‘It was over’: Cafe’s remarkable relaunch after horrific storms

A couple who thought their luck had run out when their island cafe was damaged from horrific storms around Queensland have new life after heroic efforts from the local community.

The Bayview Cafe on Russell Island. Picture: Facebook

A couple who thought their luck had run out when their island cafe was damaged from the horrific holiday storms around Queensland have new life after heroic efforts from the local community helped save their venue.

Dave and Vanessa Penman own Russell Island’s popular Bayview Cafe and were prepared for a busy period around the Christmas and New Year holidays before two major storms within a week caused more than $10,000 in damage.

The disastrous weather on Christmas Eve caused the cafe to lose power, forcing the owners to replace a significant amount of stock.

But Mr and Mrs Penman got on with the job and were back in business before more storms resulted in flood water rushing through the cafe while their fridges and freezers were turned into ovens as a result of a lightning strike.

However, insurance does not cover the damage they suffered.

“All our stock had to be tossed again, we thought that was it – the cafe was done,” Mr Penman said.

“We were very, very upset, it was a disaster, we thought we had lost our only hope.

“We are Kiwis, so we have no access to centrelink payments, we had no idea for what our future was going to be.

The Bayview Cafe on Russell Island. Picture: Facebook

“We didn’t know if we’d be forced to move back to New Zealand where there’s nothing for us there.

“We’ve been homeless before and we thought we’d lose our homes and become homeless again.

“It was over, I had announced it on some local Facebook pages, the dream was over after 14 months of owning the cafe.

‘We also have a 15-year-old child and look after an 82-year-old lady.”

But the couple were stunned after residents from around Russell Island did everything they could to help the cafe get back up and running – from donating the loose change they had saved for years to lending items so the venue could reopen – the effort from the community brought a tear to the eye of Mr Penman.

“The community basically said ‘no, this is not happening’,” he said.

“I have never seen anything like it in my life and it made me quite emotional.

“We reopened on Thursday (January 4) as a coffee and cake shop, the kitchen is still closed but we’re operating which is the main thing.”

As part of the community’s efforts to help the owners and the business, a GoFundMe page was started to help them cover expenses such as fixing the fridges and freezers as well as help staff, who have given up their time to work despite missing several weeks of income, get paid.

More than $1000 has been donated to the page, which has a target of $10,000.

“The community has given me and Vanessa hope and we’re doing our best to repay that,” Mr Penman said.