A tick of approval for Northern Rivers folk

 
Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner  6 February 2013:

Thanks, Yamba

I would really appreciate if you would afford me a few lines to thank a few people in the Yamba area following an accident that my son, Charlie aged 10 years, suffered a couple of weeks ago.
My family and I first started coming to Yamba about 10 years ago.
At first it was just a stopover visit on the way to the Gold Coast but from the moment we stayed our first night in Yamba we knew that it was a special place that hopefully one day we could call home. We have been coming here for three weeks in January ever since, never missing a year. A recent bit of misfortune highlighted some of the reasons why we think this town is special and why we will keep coming back.
Our son Charlie, who is 10, was hit by a car after only a couple of days of being here on holiday in Yamba. He sustained a broken tibia and fibula in his right leg. He was immediately taken by ambulance to Maclean Hospital from where he was taken to Lismore Base Hospital for emergency surgery.
With Charlie not being able to travel back to our home town of Bourke after a couple of days at Lismore Hospital we returned to our holiday destination Yamba for the remainder of our holiday, with Charlie bedridden for the first week before being able to get about in a wheelchair.
The great work done by the local ambulance officers and police officers at the scene was terrific. The care and attention that we got from both Maclean and Lismore Hospital was exceptional. On returning to Yamba and where we were staying at the Moby Dick Resort, the managers Rod and Leanne and the owners, Russell and Belinda, have been nothing short of amazing with Charlie and all our efforts in looking after him.
Rodney and all his staff at BP servo and all shop owners as well as many locals have been very supportive; often going out of their way to help us and make Charlie's holiday enjoyable!
You have a very unique and friendly town with some VERY SPECIAL people in it. We look forward to many many more visits and one day a more permanent move from Bourke to Yamba.

Tanya Farrell

Bourke