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Text below from Townsville Bulletin.
Sean
PHIL BUCKMAN
Robert De La Garde was on the trip of a lifetime when his boat ran aground on South Barren Island,
putting him in a serious life-threatening situation.
He was rescued via helicopter and taken to Mackay Hospital. Almost all his money was gone and his
possessions were trapped on the vessel.
Everything changed when 73-year-old boatie Tony McCracken reached out to him. Mr McCracken heard
about Robert's predicament, and offered to sail him back to the wreckage to remove the rest of his
belongings and deal with leftover fuel.
This was set to be part of Tony's journey around Australia to raise money for the Fred Hollows
Foundation.
"I was going to spend Christmas in the Whitsundays and head north from there," Mr McCracken said.
The pair made a turbulent journey impeded in part by a large storm cell sitting over South East
Queensland, Wide Bay and Central Queensland.
"It was rough for the first couple days, but after that we pretty much went from 1770 to Robert's boat
overnight," Mr McCracken said.
They reached Mr De La Garde's boat and retrieved some of his belongings, but ran aground at the mouth
of the Pioneer River in Mackay.
The Volunteer Marine Rescue team helped them return to the mainland, but the boat was stuck.
"There's a boat yard (in Mackay) that does salvage work . As they pulled it off the reef, it broke in
half," Mr De La Garde said. He said he was heading back to NSW. "I am mentally and physically
exhausted."
Mr McCracken said he was staying in Mackay temporarily. "Life's a bitch and then you die. I've got
some friends in Mackay."
Townsville Bulletin
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