Our last Shed – Viewmont Station

Viewmont Station is by the Menindee lakes.  It was quite a change from the other sheds.  There was a river right by the shearing quarters, large trees and brown dirt instead of red sand.  We pitched our tent down by the river under the trees.  It was a nice little retreat…well for the kids and I…maybe not the workers! Stafford tried doing some shearing but it completely knocked him out with some Q Fever still in his system.

As soon as the shearing was finished on the Thursday afternoon we packed up camp, headed back to Broken Hill for the night and then made a 6 hour journey down to Adelaide the next day. We went with the members from our small church branch in Broken hill to see an apostle, Elder Gary E Stevenson who came and spoke in Adelaide, and to see the temple. It was a great weekend!

A must visit for us Mormons

Adelaide Temple

It was nice to see the beach again!

Fun at the caravan park with family and friends

Memories for the kids in Broken Hill…the kids have absolutely loved this adventure.

Michael Jackson & Angry Bird dress ups

Horse Riding

Painting & Hiding Broken Hill Rocks

Finding Broken Hill Rocks

Making Slime

At the skate park…with no wheels

Final goodbyes to friends and family outback style

The trip home

We couldn’t do this trip without a major vehicle hiccup.  Karl’s tyre blew completely!  Lucky he was able to keep control of his vehicle. He had his dogs on the back of his ute, and a fridge!  It costed us an extra day of travelling (to buy a new tyre…we didn’t want to get caught out with another flat tyre along the way) but everyone got home safely so all was good.

Stopping in Cobar

It’s great to be home, it’s been an awesome experience meeting new people, spending time with extended family and experiencing a completely different way of life.  It certainly has been an adventure.  We’re so grateful for the opportunity of being able to have done this.  Big thanks to Lewis and Renarda Paewai from Paewai Shearing… if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have had this experience….thanks you guys!!!!

We finally got to White Cliffs – a destination we’ve been eager to get to since coming to the outback.  It’s a 3 hour drive from broken hill and is an opal mining town where the population lives in ‘dugouts’ in the hills.  It can get up to around 50°C in summer but the underground dugouts stay about 23°C even on the hottest days.

Someone’s observatory on top of their dugout

Jim’s place …obviously

Someone’s front yard

We stayed a night in the Underground hotel which was quite an experience.  The kids loved running around the tunnels and corridors.  It was the perfect setting for a game of hide and seek!

Karls room

The kids room

A chill out area

The tunnels

An air vent going up to the ground level

Getting back up to ground level

On top of the motel is an observatory to watch the sunrise, sunsets and look at the stars

Looking through the telescope

Enjoying the sunset

The hotel observatory

You can’t come to White Cliffs without trying your luck at some opal fossicking, so Brad from the Fossickers Den showed us how to do it.

We found some opals!

Morning tea time

Digging digging

our best raw unpolished opals, blue and purple

Marama found the opal of the day

Brad’s heavy duty opal mining machine

When you’re driving along the road and you come across 2 “Wide Load” warning vehicles AND a police car, I’ve learnt that it means “GET RIGHT OFF THE ROAD!”.  Broken hill is a mining town and the mining equipment is HUGE.  Here’s one example (this is the 3rd time I’ve had to get right off the road):

Another thing I’ve gotten used to, living in a mining town, is the bomb blasts at 6:45am and 6:45pm every day.  Sometimes they’re far away, but once it was right under our house! That was freaky!!

Broken Hill has a lot of history.  In case you didn’t know, the BH in BHP Billiton stands for Broken Hill.  That’s where it all started.  The variety of rocks and minerals they’ve found around here are quite amazing.  There are quite a few museums which are well worth the visit.

Here are the kids exploring the old junction mine…

Exploring the old junction mine

The Living Dessert Reserve is about 12km’s out of Broken Hill.  On top of a hill are 12 stone sculptures.  Apparently, it’s best to go at sunset when the colours and light come out to play…but it’s winter at the moment and it was already cold and windy enough in the early afternoon. We came up here with our friend Jessica who came all the way from Malaysia to have an outback experience.

Marama, Terina, Jessica, Tama and Manahi

Jessica from Malaysia

On another hill is a cultural, flora and fauna walk which is really nice.  You can’t see in the photo’s but the rocks all over the hills glisten with silver and gold flecks…it’s pretty cool, especially when the sun shines on them

We’re back in Broken Hill!  Where else do you find a family of Emu’s casually strolling down the road?

When the kids have too much energy on a road trip…this is what you do!

Come join us on our trip home on Wilangee Rd, Outback NSW.  It was almost 2 weeks after the big rain we had a while back and there was still a bit of mud on the road. Remember to watch out for the kangaroos!

We’re back on the Gold Coast now while Paewai Shearing has a short holiday…and we bought a little bit of the outback back to the Gold Coast.

Our little lamb.  She was a little off season lamb that got lost in the commotion of the shearing sheds.

Back on the Gold Coast and we stopped in at the Maori Butcher and scored these treats! Feijoas!!!

The Maori Butcher

Nana was happy

Zoe, Marama, Nana & Tama

I have to say it’s great to be home for a few weeks.  I’ve learnt to appreciate a real bed, instant hot water, private showers and all the other modern luxuries we take for granted!

The kids have had another great time out here exploring their surroundings.  Here’s some of their adventures here at Mt Woowoolahra

Class for the kids today was learning about the anatomy of sheep and how they are prepared ready for consumption.  They got to see and feel all the gory parts of a sheep’s insides.  Some of the kids were fascinated and some were turned off.  By the third sheep they saw they were used to seeing all the gory bits and felt quite comfortable handling the heart, liver and whatever other parts they were handed.

Touchng the heart

Skinning a sheep

The kids in awe

Tony the farmer

Laken holding the heart

After learning all about the sheep being cut up, the next day they got to see a wild pig get prepared for the spit roast.

They also got to see a little herd of wild goats being carted off to be sold back in Broken Hill

…and so is the circle of life in the outback.