Even with 20 years firefighting experience behind him, Luke Bastock said the fear he felt during the 2019-2020 bushfires is unmatched.
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The Manyana resident, along with wife Sheree, and children Luca, 14, and Joey, 11, experienced the full force of the Black Summer fires.
Luke predicts their family home was about 'five minutes from being flattened' when the southerly change fortunately turned the blaze around.
Throughout the ordeal and the following recovery efforts, the family met some Greenpeace Australia employees, who were staying next door.
Today, the Bastock family is the face of Greenpeace Australia Pacific's current campaign fighting climate change - a source of much pride, Luke says.
"It's such an important issue of our times and I'm not afraid of putting our faces out there to speak up," Luke said.
"Environmental issues have always been important as part of my occupation but for me personally, those fires were a turning point in standing up and having a voice."
The Bastock family has been instrumental in the Manyana Matters campaign to save the unburnt forest and tireless in their efforts to raise awareness of environmental issues.
They lead by example with their live simply, tread lightly, permaculture lifestyle and have also been the backbone of Manyana Matters' community wellbeing initiatives, such as the landmark, first of its kind, community survey on mental wellbeing, along with the New Year's Eve commemorative day and the Five Villages Community Garden design.
Sheree is the wellbeing officer on the executive committee of Manyana Matters. She organised the anniversary paddle out at Washerwomans Beach and a smoking ceremony from the Jerrinja tribe on NYE in memory of all the wildlife lost in the fires. Joined by hundreds, Luke said it was an 'amazing experience'.
The Bastock family continues to fight at a local level to save the biodiversity in Manyana.
While Luke said they're a 'bit disappointed in the Shoalhaven Independents for their inaction to declare the Shoalhaven a climate emergency', they'll continue to raise the profile for government and various organisations to act on climate change.
Daughter Luca will be right there beside them.
"My daughter calls herself a 'Greenpeace girl' now," Luke said.
The Bastock family feature in a Greenpeace television advertisement running until December, along with various print and online media appearances.
