4000 tonne battleship HMAS Adelaide sunk 1.5 kilometers off North Avoca.

(L), Adelaide pre-sinking. (R), protesters sky-high insult. Pic: Aaron Pirini

The Central Coast Artificial Reef Project finally got its wish and the 4000 tonne battleship HMAS Adelaide now sits 33 metres down and 1.5 kilometers off North Avoca. A light North /North West wind flared the slight swell into a smallish but perfect 1 foot running off the bomby. The spectacle of the weather only matched by a battleship dwarfing kayakers and anything near it for size. The aqua environment couldn’t of been more playful and perfect for the keen revelers intent on watching the Battleship cleverly but ironically blow itself up.

Burly, barrel chested ex HMAS Adelaide sailors took pride of place in the prime real estate of North Avoca surf club. The sailors deservedly mooched about on the surf clubs decks, rum and a beer or ten in one hand, ciggies at the helm recalling stories of highs and lows in counted in a 27 year, seven seas history.

The ex Captain Ahab’s were having their moment in the sun, agile still and cut from the cloth of Old Spice all appeared merry in the company of other sea dogs. Their boat sitting straight out in front of them a site as familiar as the rum and beer that coloured their morning.

There had been up until the 11th hour an anti or No Ship group opposed to the sinking of the battleship but if the crowd was any indicator the support by weight of numbers appeared to say sink the bloody thing. The Primary Industries Minister, Katrina Hodgkinson commented, that’ ‘the HMAS Adelaide had undergone more stringent environmental testing than any other project in NSW’.

However the ‘Anti Ship’ group claimed that anti-fouling from the boat would leach out into the marine environment possibly onto the shores where children would presumably eat it or worse take it home and eat it, it was also argued that it would interfere with whale migration? Okay… It’s reported with the other five military ships that have been sunk in Australia’s waters that within a week there was Algae, two weeks there were barnacles developing, four weeks squid are having a squiz. The dolphins own the place and in a short amount of time they frequent the wrecks as well. The economic benefits it was argued by some is seen by an increase in tourism, the cafe’s are busy, people buy stuff, yah, yahdah, yahdah, all the flow on effects that is nature based tourism.

The beach was a hive of people, families, kids, media and an oddly a disproportionate amount of emergency, rescue, Police Rescue and Navy personnel all on duty. There presence almost quietly inviting a feeling of ‘What if’ disaster into a perfect day. Quite clearly the carnival atmosphere of the morning revealed the area as having a giddy, happy disposition and a level of unemployment on par with Botswana.

The battleship went down sadly without a fight, no oily residue-spewing out into the sea, no fiery balls of engine oil hurtling towards the lake… and it sunk within a minute. Bit of a fizzer really.

Local Chad Pace watched the whole event unfold from his balcony and commented that he thought it was quite a good thing for the area. Chad explained that marine life love hanging about anything that’s permanent or fixed and that big unit of a ship is looking pretty fixed. I asked Chad if he felt a bit left out as he wasn’t for or against the scuttling of the ship and he responded with a no fuss, ‘nah should be fine’. If anything some locals thought that more fuss could of been made about the no fuss nature of most of the people, in particular that no fuss Anti-Big, Moosey, Shark Bitey Group had not been created. Clearly more sharks will be about it was discussed. What was to deter the teethy freaks from coming in and having a sneaky peek at the silly lot on their boards?

Within an hour or so the beach and streets of North Avoca fell back to it’s typical, uncluttered and slow self.