Think of the Farmers in Western Qld this Christmas

[turboplanner]

I know how they feel but I'm sweating off the kilos with the studs sheared off a caravan hub in 35 deg. south of Cullamulla. Tow trucks gone to get some bolts so I'll at least limpin to town within two hours. Those old drovers wouldn't see a town around here in weeks.

 

 

[RetiredRacer]

Where the hell is Cullamulla Alan?

 

 

[turboplanner]

Two sweaty fingers south of Cunnamulla.

 

After a day stranded here I'm quite impresssed with the place. Great caravan park on the Warrego river, with roos sleeping under the trees next to your caravan, great Visitor centre museum with a simulated lift shaft down to the strata of 80 millon years ago, great mechanic, great coffee.

 

 

[Geoff13]

So I am back home. I left Monday evening, and loaded out of a property near Casino on Tuesday morning.

 

It was pouring rain when I loaded and the hay had been wet for some time. I was actually quite ill on Tuesday evening so didn't get far Tuesday at all.

 

As it continued to rain right through to Wednesday a lot of mud and crap seemed to be coming out of the hay.

 

Now as I know bugger all about hay I rang the organiser and asked his opinion. Obviously there was not much point taking crap hay all the way to Ilfracombe.

 

Brendon decided that he would like to see the hay so instead of meeting the convoy at Bourke as previously planned, I got the old A into G and set off for Darlington Point in the Riverina arriving at 9pm.

 

As I suspected, the hay was not great quality but it was decided by people who know hay better than me that it was still usable so rather than burn it and reload it would go.

 

The convoy set off Thursday morning and arrived at Ilfracombe about 7pm on Friday night.

 

Without going into all the details of the trip, it was for me an extremely humbling experience. Every town we went through had the streets lined with people with signs and waving and cheering. And I really do mean every town right from Darlington Point to Ilfracombe. At times miles from any town there would be a ute on the side of the road with a banner thanking us and a pile of kids waving. It was an awesome feeling to drive past those families and wave back.

 

I would like to thank some people but it would not be possible to cover them all, but a guy named Brendon Farell, just a farmer who saw a need and acted on it. He and his wife put the whole thing together. Yes they had help but without Brendon this would never have happened. This is the sort of person who should be Australian of the year not some overpaid spoiled bloody football player. The thing is he probably wouldn't accept it. This was his 10th run but the first to QLD.

 

The receival/distribution point

 

 

This shows where they got rain over Christmas and where they didnt. This was about 150 klms south of Ilfracombe.

 

 

Looking Back

 

 

 

Just a couple of the signs

 

 

A few stats

 

119 trucks

 

165 trailers

 

5000 bales/rolls of hay

 

Value of hay over $1.9million

 

Distance travelled 1850 klms

 

About 220,000 truck kilometres

 

Approx 3500 tyres

 

At normal running we spread out just over 50 kilometres

 

When we closed up to enter the larger towns we still took up 15 kilometers

 

It took about an hour for us to park all the trucks from arrival of the first truck at a point to the last one and about the same to get them all moving again

 

260 Farmers were supplied with varying amounts of hay dependent upon stock and severity of drought

 

The relief area covered a radius of approx 300 kilometers from Ilfracombe

 

Each Farmer also received a Hamper, IGA voucher, watermelons and dog food provided by Drought Angels in Chinchilla

 

The gratefulness shown by the farmers as they collected their hay was obvious

 

Crowd funding and Caltex provided assistance to the truck drivers for fuel. Each driver received fuel vouchers of $1500.00 and I can tell you that I saw many of those handed straight over to farmers as well. After all the drivers neither asked for nor expected to receive them.

 

Personally I was away 6 Days of which I spent almost one day in bed to crook to drive.

 

I did 4150 klms

 

I used 2100 litres of fuel.

 

I met some wonderful amazing people.

 

I will do it again in a heartbeat.

 

 

 

[gareth lacey]

Geoff , its people like you that make this country great ,all kudos to you and your fellow truckies , many people do not understand the tough times our farmers are having , great work , and if you ever go again call me and i will be your navigator(i dont have a heavy licence )

 

Cheers Gareth and thanks again to you and all the other volunteers

 

 

[facthunter]

It's a harsh and big country. I don't know how some people have the heart to stick it out. I recommend a visit to the School of the Air if you are up that way. Nev

 

 

[turboplanner]

It can certainly be unfair country.

 

I came north a couple of days ago, and north of Bourke, NSW, the northern Australian weather pattern of green grass in December was evident.

 

At Cullamulla major highways to the east and west were closed by flood waters.

 

In Cullamurra the Warrego River was half way up its banks - something the town hasn't seen in years.

 

I drove west to Eulo and found the cattle in poor condition. They had been eating out the tops of the smaller trees, and it looked like a 70 km hedge.

 

The Paroo River was flooded.

 

Cunnamulla is about 600 km south of Ilfracombe, and while it was relatively dry, there will be big benefits from the rivers flowing to he south.

 

Driving north to Charleville, a couple of hundred kilometers away from Ilfracombe, the paddocks has turned green and on the Mitchell Highway all the way to Roma, the green grass was about half knee high.

 

Heading north from Roma, around Injune the grass was at shoulder height of the cattle.

 

There were three drovers in the long paddock on the Mitchell Highway, one with a Dodge Ram/fifth wheeler caravan, new Isuzu cattle truck, new horse float, and a mob of Charolais in beautiful condition with shiny coats that will see him skiing in Aspen once they are sold.

 

 

[Robbo]

It's a harsh and big country. I don't know how some people have the heart to stick it out. I recommend a visit to the School of the Air if you are up that way. Nev

Used to love listening to the school of the air on ham radio, sadly computers have taken over this world and remote radio comms are slowly dying.

The good old dxing days are behind us.

 

 

[Geoff13]

If anyone is interested, we are going to do it again. This one is likely to be bigger with 200 plus loads already donated.

 

Below is a copy of my recent Facebook Post.

 

"For all those people who have either offered to help me during the last Hay Run or since in the lead up to the next one.

 

Here is your chance. Watch this Video and at the end it shows where you can donate.

 

All donations to this site will end up putting Diesel into a truckies fuel tank. This is the best way to donate. I know a lot of people would like to donate to me or someone they know but a lot of these drivers are struggling themselves and this is the fairest way to help a lot of drivers. The more drivers we help , the more trucks we get and the more Hay we can shift.

 

So have a look at the video folks. It shows the Qld Drought Map effective 1 Feb and shows that this drought is not over yet.

 

I thank everyone who offered to donate money to me to help with fuel but like I say this way all the truckies get a fair share. This is not a big name chariy, there are no fat cats milking the donations, any money you donate will go into someones fuel tank."

 

 

 

[Geoff13]

Well in Feb last year I said I was going again. The 2nd Run to Ilfracombe was in April last year and due to reasons beyond my control I was unable to go.

 

The 12th Hay Run and the 3rd to Qld leaves Darlington Point in NSW on 23 Feb this year. I have been planning to go but until 2 weeks ago I was not sure if I could.

 

As it turns out the cards have all lined up and tomorrow around lunch time I leave for Euroa in Victoria to load a B/Double load of hay for the next run. i then head to Darlington Point and on Thursday the run starts and we head up to Mutttaburra in Qld with thousands of tons of Donated hay. I will attempt to keep updates happening for those interested.

 

Those on facebook can follow it here Burrumbuttock Hay Runners | Facebook

 

The itinerary is here for those interested.

 

 

 

 

And if you would like to donate that can be done here

 

Just the donations details again for those asking:

 

Donations are to be made to the Rotary Club of Sydney as they handle all monetary donations on our behalf as we are not an organisation, just a bunch of blokes trying to help out a fellow Aussie in times of hardship.

 

Bank: Commonwealth Bank

 

BSB: 062 438

 

ACC: 10211156

 

Description: Drought Appeal

 

Or send Cheques Payable to "The Rotary Club of Sydney Drought Appeal"

 

Post to Rotary Club of Sydney, GPO Box 1523, Sydney NSW 2001.

 

 

[Yenn]

I got out of agriculture many years ago and never regretted it. Only niggle is that you can't get the bush out of the boy.

 

My prediction is that it is going to get worse. here in coastal central Qld we are approaching the end of our wet season and we have had hardly any rain. I am cleaning out my dam, which provides irrigation to fruit trees. It should be full now and the only time I expect it to be dry is November.

 

 

[Geoff13]

Yes we were forced off the family farm while I was still in school so this all runs close to home for me.

 

I am just grateful to be able to maybe give something back to these communities.