4 days ago
Need for Feed Australia truck convoy hits Nullarbor for South Australia drought relief
"The true essence of Australia."
That's how volunteer truck driver Inaya Stone describes the huge convoy snaking its way across the Nullarbor from Western Australia to South Australia, laden with desperately needed drought relief for SA farmers.
"The most Australian thing you can do is helping someone out that needs a hand, and you know, reaching out and letting them know that you're there," the 26-year-old told ABC News.
"I think that there's so much more to it than just delivering hay or feed or whatever you're delivering.
"I think you're just delivering hope at the same time.
"Someone knows that you're thinking of them."
Ms Stone is driving one of 85 trucks piled high with hay and straw — more than 6,000 bales in total — that set off from WA's Fraser Ranges station on the Western Nullarbor Plain on Friday afternoon bound for Ceduna.
From there, the trucks will travel to Wudinna, where the first of the bales are expected to be unloaded to farmers in need.
Relief is expected to be provided to about 400 farming businesses in SA, where severe drought has hit throughout the state's agricultural regions.
Many areas have recorded record-low rainfall over the past 12 months, with the Mid North and the upper Eyre Peninsula the worst affected, according to data from the Bureau of Meteorology.
However, widespread heavy rain has fallen across SA this week, including in agricultural areas, and is expected to continue over the weekend, bringing some relief.
The massive interstate logistical exercise is a project between charities Farmers Across Borders and Need for Feed, with support from the South Australian government.
The trucks were loaded with fodder from farms across WA's Wheatbelt over the past week before setting off on their epic serpentine journey, which Ms Stone expected would be slow going.
"I worked out there's about three and a half kilometres worth of trucks, so once you spread that out over the highway, it takes a long time to get anyone anywhere," she said.
Ms Stone, who is from a farming background herself, said her family had been involved in the hay convoys for more than a decade when aid group Farmers Across Borders was formed.
She said her own experiences meant she had an affinity with SA farmers suffering the effects of drought.
"We moved to Esperance 13 years ago now after we had a bunch of bad years in a row and had to sell the farm," she said.
"So I fully understand firsthand how the feeling is for these people, and that just having someone that's there for you makes a big difference."
