A French Tale

Our attention was first drawn to the young couple as we returned from a drive to Adel’s Grove to our campsite in the National Park camping area at Lawn Hill (or Boojamulla). They had parked in the ‘day use’ area of the Gorge recreation section and the rear door of the 4WD they had was open onto the road. The girl of the pair was seated further into the road adjacent to the door so that I slowed and veered off the road a bit to avoid the obstacle. I looked as we passed and got a friendly grin from the lad of the pair. There were plenty of other shady spots so it seemed a bit strange to set up right there. Tess and I later in the day walked to Indarri falls (see the photos in a previous post) for an afternoon swim, the best time to be at the falls as most people restrict their activities to the morning. The young couple turned up after us and were less than friendly in not returning a hello when we offered one but she plonked all her stuff down on a canoe landing platform so we had to step over it to get past. Didn’t faze her and she made no move to shift it whenever we went past. Jokingly, Tess and I agreed they must be French bringing to the fore all our unconscious biases.
Next morning we saw each of them using the facilities/amenities of the campground but returning to the car park reasoning they had avoided the steep $5.60 per person fee demanded by the National Park. That meant they were ‘tight’ Frenchies!
That morning Tess and I walked the 'edge of the gorge' path via great lookouts and this brings you to a point looking down on the beautiful Indarri Falls. We arrived just in time to see the ‘Frenchies’ paddling in a canoe to reach the falls with a pink ball that they were throwing ahead and retrieving and taking photos. As they mucked around I saw something ‘tossed’ and an attempt to retrieve it that looked desperate and it became clear they had lost something valuable. Tess and I muttered several possibilities about non-waterproof and waterproof cameras or wallets and then suggested they were lucky there were no video cameras around otherwise they were likely to end up in bigger trouble by capsizing. Right on cue the lad attempts to exit the canoe and tips it up so a substantial amount of water enters but no capsize. See! No video camera otherwise…
They start peering into the water and it is deep enough to make seeing the bottom difficult but I gauge they have missed the spot it went in. The vantage point we had made it easy to pinpoint some features that allow an ‘X’ to mark the spot in my mind.

I went down and found they had lost a waterproof ‘GoPro’ type camera of a grey colour with black bordering. Others were going to lend them goggles upon return to the campsite so they could return to find it. I suggested to the lad he was looking in the wrong place but he was firm in his conviction that where he was looking was correct. I asked “Have you found it? His answer of “no” made me say “Well it is time to look somewhere where you don’t think it is if it is not where you think it is”. I offered assistance and he said “Well you can look where you want but I think it is here”. I dived in and started searching where I figured it was and on the third dive I found it. I surfaced without showing the camera and asked what colour it was again. The girl showed me a wrist camera or watch that reputedly had the same colour and I raised the camera above the water saying “What? Like this?” They were elated and the lad offered I should have a drink with them later but as I passed the camera back to them and with quite an audience by now I asked “Where did you camp last night?” The lad was honest and said the carpark. I asked if they had used the facilities and again he replied honestly so I said that they had offended the spirits of the Waanyi and they must pay for the use of the camp. Just to make sure I repeated it and he nodded sheepishly.
Bet they didn’t pay...and they were French!

By G.