The idyllic country town of Temora might have a population of under 5000 residents, but it boasts some of the most experienced and dedicated paramedics in the state.
Three of Temora Station’s paramedics - Chris Doughty, Shaun Thomson and Taz Rundle - have all recently been recognised with National Service and Ambulance Long Service and Good Conduct medals.
Together they have almost 70 years of service within NSW Ambulance - which is fitting given it's the 70th anniversary of the station they all call home.
For Rundle, who was long ago anointed Taz because he hails from the Apple Isle, his time with the service came after a long career in a very different field.
"I was a brick salesman for 26 years," he laughed.
"Well, I was the first aid officer I suppose."
Taz was a volunteer for the Tasmanian Ambulance Service for many years and his colleagues recognised he had what it took to be a professional paramedic, urging him to switch careers and hit the road.
"They weren't hiring at the time but they suggested I look for somewhere that was and take the leap," he said.
He did just that and discovered NSW Ambulance was training new recruits and he and his family packed their bags and haven't looked back. After many years in Sydney, including being stationed at Summer Hill, Menai and a decade in and around Kings Cross, an opportunity presented itself in Temora and he took it.
The bright lights of the city were a brilliant training ground for a new paramedic, but the countryside is now home to Taz.
"You've got to get into the community, you've got to get amongst it," Taz says of moving from the city to the country, where he re-started the town band and sits on many of the community boards.
"Everybody knows everybody here, something you don't get in the city."
Intensive care paramedic and station officer Chris agrees Temora is a great place to be a paramedic - and he should know. Apart from a bit of a break in the middle, he's been there since being posted after serving his probation period in Albury in 1987.
"I didn't even know where Temora was, I had to look it up on a map," he laughed.
"Apart from a 10-month stint where I decided to see what the pasture was like on the other side, I transferred back to Temora and I'm still here."
During that time away he was one of the paramedics who worked on the Thredbo landslide disaster in 1997.
After growing up in the Wollongong suburb of Berkeley, Chris said there was a bit of an adjustment period when moving to Temora but it quickly grew on him.
"The first six months took a bit getting used to but it is a great place to bring up the family," he said.
Paramedic Thomson joined NSW Ambulance in 1996 and did stints at Mascot, Engadine, Bondi, Rockdale and Menai before moving to Temora. The country town, about 420km south west of Sydney, is close to his heart as his dad was an ambulance officer there in the late 60s and early 70s.