So my mate Paul Bishop started coming
to Brisbane Streetlevel back in 2010. He
had done a stint in jail and was on parole and ended up staying at the Salvos
Pindari Men’s shelter. He was told
there was a free feed at Streetlevel and so headed on down to check it
out. Well this started a connection that
is strong to this day over 10 years later.
Paul started helping to prepare and
serve the community meals and often came away on our Easter camp trips and
other recreational outings. He became
part of the team and was helpful and consistent. He and I collected for the
Salvos together at the gates of the Royal Brisbane Show for many years and
enjoyed sharing this experience together, especially the dagwood dogs and
strawberry ice creams afterwards.
For Paul, holidays just didn’t happen
and life on welfare support payments was basically hand to mouth, so when the
opportunity to come away to Fraser Island with 15 or so other guys on a on a weeklong
4WD fishing adventure was made available to him, he jumped at the chance.
So the first year Paul came along it
was a bit of a culture shock. The trip
onto the island is a long car drive and a ferry trip and then a somewhat stressful
and bouncy two hour drive along a sandy beach to our campsite. Once at the campsite there is a lot of work
to set up the kitchen, the tents and getting all the fishing gear, fridges and
lighting in place. It’s a big day.
That first year we stopped along the
way to get some pippies which are shell fish that you can dig up in the sand at
low tide that we use for bait. We all
got out of the cars and filled our buckets.
People then got back into cars and Paul and another guy somehow got left
behind. 20 minutes or so later we realised
this and drove back to get them. Paul was not happy and in a rage threw pippies
at the driver who forgot him. On the way
home from this trip we got bogged in the sand and had to dig our way out. Paul was frustrated and angry with this and to
make matters worse was accidently bumped over as we tried to tow the car out of
the sand. Then on the long drive home we
had engine trouble with our car and it delayed us a few hours and again Paul
was cranky about this and was not able to handle his emotions too well.
The following year we spoke to Paul
and explained that things will always go wrong on these trips and that
adventure is like that. There are risks.
We explained that we needed him to be supportive at these times and not to make
things worse by getting upset. Well
Paul got the message and the next year he was a different person. Super helpful and encouraging and always
finding ways to support. When we got
bogged he joyfully helped resolve the problem.
He took on roles without being asked like doing the dishes and helping
newcomers rig their lines or set up their tents. Every year we award someone with the Spirit of
Fraser Shield for great attitude over the week and within 12 months Paul went
from being a bit challenging to being an absolute delight. He won the 2018 award and was celebrated
among all the guys for showing such great improvement.
In 2019 Paul caught a huge Flathead
on Fraser Island and it was enormous - the biggest fish anyone has caught in the
ten year history of our fishing trips. He
was ridiculously excited. None of us
will ever forget this moment.
Every year at Fraser Island Paul and
I take a selfie together on the beautiful rain forest boardwalk at Central
Station. And every time I see Paul we
connect as beautifully as mates and we often share the story of catching the
biggest flathead either of us have ever seen.
Bless ya,
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