15Oh, isn't it?
17:16Geoff hopes any new development won't overwhelm the island and will respect what it's already got.
17:23Oh, it's kind of good to see this.
17:26Yeah.
17:31This island with 18 beaches, warm enough all year to swim at, lends itself to one of
17:36the great walks of the world.
17:38So, it really requires someone to come to this island with a lot of money and a big heart,
17:43I guess I'm saying.
17:45I'm starting to feel the spirit of this island, and others are catching on too.
17:52New events are springing up here, and it's the natural charms that are the drawcard.
17:58And good morning, everyone.
18:00We're about to start an organised safety meeting, so come closer here, please.
18:04This is the sixth annual Keppel swim.
18:07More than 150 swimmers are taking part in what feels like a festival.
18:13The weather today is looking very swimmable.
18:15When you pass the big peninsula, the wind should be behind, so it's pretty easy.
18:20Today, the swimmers and their support crews are going to slog it out around the entire
18:2720-kilometre coastline.
18:29It's the brainchild of former Latvian Olympic swimmer, Val Kalmakos, who now lives in Rockhampton.
18:36It's probably one of the most beautiful places in the world to swim.
18:39Not just with sceneries, but on the water life and the coral and rock formations.
18:45Everybody who come over here, they said, there's nothing like this anywhere else.
18:50Open water swimmers have come from far and wide.
18:54Look at the beautiful weather, and everybody's ready to go.
18:57It's a fantastic day. I'm pumped.
18:59Jörg Buys is from Brisbane.
19:01This is his fourth time doing the full circuit.
19:05You're going to swim for six hours?
19:07Oh, at least six hours, but that's the beauty of it.
19:11So you start here behind me, swim around the island, and finish at the same spot.
19:1620k?
19:17Well, good luck.
19:18Thank you. Thanks. Thanks so much.
19:20Kerry Lee Gockel and her husband Paul are also charged up.
19:24It's their second year.
19:26This year, Paul and I have decided to tackle it as a duo.
19:30So it's just us two with companion swimmers.
19:33So we'll be hitting the water, just the two of us,
19:36and hopefully getting out the other end before dark.
19:39We'll get there. We'll get there.
19:41The couple are matter-of-fact about their disabilities and lead full lives.
19:47Kerry Lee was a competition swimmer and then graduated in law and business.
19:54Paul won a silver medal for relay swimming in the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta.
20:01Every time I reminisce about it, you know, I get goosebumps.
20:04And particularly, you know, when you think about the opening ceremonies,
20:07you hear the announcement of Australia and you walk through and you hear 60,000 people just roaring and clapping and cheering.
20:15You know, it just gives you goosebumps just to feel that.
20:19How did you two meet?
20:21It was 2011 when I was walking down Charlotte Street in Brisbane and Paul was walking up.
20:25And Paul's got a fairly distinctive gait when he walks.
20:28So I'm like, oh, I recognise that guy.
20:30I'm pretty sure that's Paul Gockel from Swimming Days.
20:33And he had recognised me.
20:35Obviously, no arms, I'm not hard to miss.
20:37And we chatted for, I don't know, five or ten minutes.
20:40And I think it was the third week of January?
20:42Yeah.
20:43Yeah, about the third week of January, we teed up that first date.
20:46And the rest is history.
20:48That's right.
20:49We are, what, I don't know, 12 years later?
20:52Married for almost 10, been together for 12.
20:57There's excitement building up at the start line.
21:00It's going to be great.
21:01So you're the support team?
21:02Yeah.
21:03There's a big crew supporting Paul and I.
21:05So, yeah.
21:06Yeah.
21:07Mary Lee's a legend.
21:14It's fantastic to see the crowd ploughing into it.
21:17I don't know how far I'd get.
21:22I'll leave them to it and check in on them a bit later.
21:30In the meantime, I've been invited to go on a rollicking ride
21:34with the Loraway family.
21:35Tell you what, these roads are a bit rough.
21:38Yes, there's a few of them that need a fair bit of maintenance.
21:41But, um, nobody does any on it.
21:43Well, it was the resort.
21:44We do.
21:45The resort used to look after them and maintain them all.
21:47Yeah.
21:48Oh, so now nobody does.
21:49Now nobody does.
21:50Aaron Loraway is a third-generation Islander.
21:54He and his wife, Nicole, run the family's oyster business.
21:59Oh, wow.
22:00Look at this.
22:02Not a bad place to go to work.
22:05Amazing, isn't it?
22:06It's incredible.
22:07How beautiful.
22:08It is absolutely lovely.
22:09Oh, you're so lucky.
22:10We certainly are.
22:14I'm very keen on oysters and the local variety has just come into season.
22:19They're a milky oyster.
22:20They're endemic to this area in the Northern Territory.
22:23How's the view?
22:24Oh, it just gets better and better, doesn't it?
22:26It does, doesn't it?
22:27And the clear water out here with the currents is what makes these oysters so good.
22:31It's just so good.
22:32It's beautiful.
22:33Oh, there's thousands of them.
22:34Yep.
22:36Aaron's grandfather was a fisherman and scored a block of land here in the 60s.
22:42He and his wife, Joyce, took up these oyster leases for extra income.
22:48Grandmother Joyce, now in her 90s, is quite a legend.
22:52She was recently videoed cleaning her roof.
22:55Oh, I'll have to have a wet rag that poo all over the...
22:5992, she came oyster in with me and she still was right up my backside telling me to hurry
23:03up.
23:04We'd better get started then, haven't we?
23:06Let's get into her.
23:07You've got two ends for your oyster.
23:08You've got your round end and your pointy end.
23:10So you always try to pick the pointy end and it pops off better.
23:15Ah.
23:16And, as per tradition, we've got to eat it.
23:19Oh, well, I love oysters, so that won't be hard for me.
23:22They're my favourite food, I reckon.
23:25How many do I get?
23:26You can have as many as you like, Heather.
23:28There you go.
23:29Mmm.
23:30Can I have one more?
23:31Yep, certainly can.
23:32Beautiful.
23:33Am I greedy?
23:34No, no, no.
23:35Turns out, not everyone's a fan.
23:36Hey Nicole, do you like eating oysters?
23:37Not at all, no.
23:38No?
23:39How long have you been doing this for?
23:41I've been doing this now for 34 years.
23:43But the fourth generation, son Kalani, is shaping up in the family tradition.
23:44Hey Kalani, do you like oysters?
23:45Yeah, bloody oath, can't get enough.
23:46Bloody oath.
23:47Man after my own heart.
23:48Now, your dad reckons that you're going to take over this business one day.
23:49Yeah, that's the plan.
23:50That's the plan?
23:51Yep.
23:52Not a bad business to take over, hey.
23:53I'm interested to find out what Aaron thinks of the government's master plan.
23:54Well, you're born and bred here.
23:55What are you doing here?
23:56What are you doing here?
23:57Well, I've been doing this now for 34 years.
23:58But the fourth generation, son Kalani, is shaping up in the family tradition.
24:03Hey Kalani, do you like oysters?
24:05Yeah, bloody oath, can't get enough.
24:07Bloody oath.
24:08Man after my own heart.
24:09Now, your dad reckons that you're going to take over this business one day.
24:12Yeah, that's the plan.
24:13That's the plan?
24:14Yep.
24:15Not a bad business to take over, hey.
24:17I'm interested to find out what Aaron thinks of the government's master plan.
24:21Well, you're born and bred here.
24:23What do you reckon is the future of the island?
24:25I hope they re-establish the resort and keep it to that size
24:28and don't take away from the beauty of the island
24:30by putting units all over the headlands.
24:32They just need to make it very environmental now.
24:35So I hope so.
24:36I hope something happens.
24:37I hope something happens.
24:38Eventually.
24:41However it goes, I feel sure some things won't change,
24:45like the oyster bottling back home.
24:49So these are all the ones we got this morning?
24:50Yep, these are all the ones we got this morning, yeah.
24:52This looks quite a process.
24:54Yes, you want to make sure there's no shell in there.
24:56The last thing you want is eating an oyster with shells, so...
24:58True.
24:59And how long would these last?
25:00Ten days.
25:01You've got to eat them in ten days?
25:03Yep.
25:04I reckon they'd last a day with me.
25:05And the finished product.
25:07They sell nearby on the mainland,
25:10and it's hard keeping up with demand.
25:12A few hours have just flown by,
25:18and I wonder how the swimmers are bearing up.
25:21Paul and Kerry Lee have tag-teamed around most of the island
25:26and are doing this last stretch together.
25:29I'm in awe.
25:30Kerry makes it look so easy.
25:32I think there's almost a point when you're swimming in the ocean
25:36that you get to feel the rhythm of the water
25:38and your body moves in sync with that,
25:40and it's just fantastic.
25:44Paul's going strong.
25:46For me, obviously, walking's a little bit of an issue for me,
25:50but being in the water, I feel free,
25:52and I'm able to move at a reasonable pace.
25:56It's something that just keeps me going forward.
26:10Seeing the pride and the joy here,
26:13I feel more certain than ever
26:16that Keppel really can be great again
26:19and that it's found a new beginning.
26:22This holiday island clearly has its own rhythms and contrasts,
26:27yet it seems to me
26:29what the people coming here and living here share
26:32is a great love of its natural beauty.
26:35They know change needs to happen,
26:38but it's a balancing act.
26:39It's just a question of how it's done
26:41to protect the essence of this very special place.
26:47I just love the nature
26:48and, like, getting away from the hustle and bustle
26:50of being on the mainland.
26:51You get to be here and relax
26:53and just feel at one, you know?
26:55Most people that come to the island now
26:57really come for nature.
26:59They don't come to have a fancy building.
27:01They'd love to come back in another 20, 30 years' time
27:04and go, this place is still special.
27:06We've developed it well
27:08and we're looking after the environment.
27:10This island can be a very, very special place,
27:14but it needs to be nurtured
27:16and it needs to be looked after.
27:18You can't do that unless you're working from here
27:21and there's very few people who do that.
27:25Next time on Backroads,
27:27there'll be plenty of sheep thrills.
27:29I can feel the earth move.
27:31This is sensational.
27:32We want mayhem.
27:33We want chaos.
27:35And sheer excitement.
27:37Got any tips?
27:38Keep practising.
27:40As I head to the hilltops region of New South Wales
27:44where the locals are proud of their heritage
27:47and are making sure the new generation
27:50shares in the good stuff.
27:52Oh, we've got one!
27:53Oh!
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