It's a rainy, misty afternoon and 82-year-old farmer Graham Bilbe is out doing some regular work on his avocado and macadamia farm in northern New South Wales.
He walks with a limp and uses a cane for support — but the fact that he is alive and walking at all is remarkable.
About six months ago, on April 3, Mr Bilbe was out on his industrial-sized ride-on mower, on his farm at Comboyne, west of Port Macquarie, when the drive belt snapped and left him without brakes or steering.
The area had been hit by flooding rain days earlier and the mower took off down the hill and landed on him, almost completely severing his right leg.
"It rolled over and over and over, down these four terraces into the bush, about 100 metres it rolled down," Mr Bilbe said.
Despite the immense trauma, Mr Bilbe found the strength to push the mower off himself.
Bleeding profusely, it then took him an hour and a half to haul his severely injured body back up the hill to the road.
"I had to tie my leg, my foot, with a couple of ligaments, I had to tie it to the belt on my trousers ... I needed both hands, you see, to get up the banks."
Mr Bilbe used all his strength to literally claw his way up the hill, hoping to alert someone.
'Wonder dog' hears cries for help
He had been home alone when he set out on his mower, and he had left his farm dogs tied up on the other side of his house.
Even if they could hear his cries for help, they couldn't raise the alarm.
Mr Bilbe said he could hear that his neighbour, Tim Connell, was mowing and started to yell for help, but Mr Connell couldn't hear him over the noisy mower.
His neighbour's dog though, could hear him.
"He came to the gate and his master and mistress came over too ... and they got the fright of their life when they saw my leg.
"I couldn't get to the house, and I didn't have my mobile with me, so I would have been in trouble, real big trouble."
Tim and Georgia Connell said Zollie, normally a quiet dog, was barking differently to how he normally did, and that's what had caught their attention.
"He barked up a storm and let us know something was wrong and we went over and found our neighbour in a very desperate situation," Mr Connell said.
Mr Bilbe's partner, Virginia Kelk, said they still reflect on how different the outcome could have been.
Poor phone service in the Comboyne region meant it took a while before the Connells could raise more help.
"None of the phones would work, it's terrible up here with mobile phones, you can't get reception when you really want it," Mr Bilbe said.
"They finally got through ... and then [people] came from all around and helped me, and covered me up."
A 'remarkable' recovery
Six months on, and Mr Bilbe is back home on his farm, sticking to what he calls "light duties" for now.
It's been a long road, including months in Newcastle for a series of surgeries to clean and reconstruct part of his right leg, including rebuilding his calf with muscle from his chest and skin from his thigh.
"It's been tough, I was taken down in a chopper to the hospital in Newcastle and they did a good job," Mr Bilbe said.
"There's titanium going down the middle of the leg now, and bolts coming across.
"[The leg] is good now, the nerves are coming up, I can feel things ... I'm back doing some light work on the farm, supervising mostly."
Mr Bilbe initially spent a couple of months in Newcastle recovering and needed to return for another month later on, when a further operation was needed.
He is now continuing physiotherapy.
"It was a bit difficult, but Ginny [Virginia] and my family and friends visited me ... and my mate here, he was looking after the place, I talked to him every day and he'd say, 'Don't worry about it, everything is under control'," Mr Bilbe said.
"I'm glad I can live in a place like this ... I've missed it."
Ms Kelk said Mr Bilbe had shown incredible strength.
Mr Connell said after seeing Mr Bilbe at the time of his terrible accident, it was amazing to see the progress he had made.
