A Dapto mum has won a league of fans with a series of painstakingly hand-painted "Bluey" rocks that she hid in a local park for delighted children to find - and there's more to come.
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The 23-rock collection - which came complete with the famous Heeler family as well as lesser-known fan favourites like Snickers, Winton, Lucky and Jean-Luc - is the work of Kirrin Gruber.
Dapto Subway manager by day; paint pen aficionado by night, Mrs Gruber became part of the painted rock trend during the COVID lockdown periods.
She now posts pictures of her creations to the Gong Rocks Facebook page, before releasing them into the wild for children to either keep or re-hide.
"Each rock can take anywhere from an hour, to two or three hours, depending on how much details is involved," Mrs Gruber told the Mercury.
"It was just something I started to do and found I really enjoyed it. I guess I like feeling like I'm achieving something and making people happy. It's really nice when you get to see kinds find them in the playground - the smiles on their faces.
"Sometimes you see the opposite effect and you see someone find one and throw it away.
"But with the Bluey ones there's just been that much interest in them, it's kind of been overwhelming."
A mother to three children aged 4, 11 and 13, Mrs Gruber has spent countless hours painting hundreds of rocks - Disney princesses, Rug Rats, Lion King characters, Pokemon, Christmas and Halloween-themed creations.
But none caused such a stir as Bluey, which she scattered around Stuart Park on Sunday to be - it is believed - almost instantly snapped up.
"Straight away, people were asking on Facebook, 'are you hiding them right now? Where?'," she said.
"Some people were kind of angry that they missed out.
"One person posted a picture of her daughters, each with a rock. That was nice to see how happy they were."
Mrs Gruber has received multiple requests to paint more Bluey rocks, from fans keen to own an entire collection.
But she says she "wouldn't know how to begin" pricing such a thing - everyday rocks that have had scores of hours spent on them.
Mrs Gruber said there would be more Bluey rocks to come, at a location yet to be revealed on Gong Rocks.
Meantime, she's holding on to one of her creations, perhaps seeing something of herself in the smooth hard surface of this particular rock.
It shows Bluey's mum Chilli, lying down on the lounge, with a caption: "when the kids are finally asleep".
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Angela Thompson
Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues. UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.thompson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues. UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.thompson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
