A trainee lifeguard has used his quick thinking and an empty beer keg to rescue a father and son from drowning.
The pair got into trouble at Marcoola Beach early Friday morning.
Matthew Neale is six weeks into his Bronze Medallion Certification and had arrived at the beach for a training session but was a day early.
When walking along the beach he noticed the father and son in distress.
He ran to the clubhouse to find a rescue board, but the building was still locked.
Matthew grabbed the next best thing, an empty Heads of Noosa beer keg.
He sprinted back to the beach and swam out to the pair.
He called out to the father and told him to hang in there and was eventually able to bring them back to shore safely and unharmed.
Matthew says it was a very emotional experience, “we’re both big ocker guys but I think we realised how close it was to a very different ending. Once we’d got over the shock, we shared a hug and both shed a tear.”
Brothers, Lance and Craig from Heads Of Noosa heard about the story and wanted to meet the hero who used one of their empty kegs to save two lives.
“Our kegs have been used for a lot of things over the years – barstools, makeshift weights, but never a floatation device. We were absolutely stoked that one of our kegs played a part in this rescue. Matt is an absolute legend, so we wanted to come down to Marcoola and thank him personally. We’re also giving him a couple of cartons of Heads of Noosa for his trouble,” says Lance Masterton, Co-Founder and Head Brewer.
