Relief was the feeling for fire-affected farmers near Walgett when a 27-truck convoy rolled into town.
Loaded on the back of the trucks - which travelled all the way from Victoria to arrive in Walgett on Saturday, February 3 - were 864 bales of hay valued at around $82,000.
The convoy was organised by the Aussie Hay Runners (AHR), a group of volunteer truck drivers who deliver donated hay to farmers impacted by natural disasters.
AHR founder Linda Widdup, Carlisle River, Vic, said the feeling she gets when dropping off the hay is hard to explain.
"I get goosebumps because a lot of these people are broken and when they see these trucks coming up their driveway, and they know that this is to help them and their neighbours, it's really humbling," she said.
"When you can help someone who's in that predicament through no fault of their own it's a wonderful thing."
The latest delivery was in response to the bushfires which tore through parts of the Walgett shire in 2023.
From November 14, 2023, the fast-moving bushfire burned more than 21,000 hectares within the Narran Lake Nature Reserve.
The convoy passed Dubbo on Friday morning at about 10am and continued up the Newell Highway through Gilgandra, Gulargambone and Coonamble before arriving in Walgett.
The trek was the Aussie Hay Runners' third trip for 2024 and 22nd run overall.
The group was founded in 2019 after Ms Widdup saw a post on Facebook where farmers around Dunedoo were discussing the devastating effects of drought.
"I thought to myself, well, 'we've got to get off our bums here and help these people'," Ms Widdup said.
"I organised just a small run of four trucks and a heap of utes and trailers with hay and everything you could imagine and went up there and it sort of went off from there.
"We've gone from four trucks to 64 trucks and that's just really fantastic."
Ms Widdup said as well as providing much-needed financial relief for farmers, the hay donation also eases the mental health burden farmers feel in the wake of disasters.
"A lot of the truck drivers who are with us are actually farmers, like myself, so we know the heartache of being out there when you haven't got access to things," she said.
"This helps a lot with their mental health, when they can't get access to things to help with their everyday life... [they're] stressing about a bail of hay to feed their animals.
"Our motto is if you ate today thank a farmer and this is the stuff that helps them."
After wrapping up the Walgett run the hay runners aren't ready to rest just yet. They're already preparing for their next run in two weeks to farmers impacted by fires in the Pilliga in December 2023.
Ten trucks will travel a total of 23,260 kms, carrying 320 bales of hay valued at $30,400.
Trucks will travel to their meet up point of Tomingley on Friday, February 16, before the convoy sets off via The Newell Highway on Saturday.
The trucks will travel through Parkes, Dubbo, Gilgandra and Coonabarabran and arrive in Narrabri around midday.
Trucks will head straight to our AHR's two depots to unload before turning around to commence their trek back to Victoria.
