Messing About In Boats

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday January 1, 2008

James Cockington

Geoff Hughes aims to keep his business afloat, writes James Cockington.

It's hard to think of a better working environment. Geoff Hughes, who trained as a typesetter, has been operating the Audley boatshed in the Royal National Park since 1994. His father Ron ran the business before that and still helps out.

The tiny office, about the size of a ticket booth, is part of the historic shed built in 1938 to replace the original, more grandiose structure. That one was built in 1893 when Audley was the most popular picnic spot in Sydney.

Back then the hire boats were graceful wooden craft that needed four men to lift them in and out of the water. These days the boats are lightweight fibreglass and you can also hire aqua bikes, canoes and mountain bikes. The rowboats are still the most popular choice. You can fit in a family of four and at $20 for an hour ($28 for two hours) that's pretty good value.

"There's 192 of them," he says, indicating the boats stacked in rows like a supermarket shelf. Some look like they haven't been used for some time.

"Up to 15 years ago on a really nice Sunday we'd hire them all out. It's a lot quieter these days. Usually we'll only have 15 to 20 good days a year. Some days, especially in the middle of winter, there's not a single customer."

Hughes can tell by the weather forecast how good each day is likely to be. The slightest chance of rain seriously affects business.

But even on bad days Audley is a magnificent place to be. In summer he can walk around barefoot and eat his lunchtime sandwiches on the deck while watching the ducks swim past.

On the other hand, not many workplaces are regularly flooded.

In the shed Hughes keeps a stick on which the more dramatic floodwater levels are recorded. A few are ominously higher than the top of his head. In 1988, the water was two metres deep in the shed but the 1984 flood was even bigger.

"We didn't bother to open the shed those days," he says.

It doesn't take much to flood the boatshed. Four hours of steady rain is usually enough. He found this out the hard way in his first year of operation when he left most of his boats on the deck tied by ropes. It rained all night and in the morning the boats weren't there.

"Fifty-five boats went over the weir," Hughes says, "and some went down river and ended up as far out as Bundeena. It took us three days to find them all and a lot of them were so damaged we had to take them to the tip."

Part of his job is to monitor flood levels and there's an electronic measuring device in the shed that triggers an alarm at home. When that happens he phones the RTA and they close the access road leading down to the weir.

"The alarm always seems to go off at 2am," he notes.

Fibreglass boats may be more practical but they're also more easily damaged. Repairing the boats and the oars takes up a lot of his spare time on quiet days. On busy days, usually hot summer Sundays, he's constantly on the go, including the occasional rescue attempt.

"It doesn't happen that often but there was one last week, just on the other side of the river. He had a lifejacket on when he left the shed but he must have taken it off and he [flipped] the canoe and couldn't get back in.

"It's not that deep but he couldn't swim so he was just hanging on. His mate just took off and left him there. I've got a little powerboat here in the shed so I took that out and picked him up.

"If you're adventurous you can go for half an hour up Kangaroo Creek or, in the other direction, down the Hacking River until the low water level stops further progress. And that's when you can get into deep trouble."

He recalls the group of young men who were convinced that the river made a complete loop so that they could return on the other side of the weir. Hughes warned them that this wasn't so and even showed them the map.

But when they hadn't returned by the 5pm deadline he went out looking for them. They'd paddled down the river until they couldn't go any further then abandoned the boats and continued on foot. He notified the park rangers who found them three hours later in a bush clearing several kilometres from the river.

"They were going to spend the night there," Hughes says.

"All they were wearing was shorts and singlets and it was the middle of winter. I don't think they would have survived."

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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