To cheering crowds, the world's longest truck convoy rumbled into little Ilfracombe in western Queensland yesterday afternoon as 280 truckies delivered 14,000 giant rolls of hay to drought-stressed farmers. 
Dozens of trucks joined the 150km-long convoy at Wyandra, Tambo and Augathella yesterday as the 11th Burrumbuttock Hay Runners drive that left Darlington Point in Southern NSW at dawn on Thursday thundered the 1800km north. Exhausted, but -euphoric, organiser Brendan "Bumper" Farrell said the free hay would help 700 families between Longreach, Blackall, Cloncurry, Hughenden and the Gulf Country feed hungry stock.
Spurred by handpainted signs reading "Thank you Hay Runners for keeping the dream alive" and hundreds of kids in country towns waving Australian flags, Mr Farrell thanked Australians in their offices, scout halls, cafes, via -raffles and trivia nights for funding the mammoth effort.
"For everyone in Australia who has put their hand up to raise money and buy fuel for what -started off as a small dream of mine to do something to help these farmers in drought, you are absolutely remarkable," Mr Farrell, a freight driver from Leeton, NSW, said yesterday.
"The joy I get when I see all these trucks and hay coming in is unbelievable; it shows Australians that you don't need to be a millionaire to go and help someone." After a welcome party last night, 60 trucks will today leave Ilfracombe, east of Longreach, to drive another 200km northwest to Winton and Muttaburra, to -distribute their hay to cattle -farmers struggling to survive after little wet-season rain for a third consecutive year.Waiting at the Winton showgrounds will be Dolly Grant and 30 local farmers. "This drought is not over; the rain has just been so scattered and there are many properties that are still devastatingly dry, where the owners have been buying hay to keep their livestock alive for more than two years now," Ms Grant said last night. "It's just a shock to know that other people care."