QLD man Greg Bailey’s emotional fishing trip 16 years after stroke
A chance meeting at a beachside caravan park left a group of men ‘crying their eyes out’ after they helped a wheelchair-bound man achieve his long-held dream.
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It had been 16 long years away from the sand for Greg Bailey.
The Mackay man was on respite at Big4 Blacks Beach Holiday Park when a “chance meeting” with other keen fishermen led to his first beach fishing trip in more than a decade.
The new friends, family, and carers that joined him said it was a “very emotional day” that left everyone “crying their eyes out”.
“It was very good to come out to Blacks Beach caravan park to have respite,” Mr Bailey said.
“I met up with the boys and they helped me.
“Really wonderful to get back on the beach fishing.
“It was unreal.”
Mr Bailey’s wife Maxine said they had sold their house and been travelling near Charters Towers when he nearly died from a stroke in 2006.
“They asked him what his goal was and all he said was I want to go to the beach (and) fish,” Ms Bailey said.
The four-week stay was the first time Mr Bailey had stayed at the Blacks Beach holiday park.
Victorian visitor Lyle Eliott, who has been visiting Blacks Beach for seven years, said the group met Mr Bailey when his carer Brett Cliffe asked to use the barbecue.
With a laugh, Bruce Martin - another Victorian who had been visiting the area with his wife Norma for 16 years - said they liked to “talk to every stray dog”.
“(Greg) said he’d been in the wheelchair 16 years (and) loved looking at the beach but couldn’t get there,” Mr Martin said.
“I said, guess what … they’ve put a wheelchair ramp in.
“Then the boys and I organised the fishing bit.”
Like any ambitious fisherman, Mr Bailey said he wished the fish they caught was bigger, but said it was “nice eating.”
Greg and Maxine Bailey sent their biggest thanks to their carers Brett, Jenny, Virginia, Loraine and Polly and to the NDIS for the all-terrain wheelchair.
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