International Women's Day: Argus photographer Penny Tamblyn reflects on her favourite memories

After a short stint previously, Penny returned in 2012 with this year marking a decade of her photographic brilliance.

In a list of memories, her first year brought about a significant moment when the Macleay Valley Mustangs travelled to Nambucca and sealed the Group 2 trophy.

The Mustangs reversed three defeats at the hands of the Roosters - most recently in the major semi-final - to win the trophy in style, by a 36-12 scoreline.

"I remember coming out of Nambucca and the first person I rang was (Macleay Argus editor) Dave (Coren) and mayor Liz Campbell to say 'oh my god they won'," she said.

"It was amazing, they were smashed by Nambucca before and were never expected to win."

Only a few months later, Penny was in action again - however it wasn't sport - this time floods were causing concern across the Macleay in late February 2013.

On the day the community had been due to set foot on the 3.2km bridge across the Macleay Floodplain for the first time, Penny gained exclusive access to the deck, with a bit of persistence.

The NSW Roads and Maritime Service had called off Sunday's community open day on Friday.

On Sunday morning, Penny was escorted onto the bridge by a senior member of the construction team, allowing her to capture images of a major flood from a completely new vantage point.

"I asked the council worker, 'any chance I can get on the bridge?'" she recalled.

"They said no but I said it'd be good for the community to see how effective it is and eventually they drove me onto it.

"I rang Dave and said you would not believe where I have just been."

Penny said at the time she was given full access: "He took me across the length of the bridge and made several stops along the way so I could take my pictures."

"You could be behind someone's house you've known all your life and it was a whole new perspective."

"As someone who's grown up in the Macleay and used to its floods, the river itself wasn't anything unusual to see.

"But seeing the water over the floodplain was an incredible sight. The bridge did exactly what it was supposed to do.

"It allowed the water to flow through. If there had been banking instead of the bridge it would have been a very different story."

2018 brought Penny's most recent favourite memory on a trip to Harry Elliott Oval, Tuncurry.

Macleay Valley Rangers were travelling down south with a mammoth task at hand to try and defeat a strong Wallis Lake side in the Mid North Coast Premier League grand final.

In one of the most unfathomable grand final comebacks in Premier League history, Rangers overcame a 3-0 half-time deficit to defeat Wallis Lake 5-3 in extra-time on Saturday.

Penny was there to take 185 photos in another "amazing and unbelievable" fixture.

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