Claudia Abbott is shouldering the hopes of her home today as she advocates for Megalong Valley in a time of crisis, but life wasn't always this frantic for her.
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Growing up in the Valley, she remembers a time when it was a sleepier village, with few visitors and a school of around a dozen students.
"We'd ride horses to school, and you would wave at every car because you knew every person who was driving around down there. The community was always so, so strong," she told the Gazette.
"It's definitely taken a change in the last 10 years; it's gone from that sleepy little country town to a bustling tourism hub, and that's hard for a lot of the [residents] to come to terms with."
Today, as vice president of the valley's citizen association, Ms Abbott is the spokesperson for an area constantly struggling against natural disasters - the current battle being road damage caused by heavy rain.
On April 5, flash-flooding caused a landslide which destroyed part of Megalong Road, the only public road into and out of the valley.
After two weeks of evacuations, helicopter supply drops, and multi-agency planning, the road was reopened on April 19 as a one-lane access road for vehicles weighing less than 7.5 tonnes.
At their April 30 meeting, Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) passed a motion acknowledging the natural disaster impacts on the Megalong Valley. A staff report included a staged approach for re-establishing the valley's road access.
Stage one and two have been completed already; construction of temporary pedestrian access and construction of restricted one-lane vehicle access.
Stage three will be an unrestricted two-lane road, and stage four will be a comprehensive road assessment and reconstruction.
Swift action needed
Ms Abbott has been left with mixed feelings, as while she praised the emergency responses and speed of reopening the road, she said the battle is just beginning for Megalong Valley's residents and businesses.
For example, the road's current weight limit stops access for vehicles crucial to the valley's economy, including building material deliveries, stock trucks for cattle, wedding buses, and even garbage trucks.
"Two weeks to get the one-lane access open is pretty phenomenal," Ms Abbot said.
"[But] there's many other options that aren't really being considered, and that's what a lot of us are trying to push for: getting other options on the table that may give us that heavy vehicle access immediately."
Megalong Creek Estate winery had plans to build an upgraded cellar door, a process which had involved around eight years of planning and paperwork.
Recently the winery had finished with the planning side and was finally able to order building materials via delivery trucks - which were booked for the week of the landslip.
BMCC's staff report estimates a minimum six-to-nine months before the road's weight limit is lifted, which would stymie plans like this for at least another half-year.
Ms Abbott said the timeline isn't reasonable.
"Things can happen a lot quicker than that if need be. If it's focused on it could happen quicker, I think they're giving themselves more time than they really need," she said.
Stage four, the comprehensive road upgrade, is estimated to be completed over the next 5-10 years and would cost more than $100 million. Beyond council's financial capacity, the project would need disaster recovery funding and support from state and federal levels of government.
Valley resident John Allen addressed council at their April meeting, inquiring about the estimated cost.
"Can the community have access to the analysis behind those numbers? Because with a lower number, funding may be easier," he said.
"We need to think outside the box to create better and more cost-effective outcomes."
Moving forward
While Ms Abbot has needed to push hard for alternatives to issues like the above examples, the council's increasing responsiveness is giving her hope.
"Communication has been improving, I think they understand what we need more now is just open communication and honesty," she said.
"We have their attention, and I do believe that they are doing everything within their power to get something happening."
Beyond short-term necessities like truck access, Ms Abbott said the biggest goal will be securing support from other levels of government.
"[Council] have had so many natural disasters across the whole area, we're just one little suburb across a huge LGA that they have to deal with," she said.
"It's a lot for them to have to take all of that on, so hopefully they can keep pushing to get the state and federal support that they need."
Mayor Mark Greenhill addressed Megalong Valley residents at the council's April meeting. He said: "Residents down there deserve to have their quality of life, their businesses, their livelihoods, defended by us irrespective of the cost.
"And if it means we have to bang on the doors of other levels of government to get that support, then let's do it, and let's not discount that support."
In the meantime, Ms Abbott will be continuing to speak up for the Megalong Valley, not only as a popular tourist destination, but as her home.
"It's a wonderful, wonderful place, and our community is pretty amazing. I've not heard of or experienced anyone quite like us anywhere else. I feel very lucky in that regard."
