It may have been a small convoy that poured out of the Otway State Forest on Friday, but the troops were loud and triumphant. Bodies, proudly adorned with plaits and piercings, hung from car windows with dogs, whistling and cheering in victory as they drove the timber workers a group they claimed made them feel like prisoners for five days.
The loggers, led by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, picketed around the protesters on Monday after tree-felling operations were interrupted by the protester's camp. The police escorted the environmentalists past the picket line on Seaview Ridge Road, and, although sleep-deprived and mentally exhausted, these greenies were ready to celebrate.
But first it was a rejuvenating shower, their first ill days, and minor treatment for the cuts and scratches, incurred during their bush ordeal, before the Otway Ranges Environmental Network members cracked open the beers.
According to long-time protester Mr Eddie Knotts, the group are as "diverse as the bush itself'. In this group of about 15 is an eclectic mix of experienced hard-core activists, university students, locals and two newcomers. They have travelled from Tasmania, Mildura, and Melbourne in an attempt to help locals save the forest from logging. Although many have met for the first time, love is a word they say to each other freely, and kissing and hugging is plentiful.
Amongst the "hard-corers" are a couple known only as Jim and Jade. They chose not to follow the convoy into nearby Apollo Bay. Instead, they returned to their bosky camp to plan their next campaign against hardwood logging in state forests. For Jim, it is a life commitment. "As a group, we are all individuals and we come from different affiliations because of a common bond to save the forests of the world," he says.
Jim, with his mane of black dreadlocks and a precarious ring threaded through the skin of his throat, is a quiet spoken man aged somewhere beyond his forties. He says he has been "a greenie, a feral, an activist, whatever term you chose, for many, many years".
"Greenies is just and old word, same as ferals and dole bludgers and all the rest of it . . . but what it all comes down to is spreading the word about the environment," he says. "Even if you are on the dole, you are a better human for trying to make a difference than half the kids who are on the dole doing nothing and getting into drugs. "The Government has to change its attitudes. Lobbying doesn't really work. The loggers tell us to take our case somewhere higher. I understand where they are coming from, but we can't go higher until politicians are ready to listen. We have to do something."
Mr Eli Greig, 23, says it was the most arduous protest he has been involved
in, and at times frightening. "This is the first time we have ever been
blockaded ourselves. We were like prisoners."