The stress of holiday travel reached new heights for Amy Beattie when she realised her son's cherished Monkey was left behind at a Glenrowan rest stop, hundreds of kilometres away.
But then a group of mums, including Donna Prior, a Canberra resident spending the festive season in Wangaratta, turned this accident into a Christmas miracle.
After being rescued on Christmas Eve and spending a few days safely in Wangaratta, Monkey is now with Mrs Prior, who will return him to his three-year-old owner in Canberra on Thursday, December 28.
"Any parent who has a child who's lost a beloved toy knows the roller-coaster of emotions that the child goes through, let alone the parents," Mrs Prior said.
"I've been in this situation before when my daughter lost her toy.
"And knowing that Monkey had been lost so far from his owner, I just felt like, being Christmas, I had to do something."
On Friday, December 22, the Melbourne family of four travelled from their home to Canberra to spend Christmas with Mrs Beattie's relatives.
Llewyn Kavanagh, 3, was asleep upon their arrival, and it wasn't until Saturday night that he realised Monkey was missing.
"I pretty much had a heart attack," Mrs Beattie told The Border Mail.
"About an hour later James [her husband] said to me, 'Babe, I feel sick - I know where Monkey is'."
Mrs Beattie said Llewyn struggled to sleep without Monkey by his side.
"Since we lost him, there hasn't been a day gone by without him saying, 'when's Monkey coming back and where's Monkey?'," she said.
"It's his comforter, and if he's having a sad moment, Monkey is what makes him happy."
Monkey had been left on a ledge inside a public toilet more than 400 kilometres from where the family is spending the next six weeks.
Desperate plea for help
"I decided to post what happened in a Facebook group for Melbourne mums, and within about 45 minutes, there was a heap of comments," Mrs Beattie said.
"Then, eventually, there was a stranger who said, 'I'm 10 minutes from there; I can go and have a look for you shortly'."
Sandra Alesiani, a Melbourne mum spending Christmas in her home town of Wangaratta, drove through heavy rain in search of Monkey on Christmas Eve.
"She found him wet, soggy and gross on the ground," Mrs Beattie said.
"She sent us a photo as soon as she found him, and we were just in tears because I thought it was hopeless."
The power of social media
Mrs Prior, staying with her parents in South Wangaratta, also saw Mrs Beattie's Facebook post and immediately felt an urge to help.
"I said to my husband, I've got to go help look for this monkey," she said.
"And here we are."
Mrs Prior reached out to Mrs Alesiani and received Monkey, clean and in one piece, on Wednesday, December 27.
"If you think 30 years ago, if a toy were lost, it would end up in the bin," Mrs Prior said.
"Whereas it has been through the power of social media that we've been able to work together as a community to reunite Monkey with Llewyn."
Mrs Beattie, reflecting on the experience, said, "social media allows us to connect as humans and, in this case, connect in the best possible way".
"If we harness these tools for the good they're capable of instead of the bad, we'd all be better for it, and this is a perfect example," she said.
Mrs Prior is driving Monkey to Canberra on Thursday, December 28, to reunite him with his owner.
