Geoff Kregar from the Department of Environment
and Conservation

CVA team leader Liz Hunnan clearing rubbish

It’s midday and a burning 34 degrees on a basalt-strewn beach on the Burrup Peninsular. Yet Geoff Kregar, a supervisor with the Department of Environment and Conservation says, “It’s a pretty nice day.”

Maybe he means the slight breeze blowing off the Dampier Archipelago but in Whitnall Bay, in the shadow of the giant Woodside Gas Plant, there’s no escaping the sun for Geoff and the five conservation volunteers removing marine debris along the beach.

“Coastal care is our job this week,” says Maurice Beasley, who, with his wife Val, has been travelling around Australia in their caravan since their retirement. “Next week we are going out to West Lewis Island where we will be beach cleaning and identifying areas of Prickly Pear to spray.”

“We love working with Conservation Volunteers Australia,” Val adds, “not only are we conserving the environment but we get to go to places people like us would never normally go.”

Two other volunteers trailing black plastic bags and bending between the dark, clustered rocks are Kim, a young woman from Korea, and Inomata her boyfriend from Nagasaki, Japan. “We do it because it is important to look after our world,” Inomata states. Kim nods shyly.

“It’s the usual mix,” says Liz Hunnan, the CVA team leader, “backpackers and retired folk. What they have in common is a desire to help conserve our eco-systems.”

Liz, a tall, willowy blond with dreadlocked hair and a smile that could light up a city, works out of the Broome office of CVA. She and her team have come down to the peninsular for about 12 days.

After studying Conservation and Land Management at the Gordon Institute, Geelong, Victoria, Liz came to the Pilbara and fell in love with it. “Now conservation is my life,” she says. “Giving back to the earth is the way I live.”

“Since joining CVA I have learned many new skills; especially how to look after the health and safety of our volunteers. For instance, on a day like today I look for anyone who’s slowing up or getting ratty. If I see that I know they are dehydrating. I make them drink more water and go and sit in our bus for a while.”

Liz grins. “I’m learning to look after people as well as look after the earth. I just can’t believe how lucky I am to be doing this job.”