For many, the bushland and foreshore areas around our village and the northern shores of Port Stephens are a sanctuary, a place to find peace and enjoy time in nature.
But with lockdown finally coming to an end after two long years, areas within the bushland around us are being turned into pop-up party camp sites for large groups of unruly teens and youngsters. And the damage left in their wake has been considerable.
On a recent Monday morning walk down to Beauty Point I was stopped in my tracks... stopped in disbelief and disappointment in the vandalism that lay before me.
Hundreds of glass bottles and cans lay upon the ground, many smashed into pieces, thrown into the nearby bushes, onto the rocky foreshore of Beauty Point and heaped in a pile in the middle of a camp fire that still blazed with hot coals ready to reignite.
Being Monday morning, it was obvious that the group had only recently left, most likely on the Sunday evening after a long weekend of partying at our bushlands expense.
As if the alcoholic bottles weren't enough (most pre-mixed bourbon, vodka and beer), there was also several condoms strewn about the ground, chip packets and lolly wrappers and of course toilet paper littered throughout the nearby bushes. To my further disbelief, a fire extinguisher was also among the items burned out and left on the fire.
Upset and feeling compelled to 'right' the situation, I headed home and returned later in the afternoon to clean up the mess. A couple hours later and all the garbage was bagged and carried out to the bins at the community centre, which luckily were fairly empty and due to be picked up the next morning.
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Fast forward a few weeks to 6th November and I'm out on a Saturday afternoon walk with a couple friends. We headed out to Beauty Point on foot but as we got closer, the sound of revving engines made us proceed cautiously.
Nearing Beauty Point, a large Ute with at least 10 young people on board, mostly sitting on the rear tray passed us on the trail, forcing us to promptly jump aside into the bushes. Moments later, a young man on a quad bike overtook us on the trail, kicking up a cloud of dust as he went.
As we entered the grassy flat leading down to Beauty Point, we observed a flurry of activity with groups of young adults huddled together around their vehicles, collecting firewood, riding around on quadbikes and getting settled in for the evening - almost everyone with a drink in hand.
There seemed to be two distinct camps, one group had taken the spot closer to the foreshore while the other congregated around the giant fig tree. In total, there must have been 10 vehicles and 20-30 people down there.
We passed through quickly, in shock and dismay at the size of the group. Many of the characters, while probably just a young and silly bunch, also appeared fairly rough around the edges - not the sorts you'd want to bump into on your daily stroll through our peaceful bushland.
There was no doubt in my mind that this group were going to spend the rest of the night and weekend trashing the bush around Beauty Point and leaving a complete mess for local residents to deal with.
The aftermath...
With a heavy heart I approached Beauty Point on Monday morning to assess the damage. I made my way down to the grassy flat and the giant fig tree and onto Beauty Point. Once again, the place had been absolutely trashed.
I felt sick. I don't cry easy or often but I almost did. The scene was gut wrenching.
Luckily, some other good Samaritan (probably another local guardian of the bush), beat me to the scene and had already begun the clean-up... collecting 7 garbage bags full of empty bottles, cans and rubbish and leaving them beneath the giant fig.
Loads more bottles and cans remained smashed on the ground, in the bushes all around and piled up in the fireplaces just as they had been a few weeks earlier. Toilet paper also littered the bush in all directions.
This time, the clean-up was so big, there was no way I could carry out all the rubbish on foot.
The next day, I contacted Bob Reid and together we headed out in a vehicle armed with garbage bags and gloves and spent our afternoon tidying up our beloved Beauty Point once more.
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Luckily, during the clean-up we found a number of receipts from liquor stores in Gloucester that identify some of the culprits and this information is being shared with police.
While we are blessed to have such an extensive network of vehicle-accessible trails throughout North Arm Cove, they are a double-edge sword for our community as they make it very easy for out-of-towners to roll up and establish make-shift bush camps for rowdy, lawless weekends away.
The reason I share this story is to raise everyone’s awareness that this sort of behaviour is taking place around our village and may be coming to a bay or bush track near you very soon.
My advice to myself (and anyone else) next time I witness such behaviour in the Cove is to ensure I note the vehicle registration numbers involved so this disgusting behaviour can be rightly punished. Our bushland and foreshore areas are there to be treasured and enjoyed, not trashed and disrespected. Shame on the fools who are doing this.
