Incredible twist after camper found “encrusted” in Aussie River

An unexpected find on a family camping trip last week has reunited a little boy with a prized possession he lost seven months ago.

Neil Keene was camping with his young children and his brother’s family at a popular campsite near the Gloucester River on the mid-north coast of New South Wales when he noticed something in the water.

“We were about 400 meters upstream from the campsite and the children jumped into the water. My brother helped them in at one end and I was further downstream to catch them,” the Lake Macquarie man told Yahoo News. “I was waiting there when I saw this strap just floating under the water.”

The father said that whatever was in the river “didn’t look natural” and was clearly covered in mud and growth from the river.

“I grabbed it and pulled it out and there was this camera… it was so exciting,” he said.

Camper’s desperate attempts to identify the camera’s owner

Neil had to do a lot of work to find out who owned the Olympus waterproof camera because he initially didn’t have access to the photos.

“It was crusted over and the locking mechanism wouldn’t move… I had to wait until I got home and use WD40,” Neil said.

To his delight, there was an SD card inside and he was able to recover the photos – all of which showed a relaxing family vacation. He took to social media in hopes of finding the owner and received a message within hours.

“It only took a few hours for the woman whose son Curtis owned the camera to get in touch… They are from the Gold Coast… They had actually been traveling around Australia for a few years and Gloucester River was one of their last stops on their trip in April,” he said.

Curtis’ mother Carly explained to Neil that the family was devastated when he lost his camera and they waded through the river to find it.

The family’s first camping trip will be “difficult to endure.”

The camera is now on its way back to its rightful owner and Neil included a handwritten note and a surprise for Curtis, who is desperate to have his camera back.

“I sent it back to her family with a little message from our family and put $10 in the camera bag…it is Christmas after all,” he said.

“I have twin girls who are eight years old and this is their first camping trip… our second will be hard to beat,” he said. “Social media often gets a bad rap, and rightly so, but it can be used for good. This is proof of that.”

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