At first I think it's a shame that the "olden days" of free camping are now so restricted, especially in such a huge, open land, but then we get to Wedge Island.
Wedge Island, as you read about it on the internet, sounds great - a free, fun place where people have built a holiday community of shacks next to the beach. The government is gradually closing down these kinds of places and having all the shacks removed, amid much protest, and when you see the actual place you realise why.
It has a certain appeal - amusing home made shacks, a sense of communal carefree living, with its own little "hospital" shack and inviting sandy tracks among the trees and shrubs. But it's a dump. There's rubbish everywhere - old cars, scrap metal, metal drums, cast off furniture, junk, piled up randomly about the place or just chucked in the scrub. The first thing you drive through on arrival is an acre of rusting metal scrap piled high on either side of the road. The beach area is stunning, but you realise that like any human society, tribal or otherwise, there isn't really any "respect" for the land - you just do what you want, use it up, and when it's full of rubbish you move on to the next spot.
Being a weekday off season, we barely saw anyone, but you could tell from the signs that in peak season it would be like a scene from Mad Max 3, with unlicenced citizens wildly releasing pets into the bush and setting fire to their unregistered cars on the illegal helicopter landing pad.
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| Wedge Island "hospital" - come on in & have a go! |
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