Don Allen, known as Scrubby to "just about everyone I've ever met," is not a weak man. "I've been in the bush for 66 years," he says, "and I reckon it is safer there than in town."
The 84-year-old is recovering from injuries he received in what he describes as "a cowardly attack". Scrubby and his wife Marlene were in Waverley, looking after a friend's property while the friends were away.
Scrubby says he got up at about 5am and left the caravan to go to the bathroom. When he got back into the caravan, he received a blow to the head. "I put my hands up to fend off the next blow, and that is all I remember," he says.
Marlene says she woke up when she heard her husband fall.
"He was out cold on the floor, and it took me a while to help him back to bed."