Sometimes, you just need confirmation that there are some good people in the world.
And sometimes they come in the form of a couple of Canberra rev-heads who stopped to rescue a stranded family in distress on a dark and isolated country road - when everyone else drove on by.
And, in doing so, a group of people who might otherwise have never met, are now likely to enjoy a lifelong friendship.
It all started on the evening of September 6 when Hackett couple Melanie Bagg and Holger Kohler were driving their daughters Eloise, 14, and Claudia, 11, to ski school in Perisher.
Between Cooma and Berridale about 9pm, their car hit a kangaroo and was badly damaged and leaking fluid. It was dark. It was cold. They rang the NRMA who said they didn't attend accidents and advised them to ring their insurance company.
They did and a claim was lodged and they were told a tow truck was on its way. They were advised to get an Uber or taxi to a motel - impossible in the middle of nowhere with four people, a lot of luggage and their 45-kilo Bernese mountain dog, Willa, in tow.
"They were trying to be helpful, but it really wasn't going to happen. So we thought, 'We might be sleeping in the car'," Melanie said.
Still no sign of the tow truck. Other vehicles whizzed by the stranded family.
Then, about 10.30pm, along came Brock Jamieson, 21, and Robert Gawen, 26, two young blokes from Canberra who were travelling back to the national capital after they had picked up a race car from Robert's dad's property, near the Victorian border.
"Out on back roads, it's fairly second nature to stop when you see someone who needs some help," Robert said.
The family couldn't have ordered two better knights in shining armour.
Brock, a mechanic at John McGrath Auto Group in Phillip, and Robert, who owns Buna Tree Services, are both enthusiastic members of the Light Car Club of Canberra. They know their way around a car. And they quickly took control of the situation.
They collected the bits of car strewn around the area, cable-tied it to the hilt and checked the leaking fluid. They made sure the car was drive-able.
"Half the front end of the car was hanging off with very little still holding it together," Brock said, before they went to work with it.
At this stage they still thought a tow truck was coming and had been told it would transport only one person. Dad Holger decided to stay with the car. Robert and Brock re-arranged their two vehicles to fit in the family's luggage, including the girls' skis.
Melanie and Willa would travel back to Canberra with Robert in his Transit van and Claudia and Eloise could travel back with Brock in his Ford Mondeo, which was also towing the race car. Both vehicles had two-way radios and both groups could communicate the whole way home. They even all stopped for ice creams for the girls.
It was still a leap of faith for the couple to let their girls travel with someone who was a stranger but they were confident these were two good blokes.
"You just get a sense about someone," Melanie said. "They were both just good guys trying to help."
They all got back home in the early hours of the next morning, Brock recalling he opened the front door to his home in Woden about 2.30am.
"It was a very, very late night," he said.
Back at the accident site, meanwhile, hours had passed and there was still no sign of the tow truck. Dad Holger decided to try to drive the damaged car back to Canberra. Thanks to the expert cable and zip-tying of the boys, and their check of the vehicle, he and the car did make it back, albeit very slowly.
"It drove very well and none of the bits fell off because it had been nicely cable-tied," Holger said.
There is still some toing and froing about what was said on the night, but the insurance company now claims it told the family to leave their keys with the damaged vehicle while a tow truck from Sydney - six hours away - was sent to the site of the accident.
Melanie, who doesn't yet want to name the insurance company, said the car had yet to be assessed, more than two weeks later.
Everyone reunited this week for photographs for The Canberra Times. Holger and Melanie invited the boys and their girlfriends - Emily Douglas and Tala Ferguson - over for drinks and snacks. Dinner together is also on the cards.
"We couldn't have been saved by two nicer lads or two more capable," Holger said.
The only thanks Brock and Robert really wanted was for the family to maybe go to an event hosted by the Light Car Club of Canberra and spread the word about rallying. Such is their passion for it.
And, in a nice coincidence, motorsport is not completely foreign to the family - Claudie and Eloise have completed an FIA Girls in Motorsport workshop.
Melanie thanked the boys for their kindness on a post on the Canberra Noticeboard Group on Facebook - and it's so far been liked by more than 3000 people.
"I don't think anyone expected it to go quite as viral as it did," she said.
