
"We heard he was living in his truck under the bridge in the winter in Tumut. We went ‘Right, we can’t have this’. So up Smiley come with us."
"My husband had 40 years in the fire service. He knew that last week it wasn’t going to be stopped. He said, ‘We’ve got to get ready for it because it’s coming.’ … you couldn’t get out anyway, you just had to have a plan and work it."
"That’s the sort of people we are I suppose … we help people, we don’t take more than what we need and this is just who we are. You can’t let people sleep in their trucks under the Tumut Bridge in the middle of winter, you just can’t."
It’s been a tough six-plus months, says Andrea. First drought then fire, then rains that destroyed the 3km access road to their farm. And now a caterpillar infestation has killed off any of their burnt eucalyptus trees that were starting to sprout again.
“It’s just so overwhelming and you think, ‘Oh, where do you go?’ And then you look at your place and you walk out and you go, ‘Oh God, everything’s black, yep, not today’ walk back in.
“It’s emotional and you think you’re alright … I learnt how to talk, laugh and cry all at the same time. I’d say to people, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to burst out howling now but I’m fine.’
“[I am] very appreciative we live in the country that we live in. You don’t realise until something like this happens how everybody does pull together, it’s amazing,” says Andrea.
“We will get there like everybody else …. It’s hard but us Aussies keep going.”
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