A Western Freeway driver is thinking of buying a lotto ticket - after three of her champion alpacas took a tumble at 110kmh and could not be found for almost two days.
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Marie Yorsten was reunited with Snappy, Bowie and Sweet-Child on Monday, October 9, after a kind-hearted Melbourne commuter from the Creswick area bundled the trio into his van.
![Owner Marie Yorston and Leading Senior Constable Eleanor Bergheim with alpacas Bowie, Sweet Child and Snappy. Picture by Adam Trafford
Owner Marie Yorston and Leading Senior Constable Eleanor Bergheim with alpacas Bowie, Sweet Child and Snappy. Picture by Adam Trafford](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/152554786/80def2aa-6819-44fe-98eb-f49a7ba5187d.jpg/r0_0_6003_4002_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Amazingly, the champion camelids - which were destined for the Seymour Show - suffered nothing worse than a few scratches which are expected to fully heal.
"He was definitely the right person to pick them up. He looked after them so well," the Durham Lead owner said.
"He's absolutely fallen in love with alpacas now - so I think he'll probably purchase some in the near future."
The drama began around 6.30am on Saturday, October 7, when Ms Yorsten was signalled to pull over by other motorists in the Ballan-Gordon area, after noticing the hinges on her trailer gate had failed - causing it to hang off.
"I don't exactly know at what point the alpacas came out," she said.
"We also found out later that people had seen the alpacas on the freeway and there were about three calls to triple-zero. That was near the Cartons Road overpass (at Gordon).
"I traced my steps back and went looking.
"We spent 10 hours walking up and down the road around Gordon on foot.
"We didn't stop and go to bed until we were absolutely satisfied we'd searched everywhere they could possibly be.
"We never made it to the Seymour Show."
![Snappy (Snapdragon), Bowie (Applejack Bowtie) and Sweet Child (Sweet Child of MIne) at Durham Lead near Buninyong before the freeway accident. Picture supplied Snappy (Snapdragon), Bowie (Applejack Bowtie) and Sweet Child (Sweet Child of MIne) at Durham Lead near Buninyong before the freeway accident. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177877894/da7d79be-b72d-4017-a2e1-223b6dfd35b3.JPG/r0_0_1016_1011_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Ballarat West-based Leading Senior Constable Eleanor Bergheim helped get the word out.
"Police became aware of the situation and felt that a post on the Moorabool Eyewatch Facebook would help," she said.
"We realised the power of social media.
"We're extremely happy the alpacas have been found safe and well."
Ms Yorsten said it was unclear if bumps in the badly water-damaged freeway caused the gate to unhinge, but she feared her prized alpacas would be scared, badly injured - or worse.
"We called the vets and council rangers in the area and no alpacas had been brought in," she said.
"All we knew was that the gate came loose somewhere on the Ballarat side of the Cartons Road overpass."
Posts on local social media pages were shared dozens of times - and eventually caught the eye of a Creswick "angel" who managed to corral the three alpacas.
"He stopped and he said Snappy (Snapdragon) came right up to him," Ms Yorsten said.
"It then took about five minutes to catch the other two.
"Sweet Child (also known as Sweet Child Of Mine) is new to the stud and I wasn't sure how she would go.
"We've had Snappy for a while - as well as Bowie ( Applejack Bowtie).
"He said he'd left for work an hour early, saw them on the freeway - and quickly took the alpacas home before going on his way.
"He had to text his partner to explain why there were suddenly strange animals in the yard."
Ms Yorsten said the trio were found within 500 metres of each other - and while no one but the alpacas will ever really know what happened - she believed they would have been on the freeway for less than half an hour.
"I couldn't sleep, I blamed myself, but then I got a call at 10.30pm on Sunday after the man had seen a post - and the three of them were safe and well," she said.
"I think I went into shock."
At this point Ms Yorsten was hyperventilating.
"I think I need to buy a lotto ticket," she said.
"I couldn't believe it.
"I picked them up 2pm on Monday and they were in excellent condition - no broken bones - nothing.
"They looked really good, they had been treated well and he'd fed them the right way. I just want to thank everyone who looked for them.
"If people hadn't shared the posts, they wouldn't have reached others as far and wide as they did.
"All that little stuff helped."
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