Guest Blogger: Wes
After a week of head down bum up hunched over picking up thousands of pieces of rubbish on the beach, there was no shortage of sore backs and stiff necks amongst the cleanup team on the morning of day 8. The sight of a few waves breaking on the beach and the fact that we needed to pick up the bags of rubbish we left behind that needed to be picked up was enough motivation for dinghies to be launched, boards to be waxed and wetsuits to be pulled on for the last chance to get a wave or get some of the Southwest national park's sand between your toes for the lat time before we headed home.
The daily rubbish count is a massive cooperative effort for all involved in the clean up but it is probably the least looked forward to part of the day as it is really hard work. As the tally added up, cleanup team leader Matt Dell decided, after a bit of quick mental arithmetic, that it looked as though this year's final tally would break the record set on last year's cleanup.
This created a bit of a buzz which helped get the last of the plastics counted and Matt's hunch turned out to be spot on. The record was broken.
We steamed home with light winds and calm seas that allowed some of the crew to grab 40 winks, catch a couple of Stripey Trumpeter off southwest cape or sit with a Moo Brew or Gillespie's ginger beer and watch the albatross swooping around the boat.
The cleanup vessels then met up in Recherche Bay to raft up and reflect on a week that passed in the blink of an eye. The 80694 items were duly stowed on the Wilsons Voyager for their last journey on the high seas, up to the dock in Hobart where they will be transported to the Resource Tip shop in South Hobart
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