Coochin Creek revisited. Meet Mitch, (Man Vs Wild,) and other inspirational people, we did

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Revisited one of our favourite East Coast hangouts, Coochin Creek, Beerburrum State forest, 20 k south of Caloundra on the sunny coast of QLD. We love it for the creek,, the creek is more of an Estuarine river that flows through a bushland riparian zone. We love the fish and the muddies, but on this visit, we met some absolutely wonderfully inspiring people. Those of you, who know us well, know that we are not big social butterflies, we like to be chameleons and blend insignificantly amongst the camping populous.

First up meet Steve and Talitha, who rocked up in a homemade customized camper trailer, they had been high renting a house for years, had enough, time to hit the road and for them, this was camp one. Steve the pragmatic one, had everything set up for serious camping, like his cut down gas bottle for campoven, and lots of other truly amazing stuff that he kept bringing out of his self made Tardis, were all his very own home fashioned camping toys. Talitha his wife, an islander lady with a beautiful kind spirit whose heart it seems, pours love and compassion to all the beings of creation she meets. To be in her company, ones spirit is truly lifted, she is special, that one. We enjoyed a few nights dining at their camp, under the stars with all the special people you are about to meet.

Gary and Belinda, are almost locals, their other house is not far away, they too, can't stand the land of the racing rats, and have a semi permanent caravan set up close to the river landing. Every morning Gary sets up his fishing rods at four o'clock, has a contemplative smoke as the predawn river comes slowly to life. For him this is sacred place and time. Belinda does the morning bush domestics, has a read, well audio book, joins Gary in sunlight for fish. They too have big hearts, one time when they drove off to check on their other house, they returned to camp with a spare crab pot for us, fished out from their shed full of stuff, complete with can of cat food for mud crab bait, thank you so much. Have had a few jimmys in the pot, I ask Gary "what size is legal and how do you tell the jimmys from the jennys?" Garys' Queensland drawl replies "well mate underneath, the jimmys (males) have a triangular flap and the jennys (females,...well der.) have a more rectangular flap, for handing out their babes to the river. I ask "but what size is legal?" Gary replies " Aw look mate if a soft drink can fits across the back of the shell, its legal and hot lunch in 15 minutes after boil."

Gary loves the peace and serenity of Coochin Creek, he was not amused by a 'trash' of rednecks, (self invented collective noun) that set up their camp close to his caravan with big Doof music disturbing his peace. Gary cleverly noticed that this was a pest control tradie, (who probably should control himself) that drove his business van to the bush camp with his mobile number on the side. Gary picks up his mobile, gives the van a ring, redneck hears phone, thinking business job, turns down doof music, Gary hangs up, redneck doofs up again, after many ring up, turn down sessions,' Neanderthal Ned" finally clicks, one of the 20 or so campers is doing this, decides to doof down, much to Gary's delight. Charles Darwin would probably note the evolution of the species,... in my day, full on confrontation, "turn that bloody racket down Rah, Rah, Rah...., Blah, Blah, Blah", ah the convenience of the mobile phone!

A large camp of inspiring indigenous people, were camped bush side, we met them at the river landing, watching the boys do their acrobatic bombs and daredevil stunts, ....Splashhhh into the water! Could be a while before fishing resumes, but hey, these are Butchellor people from K'gari land (Fraser Islanders) yep, they just happen to know Nova. (remember our indigenous guide on K'gari) We had an informative chat, re matters indigenous, they weren't surprised that Basho has a link to aboriginality, but it made Bilbo seriously consider, how can I fit in to the indigenous, when I'm quality convict stock? O.k I am not indigenous, but I was born to this ancient land on first peoples country. Confession, Bilbo is Mexicano, born south of the border, in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

The city of Footscray, is situated on the Maribrynong river and is home to the Warangerie tribe. So, I have some personal investigative work to do. My middle name is James after my father and his father, I was born in the year of the rooster, I absolutely love to awaken to the sound of the morningbirds, heralding a new day for all of creation, this wonderful amazing gift that we all receive every day at sunrise, hallelujah!!.

So, ....... 'News flash' to the world, there is another Bilbo, fictitious but is not me, I need a name other than my birth title or fictitious character, that is true to my identity, something uniquely me, I, like all of you are unique and a name should be more than something on your drivers licence that you show to the policeman, when you have been naughty. A name should say something about you, so in a quiet moment of divine inspiration, Bilbo, will be known from this day on, as James Morningbird. So when you google Bilbo Basho and see James Morningbird, its all good, read on. For Basho, it was easy, ever since a young girl, she loved walkabout in the bush with her father, noticing all the little flowers in the bush, and to this day, Teresah, still marvels at the beautiful tiny creations of splendour, hence Basho will now be known as Littleflower.

And now to the amazing Mitch, I was over at the recently logged pine forest, picking up sticks for our cooking fire, when the guy in the tent, a few sites over turned up with an axe. We have all hopefully learnt not to judge the books by their covers, but let me tell you, this book was covered in many tatts, body piercing that would blow up the airport metal detecting machine, short cropped hair, massive scar right across the top of his forehead, Mean bikie T.Shirt, saying something about mothers, man I thought this is not good. Shit he's coming over to me with that AXE, James just go about your business and all will be .......axeman says " I will cut you four big pieces of wood", .......note to self, stay calm, nod head, mumble agreement, walk over to next wood row, try to ignore , don't engage, alarm bells are at mega velocity, do the noddies, make up dumb meaningless conversation, "don't mention the war, I did once, but I think I got away with it." (Basil Fawlty)

"G'day I'm Mitch, I've just helped your wife over by the log dump" I looked for recent blood on axe, phew, axe clean, spot four fire size logs nearby, heart returns slowly to normal beats, maybe this is not the pariah dog from hell, " thanks mate," we exchanged names, number plates and insurance companies, and the usual first meet chat stuff, as we carried mine and his back to camp, I soon noticed there were no his, his sole purpose in the forest was to chop wood just for us. Wow, this guy either has a kangaroo loose in the top paddock or maybe, just maybe, he is a kindred spirit, the sheep in wolfs clothing, the proverbial good samaritan. Mitch dropped off wood at our fireplace, returned to his camp, Littleflower returned soon after, we exchanged chance meeting stories with unusual neighbor. We met Mitch properly that evening, looked beyond the book cover to discover a cheerful, likable and ruggedly handsome young man, who is, get this, a pre school teacher, I knew there was more to this guy than the peripheral.

Mitch was camped in a tent at the forests edge with full survival gear, eating elephant beatles and any other edible denizens of the forest, he had truly gone back to the basics of life, like Eric Claptons "Crossroads". Mitch was at the crossroads of his life, looking to find answers to questions of how to deal with deeply personal family tragedies, that have impacted his life. Like the servicemen at Standown Park, I will not splash peoples personal grief over the internet, suffice to say we were very deeply touched with how Mitch has somehow kept his head together, and admired the way he chooses to move on.

Mitch has a heart as big as his tatts, a very likable personality and compassionate share ethics,these gifts of humanity rarely seen in todays' "its all about me" world. With his formidable axe he went around the campsites offering wood deprived campers wood for their nights fire. he fished all day to deliver fish for the nights evening community dinner. Mitch you are a Champion.

So, this visit to Coochin was a real opener for all of us, may we all live, learn and grow to be the better people we are, much love to all, Morningbird and Littleflower.

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