The troops gathered on Friday night at Yarck Reserve, ready for a weekend of volunteering at Gunyah Animal Sanctuary. As always, there were plenty of familiar faces rolling into camp throughout the evening.
Lucky for me, I was greeted on arrival with a cocktail from fellow member Elizabeth Mackintosh, which was exactly what was needed after arriving to a cold, wet campsite. It certainly helped take the edge off setting up camp in the rain!
Saturday morning kicked off around 8:30am when Tony Bryant rounded up the troops. Everyone was keen to get moving and, in true TLCCV fashion, completely ignored the rather threatening weather rolling our way.
From Yarck we headed to Gunyah Animal Sanctuary, where we were met by an understandably overwhelmed Cathy. It was immediately obvious just how much the recent fires had impacted the sanctuary, and she couldn’t have been more grateful for the support from the Toyota LandCruiser Club of Australia (Victoria).
After a quick briefing, we split into teams and got stuck straight into it. Chainsaws fired up, trailers started filling, trees were cleared, logs were cut and split, and what seemed like an endless amount of firewood was stacked ready for winter.
Then came what I can only describe as the Thunderbirds moment of the weekend.
Cathy had one special request. She had some new pig residents arriving and needed several heavy pig pens relocated to make room for them. Thankfully, Rob and Jenny Fink had brought along Rob’s work truck complete with a crane. What could have been an all day wrestling match suddenly became a well-orchestrated lifting operation. I’m fairly confident if that crane hadn’t been there, we’d probably still be trying to drag those pig pens around now! Of course, no good deed goes unpunished.
While moving around the property Rob managed to find the only two places soft enough to bog the truck… and he found them both! Luckily, the mighty 79 Series MTGOAT Recovery Services was on standby. We were able to give Rob a couple of gentle reminders that even work trucks occasionally need rescuing. I won’t mention that I may have enjoyed it just a little bit more than I should have.
By this stage the weather had really turned nasty. The rain settled in for the afternoon, but if it bothered anyone, they certainly didn’t show it. Everyone just kept working away until one final push saw the “firewood chain gang” stacking the last loads into Cathy’s container.
With the day’s work finally done, we did what wet stockmen and stockwomen have been doing for generations, we headed straight for the nearest watering hole. There was nothing better than drying out beside a warm fire with a good meal and great company after a long day in the rain.
Sunday dawned to a completely different world. After losing a few members overnight who had other commitments, the remaining crew headed back to Gunyah under clear blue skies with hardly a cloud in sight.
Following the morning briefing everyone paired up, hitched trailers and prepared for another day of work… until I heard the unmistakable cry of a damsel in distress echo across the campground. It was none other than Jenny Fink requesting the recovery services of MTGOAT once again! Apparently, recovery work wasn’t just reserved for the sanctuary itself. Thankfully this rescue was a quick one, Jenny and Rob were soon back on solid ground, and we could all get on with pretending it never happened… although I’m sure it’ll be brought up around plenty more campfires yet and maybe a club meeting with a hook award to go with the tale.
The rest of the morning was spent continuing to cut, split and stack firewood until around lunchtime, when Cathy finally convinced us we’d done enough.
Seeing just how thankful she was for what had been achieved over the weekend reminded everyone why we volunteer. Sometimes giving up a weekend isn’t about the work itself, it’s about making life just that little bit easier for someone who’s been through an incredibly tough time.
On behalf of the club, I’d like to sincerely thank Tony and Barb Bryant for organising another fantastic volunteer weekend. A huge thank you also goes to everyone who rolled up their sleeves and helped make a real difference: Robert Bingham, Julian Briede, Garry Cooper, Robert & Jenny Fink, Viv & Baz Gardner, Manda Gladstone, Gareth Milloy, Eamonn King, Elizabeth Mackintosh, Michael Martin, Brian Medancic, Cornell Papov, David & Michelle Pearce, David Robertson and Trajco Vilarov.
Weekends like this remind me of what makes the Toyota LandCruiser Club of Australia (Victoria) the greatest club in the world. Sure, we all love getting out on the tracks, but when someone needs a hand, our members always turn up, get stuck in and quietly make a difference. I’m already looking forward to the next one.
See you out there.
Gareth Milloy (3311)
