This is GERRY
The sun, surf and ocean have always been part of my life, but it has been the last 15 years that I’ve discovered more about myself, what I’m capable of, and that no matter what gets thrown at you, you can always pick yourself back up.
The Geltch clan consisted of 10 children, and it was in the late 1960s that my parents decided to make the change from the hustle and bustle of Sydney to the sleepy little hideaway town of on the Central Coast where my parents bought a small Service Station with 5 of their younger children tagging along. My lifelong obsession with the ocean would begin here, from surfing to spearfishing and getting out on the water, enjoying waterskiing and exploring the great waterways of the Tuggerah Lakes. I was hooked and would take what I learned here with me for the rest of my life.
At the end of school in 1974, I decided I would follow in the footsteps of my Mother's family and take up baking, and it was that year that I started my Pastry Chef Apprenticeship.
In 1982 I found myself moving to a very quiet Sunshine Coast, but it was by no means a time for me to slow down. I met my wife, Terrina, and before we knew it, we were in bakeries up and down Queensland for at least the next ten years, from Sunshine Coast to Cairns and finally to Hervey Bay. With our first son Dayne fast approaching, it was time for a change in my career.
The Man.
The Myth.
The Legend.
Dad was always in Aviation, and in the 1970s, he conducted a charter flight to Fraser Island and loved Queensland so much that he never returned to NSW. Dad has been operating an air service on Fraser Island since the mid-1970s, and with some life experience under my belt and a thirst for something different, I put my hand up to join Dad and became a commercial pilot.
I’m still unsure why I decided on this path; I had always been scared of flying with Dad, but maybe that was it. I didn’t want to be held back by something because I feared it, so I went at it hard.
It was 1992, and I had finally blitzed all my exams and was ready to keep getting my hours up. I finally connected with my father during my flying, getting to know him and his passion for flying. Now with a common interest, our relationship blossomed and certainly a very proud achievement for both of us. With our second son, Troy, on the way, it was now or never. With Dad’s business only being small, I felt I needed to branch out independently.
I’d already put everything on the line to get my pilot’s licence, and Terrina and I ended up selling everything we had so I could get the finance together to secure my first aircraft, With no financial backing and security and with a fresh commercial pilots licence and borrowing $400 off a good mate we were set. There was a gap in the market for getting the backpackers in Hervey Bay over to Fraser Island, and with some local contacts and connections formed with the other tour, an idea was born.
I purchased cardboard poster boards from the newsagency, put photos together of the plane on the beach, and hung them in every backpacker hostel in Hervey Bay; Air Fraser Island was born. I could tell you that was it, but after that, it didn’t stop, and in no time at all, we had cornered the market. We were becoming well-known as a top tourist provider for the region. So much so that we were one of the Tourist Operators winning awards for excellence in tourism.
Fraser Island became something more to me than just a workplace; once the sand gets into your veins, it is hard to let go. My love for the surf, sand and sea was reignited. Life was grand; we had built up the business to include a fleet of planes and over 20 staff on the books, and the sky was our only limit.
In May 2000, before a major fishing competition, I was cross-hiring a 10 Seater Cessna. It was on a test flight where I was a passenger that tragedy stuck and the plane crashed. I was left with life-threatening injuries, which included spinal fractures and major facial reconstruction over the next few years. With the love and support of family and friends, along with a huge personal determination, I wasn’t about to give up and was again flying within six months.
With the Fraser Region becoming a fast-growing tourism destination that was gaining recognition for Whale watching, we diversified and started up a Whale watching business and Padi Dive School to show the increasing visitors to the region the views from both the air and the water. It was a family business that we were all involved in. Even the boys helped out after school and on weekends.
Around 2007/2008, the global financial crisis hit nearly everyone and didn’t miss us. It gutted our business, and we only survived by scaling back dramatically. Now, as hard as this was to deal with, I wasn’t going to let it stop me, and in no time at all, we started to get more flights back up in the air again, and with forward vision, we diversified and introduced an air service to the mining regions of Central Queensland. Our two sons also shared a love of flying and soon became commercial pilots and were an intricate part of our family business.
But when things started to look good, my hardest life challenge occurred: my eldest son, Dayne, passed away. It broke both Terrina and myself, as you can imagine. But it also meant our business would suffer.
It was a time of great heartache and reflection; it took its toll on me, my marriage, and the business. In my darkest hour, I finally saw where I was going and realised that it would not help anyone if I continued down a slow path of destruction and darkness.
I found a new lease on life through fitness and pushing myself physically. It was a form of therapy, and this new focus helped me get my life back on track. At this time, my love life was also in the midst of change. One of my oldest and dearest friends, Pam, who had always been there for me, was now becoming a part of my life again. And it was with her and my son Troy that I found the strength and commitment to get Air Fraser Island back into the skies over Hervey Bay better than ever. So here I was, a man struck down several times by forces out of my control, only to bounce back by finding someone who I was and true love; nothing was going to stop me now.
2020 was a year that promised so much, but like everyone else over the last few years, the pain of Covid global pandemic hit us hard. With no tourists to put in the planes and Fraser Island shut down, we again fell on some hard times and had to make some hard decisions. This was the hardest of all times. Our business was forced to close for six months. It would have been easy to give up and shut down the business, but I wasn’t going to give up as I’m a survivor.
Fast forward to 2023, we are starting to get some normality back into our lives and that of the business. But another kick to the guts on this level had given me time to reflect. I’ll be the first to tell you age is a number; I’m currently training for my first triathlon, and have already, in 2021, completed my first-ever marathon. But as much as I look at age as a number, it may put a shelf life on my commercial flying.
With the fighting spirit in mind, I feel it’s time for my stories of rising to adversity to get out there, and I believe this is now the time. I know the future holds plenty more challenges that I will take head-on. In the meantime, I will be doing my best to share my stories and learn more about people who have had their struggles. My motto has been never to give up, and I want to share that journey with you.