A sports carnival tucked away in Central Queensland provides an outlet for families and kids impacted by Tropical Cyclone Debbie almost six months ago.
Queensland's Isolated Children's Parent's Association (ICPA) is hosting the event at Clermont for rural and remote children from as far as Longreach and Taroom to Charters Towers and south of Mackay.
This year the ICPA's Clermont branch subsidised the trip for Clarke Creek students who saw their school and their families' properties badly damaged.
Elizabeth Hill is one of the parents attending the camp with her son, Cameron, and she said it was a relief to have some time away from the repairs at home.
"Our property is right on Clarke Creek and we had a lot of water come through very rapidly; we had no warning and we lost three horses and most of our primary infrastructure," Ms Hill said.
"It is a great opportunity to come away to socialise with other kids, participate in these sports and just get away for week… I haven't been away yet."
Clermont ICPA sports coordinator Graham Garside said the Clarke Creek families were an inspiration and his branch just wanted to do something to help.
"We all take our hats off to those people … I think it is just a fantastic opportunity for these kids and the parents to book out for a while and start thinking of other things," Mr Garside said.
All about sports
Somebody certainly thinking of other things was year 4 Clark Creek student Ty Soutter.
His focus was on sport and sport alone.
The kids play a range of sports from rugby league to netball, tennis, hockey and handball.
"We don't get the opportunity to do all this sport and we don't have the equipment, so it is really fun," Ty said.
Socialising was an added benefit for the youngster.
"It has been fun to hang out with all of your mates that you see once a year … you have got a lot of catching up to do."
Mr Garside went on to say the sports camp was an important part of the children's development ahead of boarding school.
"It gives them the opportunity to learn different sports and it also gives them a great opportunity to live in a dormitory style situation for the first time," he said.
"They also get to meet friends who they are possibly going to meet up with again at boarding school … it is quite integral."
Feeding the masses
In attendance at the week-long camp are 136 students plus coaches, parents, volunteers and teachers.
Now to feed everyone from breakfast to dessert is no easy feat and there are plenty of staple foods consumed throughout the seven days.
In fact, every day some 200 eggs are fried and the children go through 40 kilos of sausages, chicken and steak, 60 litres of ice cream, and 200 bottles of milk.
Kitchen coordinator Julie Klier and a team of 12 undertake the mammoth task every year.
"My morning starts with the alarm going off at 4:20am. We start cooking, ready to serve breakfast by 6:15 in the morning," Ms Klier said.
The favourites are pasta, spaghetti bolognese, and a rather large self-saucing chocolate pudding.
By the end of the week Ms Klier and the rest of the volunteers were ready for someone else to do the cooking.
"[We are] exhausted and I go out for tea on Friday night because I am not cooking."
