Wayne is one of Narooma's unsung heroes. Straight after finishing high school, at what was then called the Narooma Central School, and on his 19th birthday, Wayne joined the NSW Forestry Commission.

In the early years of his career Wayne and his colleagues covered territory that ranged from Bermagui to Moruya - it was called a District back then. Now the territory they cover goes right up to Jervis Bay, out to Tallaganda and north east of Cooma, which is a vast region to service.

Wayne's strong maths skills helped him secure his first position as an assistant to the surveyor relocating private property boundaries adjoining Forest.

More than 40 years later his career continues to offer Wayne an interesting variety of tasks - from hazard reduction to fauna surveys, bush regeneration surveys and more.

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As with all Forestry Commission employees, Wayne is fully trained in fire fighting. He and his colleagues played a vital role in containing the fires that threatened our local area in 2019-2020, providing manpower as well as bulldozers, excavators, and a whole range of logging and earth moving equipment needed to build and clear fire trails, and contain the fires.

Did you know that there are 1000's of kilometres of road and trails in this Forestry Region? The maintenance job is huge and never ending! But Wayne clearly loves the "bigness" and tranquility of the Australian bush. He also relates well to other big things - just take a look at his beautiful dog Odessa.

She is a gentle giant with a very big heart, who loves to walk the one kilometre boundary of Wayne's property with him every day. Odessa came into Wayne and his wife Julie's lives as a rescue dog, slightly under-nourished, from Far South Coast Branch of Animal Welfare League.

Odessa was in good health but very traumatised, having been badly beaten at some time by a man. As a result she was frightened of men, and in some situations is understandably still nervous of them.

But patience, time and a lot of love on Wayne and Julie's part are helping Odessa to recover from her poor start. Wayne believes that the socialisation opportunity and training offered by Narooma Dog Training Club (NDTC) has played a big part too.

By training together each Saturday, Wayne and Odessa have built a strong bond of trust in each other.

They recently graduated from Yellow to Red Class, the second highest level of obedience offered by the volunteer instructors at NDTC. It just goes to show that patience, love and gentle handling are the keys to success in pet ownership.

If you would like to bring your dog to obedience training, please call Carol on 0458 953 281. Booking is essential.