Fish D’Vine owner Kev Collins shares Cyclone Debbie memories to mark closure

The owners of an iconic Airlie Beach restaurant will never forget feeding about 4000 people in the days after Cyclone Debbie, including how giving kids iceblocks was “like you’d given them a million dollars”.

To mark the closure of an iconic Airlie Beach restaurant, one of the owners said feeding about 4000 people in the days after Cyclone Debbie was “the best thing we ever did” in 20 years.

Kev Collins remembers a single mother and her four hungry children turning up in the morning after Cyclone Debbie hit Airlie Beach in 2017, and how giving those kids iceblocks was “like you’d given them a million dollars”.

“They were living in their car because their house was wiped out and they hadn’t eaten for 24 hours.

“All our staff were in meltdown … a lot were foreigners backpackers overwhelmed and overcome.

“I saw people offering bobcats (and other equipment for the clean-up) and I thought I can’t drive a bobcat … but Jesus Christ I can wield a pretty good frying pan.

“And we fed four and a half thousand people in two days.”

Fish D'Vine has been feeding people for free during Cyclone Debbie.

It’s a happy memory, one of many as the owners, workers, and family of Fish D’Vine gathered to celebrate the seafood restaurant’s last day of business on Sunday.

Opening in 2004 as a joint venture between Mr Collins, Rebecca Clark and Mark Whyatt, Mr Collins remarked that about 70 restaurants had opened and closed in Airlie Beach across those two decades.

Mr Collins felt lucky to be able to focus on the catering business behind events like the White on Whitehaven Beach long lunch after Fish D’Vine had been sold to the Airlie Beach Hotel.

Fish D'Vine co-owners Kevin Collins and Rebecca Clark. Photo Sharon Smallwood / Whitsunday Times

Yet despite a long history full of stories, he said “as horrible as it was” he treasured their efforts to rally the community after Cyclone Debbie.

“We’ve done a lot in 20 years, weddings, anniversaries, proposals, wakes, but that stands out as the best thing we ever did.

“Debbie will sit in our collective achievements as the most spontaneous simple thing ... we did it for no other reason was that it was all we could do and it was the right thing to do.

Damage done to sailing vessels in Shute Harbour, Airlie Beach after Cyclone Debbie. Picture: Wesley Monts

“That’s what community spirit is.”

He described how Airlie Beach “turned from a town of blow-ins” into a place that “became home to a lot of people”.

And the community in turn have remembered how Fish D’Vine was there on one of their darkest days, with a post into the Whitsundays Chat Facebook Group by Maz McDougall lamenting “the end of an era”.

Fish D'Vine owners Mark Whyatt, Rebecca Clark, and Kevin Collins are closing the rum bar and restaurant after 20 years in Airlie Beach. Picture: Contributed

“This post isn’t so much about the great restaurant they have had for the last 20 years, more so about the incredible things they (and in particular, Kevin) have done for our little village the last 20 yrs plus,” Mr McDougall wrote.

“Cyclone Debbie, they worked for days just to feed those who had nothing. There were plenty who were so grateful to have had a home cooked meal

“If I could give a Gold Medal for helping our beautiful little community in times of need, you would certainly be standing on a podium this afternoon.”

With one chapter ending as another begins, Mr Collins said the only thing left to do was to “drink the rum bar dry!”