Safety upgrade for Bruxner Highway at Sandilands

Motorists on the Bruxner Highway can look forward to safer journeys west of Casino with improvement works about to start on a stretch of road west of Sandilands.

• New line markings on centre and edge lines

By Samantha Elley

Most people would think if they lost their wedding ring in the waves at the beach, that would be the last time they saw it.

Anthony and Candice Komselis had that thought when they watched Anthony’s ring fall into the water at Main Beach, Evans Head.

“My husband has been on a health kick and lost some weight,” said Candice.

“The ring was loose on his fnger so I said I’d hold it while he went for a swim.”

As Anthony handed the ring to his wife, it went through her fngers and dropped into the sand.

“It was gone in 12 seconds,” Candice said.

“We started hunting for it and people on the beach were looking for it as well.”

The water was coming in so they decided to come back at low tide and have another look.

“When we went back we ran into Aaron Worboys who walked onto the beach with a metal detector,” said Candice.

“We told him about the wedding ring and he said he’d give it a crack.

“We left him to it as we didn’t expect him to look for it or even fnd it.

“We had given up fnding the ring.”

The couple had been married in 2015 and regularly visited Evans Head for their holidays.

“I’ve been coming here since I was a baby and my parents live here now so we were down from Brisbane for the Christmas holidays,” said Candice.

“I thought it was a terrible way to end our time in Evans.”

Aaron Worboys lives in Ballina and is retired from the army.

He had taken up metal detecting as a way to enjoy his days.

“(Metal detecting) allows me to spend hours a day on the beach enjoying the sunshine,” he said

“It also helps with my mental health as it’s very relaxing.”

On the day Aaron met the Komselis family he had been having a morning coffee with his partner discussing where he should go with his metal detector.

“I had a feeling that I needed to go to Evans and I couldn’t ignore a ‘gut feeling’ I get sometimes and just had to follow it,” he said.

“I’ve returned many watches, phones and jewellery in the past.”

So when Anthony and Candice asked Aaron to search for their wedding ring, it was a no-brainer.

“We found out after that he was down at the beach at 4am and it took him seven hours to fnd the ring,” said Candice.

“By this time we had posted on the Evans Head Notice Board on Facebook that we had lost the ring and suddenly the whole community rallied.”

What the Komselises didn’t know was Aaron had posted on the same Facebook page about fnding the ring and many locals were tagging both Aaron and the Komselis family to see if the ring was theirs.

It was.

“We went over to Ballina to pick it up and he told us he had found the ring far out in the surf and under three inches of sand,” said Candice.

“Without Aaron and his metal detector we would never have found it.”

Aaron suggested to the couple that Anthony either get the ring resized or put the weight back on.

“This has been a much nicer end to the holiday,” said Candice.

You can follow Aaron’s metal detecting adventures on his Facebook page ‘Byron and beyond metal detecting’.

The Minns Labor Government is investing $8.8 million to upgrade about 2.6 kilometres of the highway, between Casino and Tabulam.

Improvements to be made include:

• Rehabilitating or replacing stormwater drains to keep motorists safe in wet conditions

• Road widening

• Installation of safety barriers

• Improving sightlines around bends

• A new road seal Work is scheduled to start on Monday 29 January and will be carried out from 7am to 6pm on weekdays and 6.30am to 4pm on Saturdays.

The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2024 weather permitting. Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison said:

“This important work will improve safety for the 1100 motorists who travel this route each day.

“Delivered through our Safer Road

Programs, these investments have been made possible thanks to strong advocacy from the community and the local Member for Lismore Janelle Saffn.”

Parliamentary Secretary for Disaster Recovery and Member for Lismore Janelle Saffn said:

“As a local who regularly travels the Bruxner for community events and meetings, this work, once completed, will improve our driving conditions.”

“I very much welcome these investments and thank the community in advance, for its patience while these road works take place.