McCallum
We heard the islands long before we saw them. The rhythmic booming of the fog horn every minute pierced the fog. The radar picked up the islands but neglected the scattered rocks just above the surface between us and the shore. Everywhere was grey. Grey sea, grey sky and no discernible horizon.
We had motored NW in thick, wet fog since leaving Fortune at 0600 and we were nearing a waypoint off Pass Island when we came through a raft of seabirds that scampered into the air as we approached. Then came a small pod of dolphins swimming at speed and with purpose. I yelled down through the companionway, ‘Sally, come on deck- dolphins!’ Just as I did a very large whale rolled lazily past 10m from the boat. As it passed it blew and a plume of mist went up to mingle with the misty air. A muffled voice from below replied, ’I’m in the toilet!’
The whales and the dolphins stuck around long enough for Sally to enjoy some of nature’s spectacle by which time we were turning north at our waypoint and heading for McCallum.
McCallum is an outport that so far has declined to be resettled. That means that the community did not vote to accept the Government bribe to move into a larger town with road and infrastructure. Instead, the tiny town with it’s rickety wooden sheds and cabins cling to the hillsides and cling onto existence in the 21st century. Boardwalks are everywhere but here they replace the streets as there are no cars. Just a handful of quad bikes instead.
We are tied up against the government dock for $6 a night and, a few metres from us on the ferry dock, the town’s generator chugs quietly away. When the town declines the bribe then the Government steps in with subsidy and infrastructure. Thirty folk now live here but there is a store, a church, a helipad, a generator and power grid, a daily ferry and a medical centre. The only thing there isn’t is work as fishing is allowed only between April and June.
McCallum is a picturesque town that is usually bathed in fog and is peopled by jolly, self sufficient folk. Above it all flies a solitary bald eagle whilst the tiny community attempts to scratch a living and survive.
