www.awnw.com.au
Issue #227 – Wednesday, 9 April, 2014
Albury Wodonga’s largest circulating newspaper
Open door to rubbish It’s the gateway to our city from the north and the south, and Albury mayor Kevin Mack says, “it’s just not good enough.” What can you do? READ MORE ON PAGE 3
■ NewsWeekly joins the convoy of courage...
Truckin’ hope By KRYSTEN MANUEL IT WAS 5.30am when we left Walbundrie. The sky was black, the air was cold and the truck was loaded with hay for farmers who would later greet us with wet eyes, warm smiles and a sturdy handshake. The Burrum to Bourke Hay Run would soon join another 36 trucks and convoy through to Cobar where we would meet up with the Hay From WA team, a convoy of 16 road trains that travelled across three states, led by two women. It was an atmosphere that could only be described as magical from the very start. In no time the CB radio was alive with the excitement of the truckies and their passengers, and maybe a dirty joke or two. After lunch in Mount Hope everyone knew everyone and the anticipation of delivering the 2500 bales of hay to nearly 200 desperate farmers was buzzing in the air. Each town we passed through demonstrated their appreciation to all involved - cars stopped and people got out to wave and yell ‘Thankyou!’ as we meandered past, and children pumped their arms and squealed with glee as the truckies honked their horns. “It was about 70 kilometres out and there was a station owner standing out the front with a sign that said ‘Thankyou,’ and I cried just about the whole way into town,” WA truckie Ross Stone said. The reception when arriving in Bourke was more than anyone expected, and for the first time in nine hours the radio fell silent. The 7.5km convoy travelled
through Bourke and parked at the Cotton Gin off Mitchell Highway. Bourke immediately showed its appreciation in the form of cold beer and a hearty barbecue. Bourke’s mayor Andrew Lewis took the time to thank the convoy, reminding them that although they recently had enough rain to sprout a little greenery, it was short-lived incomplete respite from a drought that left cracks in the ground you could fit half your arm in. “We’re very grateful, it’s a big morale boost,” he said. “A bit of hay doesn’t go far but it’s that people are thinking about you.” The next morning 10 trucks put their hands up to continue on more than 300 kilometres to Lightning Ridge, where you could see every bone in each cow walking along the side of the road. We pulled up in a paddock in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere - the ground was unsteady from so many years of scorching heat and the sky teased us with dark rolling clouds that spat fat droplets for a second and continued on their way. But the people of Lightning Ridge were full of eye-crinkling smiles and kind words. A local farmer, Robert Turnbull, who had liaised with the brains and brawn behind the Burrum to Bourke Hay Run - Brendan Farrell, walked straight up to my driver Sam McClelland to personally introduce himself and extend a grateful hand. He later pulled everyone aside to make a speech that had even the toughest truckies smiling with bitter-sweet pride. Continued Page 6
The convoy of 10 trucks that travelled through to Lightning Ridge after arriving in Bourke was met with a highly emotional, humbling reception.
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