Wet and wild! – Jet ski fires up fun on the Tweed

WHEN THE CONDITIONS ARE JUST RIGHT, YOU’LL FIND BRUCE AND JULIE BERRY OUT ON THE WATER.

For the GemLife Tweed Waters’ couple, it is no sedate sail but rather a day-long adventure out on their jet ski.

Time spent around the waters of the Gold Coast and Tweed isn’t new to the pair.

Prior to downsizing to GemLife Tweed Waters, the Berrys had a 36-foot boat moored at Calypso Bay at Jacobs Well from where they would take it out to the popular boating spots of Jumpinpin and to the place known as Millionaires’ Row at the northern tip of South Stradbroke Island.

It was there where they saw people having fun on jet skis and knew that was something they wanted to try too.

“We bought the jet ski in February and we’re out on it once a week, weather permitting,” says Julie, who still works part time.

“It’s great fun, we might head out down Terranora Creek to the Tweed River and Point Danger, or we might go up the river to Tumbulgum, Chinderah and even up to Murwillumbah.”

Whenever the jet ski is out, Bruce’s drone goes with them.

“I’ll use it when Julie is driving the jet ski, but I haven’t set up the ‘follow me’ function to have the drone following when I’m driving,” he said. “I am a bit cautious flying it out over water because I don’t want to lose it in the drink.”

Even so, Bruce says he’s becoming more confident with the drone’s capabilities. Earlier this year he sent it out 5.1 kilometres to capture some remarkable video of the humpback whale migration.

“We were on the jet ski at Point Danger and got some great video of whales flapping their fins. It was the first time we’d ever seen whales while out on the jet ski.”

Jet skis are a lot of fun, but it does come with a great deal of responsibility which Bruce, a former Queensland police officer, knows only too well.

That means holding a valid boating licence, having the correct safety equipment and obeying the posted speed limits on the waterways, which in many cases is four knots.

And it’s also worth knowing when the rules differ between the states, as Bruce discovered.

“We were out on the water, having a great time when another jet ski approached with blue and red flashing lights,” said Bruce.

“It was the water police doing random checks and I was asked to produce my licence, and I said that I didn’t have it on me. The officer said it was a requirement to be able to produce it on demand.

“I made sure I was very respectful and explained I was a former police officer from Queensland, and where I was from, we had a 48-hour grace period to produce your licence at the station.

“I was told that wasn’t the case in New South Wales, but I think he felt sorry for an old guy because he said, ‘I trust you’. Now that I know, I’ll be sure to have my licence with me in future!”