Both were badly burnt on New Year's Eve 2019 and are lucky to be alive.

The Bendalong couple's recovery is ongoing and they are now looking to move on towards a new life.

June knows the life she once had alongside her hero and husband Lex is over.

The injuries June suffered during the Shoalhaven bushfires crisis means she will never be able to nurse injured native animals back to health again.

Nursing native animals were June's passion and she was assisted by Lex.

Whatever the future holds for June you know she is going to make the most of it. Lex, in his calm and capable way, will continue to be her tower of strength.

There is a power - a determination - a strength that comes from them both.

The Bendalong couple has clear memories of that one dreadful day during the Black Summer bushfires.

Lex is June's hero - without him, she may not have survived the burns she suffered.

June remembers "pretty much all of it" from start to finish.

"I remember being out here and hosing the house just to keep the moisture going - we had plenty of water," she said.

"Lex said 'come on, we will go down and check on the wallabies'.

"I was behind Lex walking down in our all fitted out uniforms - except my bloody gloves - we did not put the gloves on - silly.

"Lex turned to me with a stricken look and said 'run'. "I thought, what from? Because I could not see anything because of the smoke.

"It [heat] was coming along the ground like water."

"You could see the air quivering - the air on the ground was tricking like water," Lex added.

"I have never seen anything like it before in over 30 years experience on the fire ground.

"I said 'let's get out of here' and as soon as I said that we were whacked onto the ground."

It was hot and dangerous air driven by the wind that smashed into them and it kept coming.

"I got up and dragged June up by the collar," Lex said.

June just could not get up and as they struggled to get up they were knocked down a second time.

"My legs were like jelly and if we got knocked down again I would never be able to get up again," Lex said.

June was yelling 'I can't get up'.

"I just did not have the strength and the uniform felt like I had a led weight on me," she said.

Lex came back for June and they managed to get to their daughter Melody's home, who lives nearby.

She performed the initial first aid on them.

RFS members Charlie Magnuson, Steve Heggie and Bill Eger [their son-in-law] were among the crew who came and rescued them.

The fickle nature of the fire is something the Bendalong couple still talks about. Lex's uniform has a hole in the back from the fire - yet he had fewer burns than June.

June was pretty much burnt all over her body

"My face has still got more work to be done," she said.

She was unconscious for almost two weeks and has been back to the burns unit in Concord three times.

"They did not think I was going to survive and they told me that afterwards," June said.

While Lex was recovering in a nearby hospital, he would often ask about his wife. Nobody would tell him just what sort of state June was in.

June had many bad days and nightmares brought on by all the drugs she was on for pain.

Her dressings on her legs, back arms, under her arms all had to be changed every day. Once one area healed, she was taken in for another operation.

June has at least three more operations and some of the knuckles on her hand are stiff and hard to bend due to the calcification from the burns.

"My fingers were so bad that touching anything was like somebody cutting my fingers with razor blades," she said.

"They are not as bad but they are still a bit pins and needles like.

"I am hoping that sensation will eventually go away."

The tendons on her hands were fully exposed and at one stage, surgeons were going to amputate her hands. Her next operations are expected to last between four to five hours all at Concord, which is like her second home.

"They are like family," June said to describe the staff at Concord.

Today June is going pretty good, pain-wise.

Lex has healed well and was burnt on his hands, arms and legs.

"Mine was not quite as bad as June's," he said.

He also had to get his little finger on his left hand amputated due to a disintegrated tendon and was in the hospital for four months in Royal North Shore. He did rehabilitation in Ryde.

"I had to learn to use my hands so I could use a knife and a fork, screw nuts on bolts - that sort of thing," he said.

During this period the two could not directly talk to each other.

"I never saw her for six weeks, I think it was," Lex said.

He is facing one more operation this time on his right hand and is hoping no more fingers need to be removed. He hopes the surgeons can straighten the damaged finger - he at least wants to be able to flex the digit.

Lex is getting back to normal. He can drive a tractor and use his chain saw. He is now back as captain of the Manyana RFS brigade.

June does have bad days mentally and has regular visits from two "lovely" mental health nurses who come out to see her once a month.

"I think they come out to see the dog more now," June jokes.

"They are beautiful, beautiful and absolutely terrific ladies."

June has to tell herself that she is lucky.

"I don't feel lucky sometimes and I think I was in a bad place at the wrong time," she said.

She knows life will not be the same.

"I am just a different person. My personality, health, you name it, just overnight, so to speak, all changed."

She finds it hard to like the new June. She feels ugly and horrible - but others will disagree.

She looks remarkable and is just an inspiration. Not many others would or could recover so strongly.

"I do have to be positive," she said.

She has good times and even in the hospital was laughing and making jokes. She was in the hospital for five months.

June also spent time in Nowra hospital and says the nurses like Billy Hamburger were just lovely.

June and Lex are thinking about moving back into Manyana.

June was always outside doing various jobs and she looked after wombats for 30 years with Lex's support.

Caring for wombats was their passion.

"I miss being outside - even just raking the leaves and the dung. Winter or summer, I would be digging, filling in holes because wombats like to dig everywhere," she said.

"I can walk up the track and back but I have had a couple of falls."

June could not walk for three months and both had to learn how to walk again.

"We did not know how to put a foot forward," Lex said.

Both Lex and June have been heavily involved in the Manyana Matters Environmental Association's battle to save a block of land from being developed.

The land in Manyana was one of the few left untouched from the bushfire crisis. Both agree it's hard to say if the land will be saved. A determination has not yet been announced.

June had released a lot of animals in the block over the years.

"It was a beautiful place to release those animals," June said.

Both attended public rallies to save the land - complete with bandages on.

"I said if they want; I will go down and tie myself to a tree," she said.

Hopefully, June and Lex get the chance to watch their beloved native animals continue to live and breed on the block.

If it ends up being placed in the community's hands, the June and Lex Frew Native Reserve has a nice ring to it.