TRIP REPORTS
It was interesting driving into the Corryong
valley as there had been quite a bit of rain since
the fires and the grass was quite green and
many trees had much new growth. It was a bit
hard to imagine the fires till you came to many
burnt out houses sitting amongst the green.
Monday 24th.
All those that were doing fencing left camp
early and made our way to the fencing site to
help replace about 3 km in total of boundary
fencing on two farms. It was quite a hot day
and by mid-afternoon we had got about 1/3rd
of it done. Every one of us had had enough by
that stage so we went back to meet the others
at the Cudgewa Football Clubrooms.
They had spent the morning helping with the
sorting of the donated stuff at the Corryong
recovery Centre which was quite demanding.
They were now cooking a large evening meal
for the Uniting Church Group who were still
out at the fencing site. Baby’s skills as a Chef
were very much appreciated with preparing
and cooking this meal.
We all went back to camp for fivesies.
Tuesday 27th
Chris got sick during the night and we had to go
home. She has since recovered and is back to
normal.
I’d like to thank everyone for their patience
while setting up this trip as things seemed to
change almost on a daily basis. A special thanks
to Melissa from the Caravan Park who was
going through a terrible time and Anne Reid
from Rotary who went “above and beyond” to
help.
A very special thanks to Geoff & Dulcie who
took over the role of Trip Leaders and the many
others who helped as well.
Laurie Finlay #267
By Judy Wilkes-Cooney
Tuesday 25th & Wednesday 26th
We have had an interesting time up in
Corryong.
Some of our group put their hands up to go for
3 days to assist a local Uniting Church
organised group put up new fencing for local
farmers at nearby Cudgewa which was badly
hit by the bushfires. Hard yakka.
Some of us went to the local Community Relief
Centre, in part of the local primary school, and
assisted with sorting and displaying donated
clothes and shoes, sheets and towels, and
other household items, as well as chatting to
local volunteers, some of whom who had
themselves been impacted by the fires.
Country folk are a resilient lot but they are
doing it tough. Bushfire devastation was not as
evident as we expected. like Marysville...but
everywhere in the area are ruins of burned
houses and burned black treescapes. However,
the recent rains have greened up the
countryside and paddocks and trees are
starting to shoot.
Thursday 27th
Today we all enjoyed the next part of our
holiday travelling first to the local cemetery
where the Man from Snowy River, Jack Riley is
buried. We then all went back up to Mt Elliot
where we ate lunch. The views were
spectacular...much better in the morning.