Gallery of log for Eromsil Gnome
Eromsil's missing gnome status has been weighing heavily on my mind in recent days and the fact that neither the army, nor the Queensland Police Service have been out searching for him had really ticked me off, so we decided to mount our own search and rescue mission!
After a good breakfast, we headed north and after an hour or so's contemplation of Eromsil's possible fate, the general location of his last known whereabouts came into view. What would we find? Or more importantly what wouldn't we find?
As our GPSr counted down the metres to GZ, certain signs became apparent - "hey, there are the tracking signs I left as a clue, they are more or less intact". "What's this? Looks like the old piece of styrofoam I used for camo". "Wait a minute, I see a flash of orange". I pulled away the foliage and there he was - ALIVE!! (Well, as alive as a plaster gnome can be). The relief was measurable!
"What are doing!" he demanded, "YOU are not meant to find me. I've been waiting here for over a week and Anna hasn't left on her plane and now, just as the Queensland Police plane flies in, you blow my cover. I'd hoped to catch a lift back to wherever it came from."
"We were worried about you", was our answer. "You know that Brisbane has just experienced a flood almost as big as '74. We were concerned that you'd been swept away and were now at the bottom of Moreton Bay with the Drift Restaurant, several boats, and any number of riverside cache containers. We want to move you to a safer location."
"Stupid humans! I am an SES trained gnome, I know about deep water rescue and I have good survival skills. Besides which, this is a very safe place!"
"You think so huh!", was our reply, "Come for a drive with us to check out the river and if you think its ok, we'll bring you back here. We'd also like to let you know that there is a king tide due in a couple of days, and the long range weather forecast predicts more rain (as much as we had to cause the flood) and several cyclones."
So we took Eromsil down to a nearby park overlooking the river. While the road itself was clear, seeing the substation sandbagged was sobering, and the amount of debris caught on the banks astonishing. Four days after the flood peak, the river was still flowing very swiftly.
"Do you want to go back to near Anna's Hanger?” we asked.
"Err no", was his reply. "The river is too fast and if the security guards who encouraged us to leave the park are right and that bulk carrier over the river at Fisherman Island is the first ship into port then the river must have been very very fast. I don't want to stick around if it happens again".
"So where are you going to take me?" he asked. I whispered the location into his ear and his response was "Great idea, let’s go". So we left.
After a good breakfast, we headed north and after an hour or so's contemplation of Eromsil's possible fate, the general location of his last known whereabouts came into view. What would we find? Or more importantly what wouldn't we find?
As our GPSr counted down the metres to GZ, certain signs became apparent - "hey, there are the tracking signs I left as a clue, they are more or less intact". "What's this? Looks like the old piece of styrofoam I used for camo". "Wait a minute, I see a flash of orange". I pulled away the foliage and there he was - ALIVE!! (Well, as alive as a plaster gnome can be). The relief was measurable!
"What are doing!" he demanded, "YOU are not meant to find me. I've been waiting here for over a week and Anna hasn't left on her plane and now, just as the Queensland Police plane flies in, you blow my cover. I'd hoped to catch a lift back to wherever it came from."
"We were worried about you", was our answer. "You know that Brisbane has just experienced a flood almost as big as '74. We were concerned that you'd been swept away and were now at the bottom of Moreton Bay with the Drift Restaurant, several boats, and any number of riverside cache containers. We want to move you to a safer location."
"Stupid humans! I am an SES trained gnome, I know about deep water rescue and I have good survival skills. Besides which, this is a very safe place!"
"You think so huh!", was our reply, "Come for a drive with us to check out the river and if you think its ok, we'll bring you back here. We'd also like to let you know that there is a king tide due in a couple of days, and the long range weather forecast predicts more rain (as much as we had to cause the flood) and several cyclones."
So we took Eromsil down to a nearby park overlooking the river. While the road itself was clear, seeing the substation sandbagged was sobering, and the amount of debris caught on the banks astonishing. Four days after the flood peak, the river was still flowing very swiftly.
"Do you want to go back to near Anna's Hanger?” we asked.
"Err no", was his reply. "The river is too fast and if the security guards who encouraged us to leave the park are right and that bulk carrier over the river at Fisherman Island is the first ship into port then the river must have been very very fast. I don't want to stick around if it happens again".
"So where are you going to take me?" he asked. I whispered the location into his ear and his response was "Great idea, let’s go". So we left.
