As Lyn hangs up the mailbag after 30 years, Nicole is ready to deliver

But she won't leave without the memories from her time in the job and remembering where it all began.

“I was approached by a friend almost 30 years ago to see if I would be interested in relieving someone who was doing the Lockington run,” Lyn said.

“I thought it would be nice to get a bit of extra cash so I said I would give it a go and it all developed from there.”

After taking over the run permanently, she was asked to help with another, which would include getting in the car and travelling further than before.

“While I was doing that, a contract came up for the Bamawm area and I took it on as well,” she said.

“I did that in 1994, and after that they combined Bamawm with Rochester west and Diggera, so that's when I took it all on as one.”

Each day Lyn would start at 7.30am before making the trip into Rochester to sort out the mail in order of the run.

“Back then there were a lot of letters and not as many parcels, and there was no scanning or anything like that required,” she said.

“So it would be as easy as putting it in order of the run and then make a trip to the newsagent's to pick up any papers people have ordered for delivery.”

Lyn said the sorting process could take a few hours before getting around to delivering the mail.

In the end, she said she would typically travel more than 270km a day.

All the while her daughter Nicole was watching and helping out, interested in taking on a similar job.

“As kids we used to go along with Mum and I was able to learn the ropes from a young age,” Nicole said.

“When I was old enough, a run around Echuca West came up and I took that on, I was doing it for about 15 years.”

For 14 years, Lyn and her husband, Phil, ran the Lockington Post Office, which created a whole other side to their job in the mail business.

“We quite enjoyed having the shop because it was another way for us to get to know everyone and it was also a chance for the community to get to know the people who were handling their mail,” she said.

“Once we were there I added the Lockington run back in too, so I spent most of my day driving around the countryside — and I loved it.”

For Lyn, it was the people she met that kept her in the job for so long.

“You'd meet so many great people at their mailboxes, see the different countrysides and how the environment changes over each season, but the job came with a few challenges,” she said.

“Often you would have to keep an eye out for dogs, cats, cows and kangaroos, and you do see some interesting things along the way.

“I saw a kangaroo jump across the road with a sheep chasing it and you think that's a weird thing to see, I've also seen a few people come to their letterboxes in their pyjamas.”

And thankfully, Lyn has only been bogged once.

Over time, she has seen a number of changes that have resulted in her run taking a bit longer than before.

“I started to notice that the number of letters being sent began to go down and the amount of parcels was astronomical,” she said.

“It's all because of the new technology around now and the popularity of online shopping I suppose. Not many people are sending letters when you can type up an email.”

While her retirement plans may have been put on hold due to COVID-19, Lyn said she may struggle teaching herself to sleep in again.

“I'll be around for a couple of weeks to make sure Nicole has everything under control, but after that I think I'll take a break,” she said.

“We originally planned to go travelling, but we've had to put that on hold because of COVID-19.

“But we'll get back to it when we're able to.”

But never fear, Lyn's passion lives on through Nicole.

“I made so many life-long friends during my time around Echuca; when Mum said she was retiring, it only made sense for me to take over,” she said.

“It's good having someone so close to you who knows the old ways of the job and can teach you all the tricks, so I look forward to taking it all on.”