Out the Back Australia Cunnamulla

Out the Back Australia Cunnamulla: HOLIDAYS

2011-09-19T00:27:00.000-07:00

Out the Back Australia Cunnamulla: HOLIDAYS: Holidays are on in Queensland!! You do not know what to do with your free time or where to go. Come and join us. We offer different tours fo...

HOLIDAYS

2011-09-19T00:24:00.001-07:00

Holidays are on in Queensland!! You do not know what to do with your free time or where to go. Come and join us. We offer different tours for all kind of ages! If you want to have a relaxed evening with some local entertainment, enjoying a 3-course dinner, with soup, vegetables, lamp and other meat. Taste our delicious dessert and warm up while sitting next to the fire. Or take part in one of our Tours. Cruise along the River and enjoy the sunset while having smoko on the boat. Kayaking and sand boarding are also possible. So just come over and have fun here in the Outback of Cunnamulla and the surrounding area!!! If you like our blog let us know about it, feel free to comment whatever you are up to!

Campfire Dinner

2011-09-18T03:34:00.000-07:00

We just finished Campfier dinner a second ago and it was an amazing evening like always!!!Have you ever been to our Campfire dinner?The 3 course dinner starts with soup. Afterwards you get meat, vegetables, pumpkin, potatos and a delicious dessert!! So join us whenever you like to just phone or come to our office. Hope to see you soon!!

Kayaking

2011-09-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

In the afternoon we kayaked the Warrego River which was a real adventure. We tried not to smash our kayak against one of the trees and to be aware of the little branches hanging down from the trees. Otherwise we had to get the right direction and that was a really difficult part for us but anyway we made our way back to the bus. Exhausted and hungry we went to the café to break some opals and to have dinner with the local drover Les Capewell. He also created a absolutely delicious damper for us which we enjoyed with a lot (never mind how full we were afterwards) of butter and syrup. We crawled in our beds tiered but satisfied.

Rocky Station

2011-09-15T16:53:00.000-07:00

Rocky Station

The next morning we had an amazing hot bath in the mineral rich artesian bore. After we packed our Swags (which was not that easy…because they were a little bit frozen), we went back to Charlottes Plains for breakfast. Then we left heading off to Rocky station. There Chris Webster guided us along the Wallaby Walk and told us a lot about her life out here. She told about the flooding for over 18 month and how they managed to get all their food and equipment over the 70 meters swinging footbridge because the car pass was flooded. Afterwards she invited us for morning tea with freshly brewed coffee, scones and jam, butter, cream and sandwiches. We also tried to play the didgeridoo and we did not act that badly.

Outback Tours in Cunnamulla

2011-09-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

We have been on Tour this weekend. A 3-Day Backpacker Tour. So we want to share some of or experience in the Outback of Cunnamulla with you.

We started on Friday after dinner and a nice chat at Out the back Australia café and gallery, we stayed overnight in a wonderful house here in Cunnamulla. The next morning we got a delicious breakfast with fruits, scrambled eggs, roasted beef, tomatoes and toast. Afterwards we went bird watching on the River Walk of the Warrego River. We got amazing pictures of all species of birds. We head of to Charlottes Plains a farm east of Cunnamulla. We feed some little lamps with the bottle and Robyn guided us around the old shearing shed and told us about the history of Charlottes Plains and searing. We enjoyed a fantastic dinner near the Artesian Bore and slept under the stars in our Swags. The stars sky was pretty clear that night…

Lots of news to come from Out the Back Australia Tours

2011-08-29T23:39:00.000-07:00

We have been a little slack on the blogging lately and as we have lots to share and discuss with you we will get cracking on our daily blogs over the coming days so stay tuned!

Go On Tour With Us In April 2011 And Experience The Noorama Picnic Races!

2011-03-10T15:36:00.000-08:00

Noorama Picnic Races

The Annual Noorama Picnic Race Carnival encapsulates the very best of bush racing with a full program of on and off track entertainment including “fashions on the field”, spit roast dinner, entertainment, dancing and plenty of opportunity to place a bet and pick a winner.

6 Day Get Down & Dusty Tour Including the "Noorama Picnic Races"

“8 – 13 April 2011”

This six day tour offers the ultimate in Outback travel experience and gives a real life insight into everything our region has to offer. With the bonus of experiencing a bush racing carnival where the locals travel from all directions to meet at the Noorama Race course for a weekend of fun.

9 Day Outback Ensemble Including the "Noorama Picnic Races"

“6 – 13 April 2011”

Noorama Picnic Races is a bush horse racing carnival held on a dirt track on a property outside Cunnamulla. The locals gather for a great weekend of entertainment. In the day it is horse racing action and as the sun goes down it turns to a massive party under the stars complete with music and dancing on the clay pan.

Limited to sixteen people on each tour don’t delay book today!

Experience One Of Our Special Event Tours!

2011-03-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

Noorama Picnic Races - April 2011

Music In The Mulga - May 2011

Cunnamulla Fella Festival - November 2011

Visit Cunnamulla,

Go On An Adventurous Trip With Out The Back Australia

And Experience One Of Our Special Events!

Don't Delay & Book Today!

www.outthebackaustralia.com.au

Wanna Get Down And Dusty? Have A Look At Our Backpacker Tours!

2011-02-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

Go On A Memorable And Adventurous Trip With Us!

You Will Have The Time Of Your Life!

Don't Delay & Book Today!

www.outthebackaustralia.com.au

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Take Part In One Of Our Accommodated Tours! Book Now!

2011-02-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

Take Part In One Of Our Accommodated Tours And Have A Great Adventure With Us!

Don't Delay & Book Today!

www.outthebackaustralia.com.au

Visit Our Facebook Page And Check Out The Photos From Our Accommodated Tours!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=100000569626887&aid=53643

Check Out Our New Photos From The Two Tawny Frogmouths!

2011-02-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

Visit Our Facebook Page And Have A Look At Our Photo Album!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=334237&id=223043289611&saved#!/album.php?aid=53506&id=100000569626887

Have A Look At These Beautiful Birds!

2011-02-14T22:08:00.000-08:00

Visit Our Facebook Page And HaveA Look At Our New Photo Album!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=333990&id=223043289611&saved#!/album.php?aid=53409&id=100000569626887

Our Baby Kangaroo Jojo Is Relaxing In The Summer Heat

2011-02-13T23:23:00.000-08:00

Jojo our Joey is doing excellent. Now that she is allowed to get out of her pouch and stay in the backyard for a couple of hours each day.

She is hopping around, scratching herself and observing everything. Jojo ist really curious and listens to everything that happens around her.

When she is not relaxing, she’s eating grass or lying around in her little doghouse, because it got to hot for her outside.

Jojo really knows how to get our attention. When she wants back in her pouch or just needs a cuddle, she makes a loud noise so we would come back to be there for here.

We will keep you updated!

Goodbye Anke

2011-01-27T15:26:00.000-08:00

Today is Anke's last day of work for Out The Back Australia in Cunnamulla. After 4 months in Cunnamulla Anke will leave us on Monday. She completed her internship at Out the Back Australia and is heading home to Erlangen, Germany to finish her studies. We had a great time with her, but also looking forward to the next interns joining our Out The Back Australia team.

Happy (belated) Australia Day

2011-01-26T20:36:00.000-08:00

We Hope You Had A Great Day Off

And Celebrated Australia Day 2011

And Had Lots Of Fun!

Your Out The Back Australia Team

Go On An Exciting Family Tour With Us!

2011-01-24T15:56:00.000-08:00

Go On An Exciting Family Tour With Us And Enjoy Some Quality Time With Your Family!

Don't Delay & Book Today!

www.outthebackaustralia.com.au

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Go On One Of Our Adventurous Backpacker Tours!

2011-01-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

Wanna Get Down & Dusty?

Book Your Very Own Outback Adventure NOW!

Visit Us On www.outthebackaustralia.com.au

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=326967&id=223043289611

Don't Delay Book Today!

2011-01-20T21:14:00.000-08:00

Visit Our Website: www.outthebackaustralia.com.au And Have A Look At The Range Of Tours We Offer! Don't Delay Book Today!

Magnificent Sunsets In Cunnamulla!

2011-01-19T15:57:00.000-08:00

Take A Look A These Amazing Sunsets!

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Cunnamulla Impressions

2011-01-18T17:28:00.000-08:00

Have A Look At Out New Photo Album! Beautiful Impressions Of Cunnamulla!

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=325519&id=223043289611

2011-01-17T15:44:00.002-08:00

Check This Out! These Green Frogs Are Everywhere!

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=49975&id=100000569626887

Beautiful Wildflowers In Cunnamulla

2011-01-16T16:56:00.000-08:00

Have A Look At Our New Facebook Photo Album And Check Out These Beautiful Wildflowers In Cunnamulla!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49865&id=100000569626887

Our Baby Joey Jojo Is Growing Up

2011-01-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

Have A Look At Jojo! She's growing so fast!

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Take A Look At This Crucifix Frog!

2011-01-12T21:52:00.001-08:00

Check Out Our Facebook Profile And Look At This Amazin Frog!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=100000569626887&aid=49376

Have A Look At Our New Photo Album! We have Tawny Frogmouths In Our Back Yard!

2011-01-11T21:34:00.000-08:00

Visit Our Facebook Pace And Have A Look At Our New Photo Album!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/album.php?aid=49267&id=100000569626887&fbid=185727041456282

Jojo Our Baby Kangaroo Is Getting Bigger Every Day

2011-01-10T17:02:00.000-08:00

After two weeks of holidays I finally got to see our little Joey again. I can tell you, she is not that little anymore!

Jojo has grown a lot in those two weeks and she definitely put on some weight! She is about 56 cms tall and weighs a bit more than 3 kgs now.

She only gets milk for about three times a day, because she eats a lot of grass now. That is the reason why she is growing so fast!

We let Jojo out in the yard for a couple of hours each day, so she can hop around, eat grass and scratch herself. She doesn’t want to stay out of her pouch for too long though, she loves it way too much. The pouch is Jojo’s comfort zone.

Stay tuned to our website (www.outthebackaustralia.com.au), Facebook, Twitter & Blog! We will have a great competition coming up for you!

2011-01-09T21:20:00.000-08:00

We Are Back At Work After The Holidays And Wish Everyone A Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas From Jojo & Out The Back Australia

2010-12-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

We Wish Everyone A Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays & A Happy New Year!

Out the Back Australia in Cunnamulla: JoJo Our Baby Joey Is Growing Up

2010-12-14T22:51:00.000-08:00

Out the Back Australia in Cunnamulla: JoJo Our Baby Joey Is Growing Up: "Our little baby kangaroo is finally growing up. Jojo is finally gaining some weight and getting a little bit taller too. She weighs about 3 ..."

JoJo Our Baby Joey Is Growing Up

2010-12-14T22:50:00.000-08:00

Our little baby kangaroo is finally growing up. Jojo is finally gaining some weight and getting a little bit taller too. She weighs about 3 kg now and is about 55 cms tall. We are still feeding her milk, but she started eating grass, which is a big step for a little baby joey and a really good sign.

She is jumping higher and faster now and if you don’t pay attention for a second she’ll be gone!

Jojo is very curious and interested in everything and everyone. She even gets her head out of the pouch just to observe. Jojo starts biting on everything and she is really cheeky. As soon as she gets out of her pouch, she stands up and starts scratching herself like humans do! It looks so funny! First Jojo leans back and scratches her back and then she has to scratch her tummy!

One morning at about 5 am she jumped out of her pouch, which was hanging next to the window and made a loud noise, so we would wake up and take care of her! She definitely knows what she wants and how to get it!

Interview With Our Tourist Mel

2010-11-09T16:46:00.000-08:00

Hi Mel, could you tell us a little bit about you and what took you to Australia this year?

My Name is Melanie Pahnke and I am from Germany. I am 19 years old and just got my Abitur this year. This year some of my biggest dreams came true while travelling the world in 31 days with my boyfriend. One destination was Australia.

How did you find Out The Back Australia?

We didn’t want to plan the whole trip from Germany, we went to Sydney first to see where our journey would take us. We stayed in Sydney for 2 days and it was raining the whole time. So we went to a travel agency on the second day, to see how we could spend the following 5 days in Australia.

We definitely wanted to travel a bit more, get a lot of experiences and have a great adventure. But we had to keep in mind that we only had 5 more days in Australia and our wallet should not be empty after those 5 days.

After a long time of talking and calculating, the travel agent told us, that a Globetrotter just told her about an Outback Tour she made and how amazed she was about the experiences and the kindness of the people.

What adventures did you experience?

We went kajaking and made a stop on a sandy island, where we had barbecue on an open fire. We went shooting with pumpguns and slept in swags under the star filled sky and we visited to Rocky Station.

What was your best experience?

There were a lot of adventures on the Outback Tour we could experience. My favourite experience was camping in swags under the star filled sky. I did not sleep much that night, because I could not let go of the thought missing out on something when I closed my eyes.

There are so many noises that I never heard before: the rasping sound of the birds, which makes you feel like you got back in time to the stone age. The cracking noise of the campfire. The grashoppers and all the other little crawling animals of which you don’t know where they are just at that moment.

And the stars. It’s like lying under canopy of bright glowing shining dots. Not sleeping was definitely the right decision, because I would have missed out on so much. I experienced something great that night, behind all the trees and bushes the night seemed to turn into day and I thought it was the sun rising. But it was the moon.

What impressions did you have of Cunnamulla and the locals?

I am from a big city and I have to say that it is a huge differnence to go on an adventure trip to Cunnamulla. To me Cunnamulla is a little town and not a city, where everyone knows everyone and that is excatly what makes this place so special. The people are so nice and friendly.

What was it like to travel to the Outback?

This experience was overwhelming. The contrast to the our common live is so huge. You get to know how to use simple things and tools instead of going the easy way if you have to. Through this experience I learned how to take a closer look to my environment.

Would you recommend this tour to other backpackers?

I would recommend this tour to everyone. I don’t think people who never made this tour will understand what we’ve experienced unless they go on this tour and experienced it.

Do you think the tour was well priced?

The price compared to the effort you get is really fine. And the tour starts from Brisbane and Sydney!

What is your conclusion from the tour with Out The Back Australia?

It might sound really cheesy, but this tour is so wonderful and well organised with a lot of heart!

Thank you so much Mel!

Out the Back Australia in Cunnamulla: Guess What – We Have A Baby Kangaroo!

2010-11-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

Out the Back Australia in Cunnamulla: Guess What – We Have A Baby Kangaroo!: "It’s a girl and her name is Jojo, she has no mommy anymore, so we are happy to take the responsibility of raising her. She is about 7 months..."

Guess What – We Have A Baby Kangaroo!

2010-11-09T16:26:00.000-08:00

It’s a girl and her name is Jojo, she has no mommy anymore, so we are happy to take the responsibility of raising her. She is about 7 months old and 30 cm tall. Did you know that they are only about 2 cm long and weigh less than a gram when they are born? It is unbelievable, right? Baby Kangaroos are called “Joey”. She stays in a little pouch, which is a pillowcase we put in a bag and we keep hanging her next to the window. Jojo has pretty dark blue eyes, little hands and long hind legs. When we got her she could barely stand and now she just started jumping the other day. We’re really proud of her! We have to clean her and feed her with milk every couple of hours. When we feed her with the bottle, she grabs your finger while drinking. That is so cute and makes you feel like you have a real baby in your arms. You would get attached to her right away! Jojo gets curious more and more, so we let her out of her pouch to practice hopping on the grass. She is so fun to watch, you would love it!

Most Australians probably have never seen a baby kangaroo before and never touched one. So it is a real unique opportunity and experience for us to take care of her. So if you book a tour and come around here in about the next 6 months you will have the unique chance to feed Jojo and have unforgettable moments with a Joey! You should not miss out on that!

We will keep you updated, so follow Jojo!

Please give us feedback if you like and we will be very happy to answer any questions you have!

Charlotte Plains

2010-10-12T00:22:00.000-07:00

After we left Rocky Station on Sunday we were heading to Charlotte Plains. I was really excited about the farm stay, because I only heard the best of it. Robyn and Reid, the station owners, showed us places where a huge variety of wild flowers grow. We stopped at a bore for lunch surrounded by emus and a great scenery. Their property is huge and really magnificent. They have sheep, cattle, horses and lots of other wildlife.

When we arrived at their homestead two german girls, Louisa and Simone, were already expecting us. Five puppies were running into us and wanted to be cuddled non-stop. But we also had to take care of two little lambs, Maggie and Rose, which the girls have to feed until they are grown up. I forgot to mention Matilda, “the house sheep”. The puppies are chasing her most of the time. It is really funny to watch. Poor Matilda.

We took a dip in the pool and got ready for dinner. After dinner we went to our accommodation and had a camp fire with some stickbread under the star filled sky including a couple of shooting stars.

The next morning after breakfast we went to the shearing shed and Jack’s Hut and Robyn told us a lot about the history of Charlotte Plains, which was originally called Turnworth. On our way we saw a lot of kangaroos, emus and camels.

Yeah, camels. If I hadn’t seen them myself, I would not believe it. But the camels are really living on their property. A guy named Willie, who stayed in Jack’s Hut, was famous all over Australia because of his camel tours he used to make.

I couldn’t wait to get to the Natural Artesian Spa. The bore head is really hot, but once you are in the water, you get used to it very quickly. It was really relaxing and calm. I should get an weekly appointment.

Back at the homestead, Robyn showed us the house where she used to live in when she was a child. The house is filled with historical stuff like beautiful black and white photographs, pretty dresses, dolls, a gramophone and antique suitcases. Just to mention a few things. It was like a flashback to the past.

I can’t wait to come back to Charlotte Plains to learn more about the history and get a nice treatment in the bore again!

Rocky Station

2010-10-12T00:02:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we had to rise early to get on tour with our adventurous tourists. This time our destination was Rocky Station. Chris and Mike Webster, the station owners, gave us a warm welcome.

We walked the natural Wallaby Walk along the Warrego River and kept our eyes open. But unfortunately we did not spot any Wallabys.

The 75m swinging footbridge was very impressive. Mike and his father build that bridge in 1967. So I wasn’t quite sure, if I should really go on that bridge. Suddenly Mike appeared on the bridge with his Motorbike and drove over it. The bridge is not that wide, so it is a bit of a challenge to get the Motorbike through. Of course it looked really easy when Mike did it. It was very entertaining to watch.

That was proof enough for me that this bridge is very solid. We were very excited to walk over the bridge and strike a pose for a photo. Everybody enjoyed a bit of jumping and swinging on the bridge. Chris told us that they have to take everything over the bridge that is supposed to be at their property or in their house. Not only groceries, but sheep for instance. Imagine hundreds of sheep on a swinging footbridge. Very funny.

After we took a bunch of photos we were starving. Chris and Mike took us to their house and showed us around. They served us tea, coffee, soft drinks, scones, sandwiches and ginger cookies. It was probably the best Smoko I had so far. We had some time to chat with the tourist and of course with the station owners. Unfortunately we had to leave right after Smoko. I had a great time and would love to come back to Rocky!

Adgingbong

2010-10-11T23:51:00.000-07:00

Today we had to get up very early at 05:00am before sunrise to head to Roderick Taylors Farm Adgingbong, which is about 25kms away from Cunnamulla. On our way we saw a lot of kangaroos, cows and different kinds of birds.

Rod and Claudia (another girl from Germany, she works on Rods farm) invited us to experience the farm life and lamb marking on our own. So we drove to the Paddock where the sheep were supposed to be, but it was empty and the gate was open. So the sheep were all over the place and had to be mustered first. That is not that easy if your property is about 310qkms big. So Rod jumped in his plane to gather all the sheep together, what took about 2 hours. The others jumped on their Rhinos or Motorbikes to follow Rods instructions, which he gave via a radio unit. Once we had the sheep on the Paddock where they were supposed to be, we started to separate the lambs from the other sheep.

Three real farmers were marking and castrating the lambs – it is not really nice to watch, if you are not used to have blood all over yourself – but it surely has to be done. The other sheep had to go through some sort of shower, where they get some kind of treatment in their wool, which prevents the sheep from getting fly blown where flies inject their eggs into the sheep. Sheep blow flies is a really bad disease for these animals, where they lose all their fur and their bones get hard so they can’t move anymore. That can be very bad for the sheep and their owner.

During the whole process a lamb was born. Claudia told us that this happens a lot, because the sheeps are really nervous and stressed out so they give birth really quick.

This is some tough work famers have to do, you see, that the sheep don’t do whatever you tell them to do. You really need to be loud and sometimes rough to get everything done in time. Don’t forget the heat out there, theres barely shade to hide. So we were really happy to have a smoko with coffee and delicious muffins, which Claudia made for us.

We had an awesome day and definitely want to help out on that farm again!

NAIDOC week in Cunnamulla

2010-10-07T00:12:00.000-07:00

NAIDOC week in Cunnamulla

The 23rd – 25th September a lot of people from different cultures come together to celebrate NAIDOC week in Cunnamulla.

NAIDOC stands for National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920s that sought to raise awareness among the general public about the condition and the treatment of indigenous Australians.

On the NAIDOC celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures you have the opportunity to get to know the contributions of Indigenous Australians in various fields.
The activities of the NAIDOC week take place in the complete nation. This is an opportunity for the community of Cunnamulla to celebrate NAIDOC and show their support for reconciliation.
As we got an invitation to this celebration, we did not hesitate to take this opportunity and see what NAIDOC week is all about.
We asked a lot of people what NAIDOC is and what they think about it.
One of the people was Peter, he is one of the members of the Cunnamulla NAIDOC week and he talked about NAIDOC with real passion. Peter said, that the people nowadays should explore the paths of their ancestors and to appreciate and respect what each one of them did for the Aboriginal community. This is just one way to show the respect and appreciation, but you can really tell, that they have everything in their hearts and souls and will never forget the past. It is very important to the Aboriginal community to raise their children so they can fit in the society. The children are our future.

We started with a Community March at 9.00 pm from the RSL Corner to the Centenary Park
The people were wearing clothes colored with black, red and yellow and had a flag to represent their tribe
At ten o´clock a lot everybody got to the Centenary Park to watch the baby show. The staff members from the NAIDOC Committee asked us if we wanted to be part of the jury. They really caught us by surprise – so we said yes! So Alex, Nik and Nilo had the chance to be judges for once. We had to choose the best Baby in different categories. Our job was to find the happiest, cheekiest, sleepiest and cutest Baby in the age from 0 - 6, 6 - 8, 8 – 12 and 12 - 24 months.
The winners of the competition became a sash and a toy and of course a huge applause. Alltogether we had 20 winners and the price for the best baby went to Haley G. Her mother Marcia was shocked and happy at the same time. It was the first time ever, that Haley participated in such a competition and she got the first price. That is amazing! I have to admit Haley is a adorable baby.
Later on the traditional games started and a great Barbeque was served. People were laughing, eating, chatting and just enjoying the great atmosphere and the beautiful weather. So the first day of NAIDOC week was ending and everybody is excited about the second one!

The second day of the Naidooc week began on the evening. It was the greatest day for the kids, because of the Awards ceremony for children. Many kids came for visit, they were laughing and dancing the whole evening.

On this day, Nilo and I did the Jury again. This time we both only.

We had to choose the most beautiful and most sympathetic couple between 3-6 and 7-12. The kids had styled themselves and for them it was such a fun, to get rated by us. Some of them had really good ideas. They tried to impress us with dancing or singing. Really, a few of them were quite good. But unfortunately some seemed to be very shy and didn’t have enough courage. For the winners, there were any awards. The boys get boomerangs and the girls a crown of feathers (to feel like a real princess).
After the awards, we came to the most excited part on this evening: The gig of Sean Choolburra, an international famous Australian comedian, who looks like the young Michael Jackson. He impressed the people with a mix of dancing and gags. It was really amusing and it was fun to listen to him. According to Sean’s gig, Dj scotty from Charlesville started to heat up the people with his music. On the dancefloor the hell was loose! All kids were dancing and I think the parents were very happy of it, because they will sleep very well after the celebration.

On Saturday, the last day of the NAIDOC week, we didn’t get so many sleep because of the breakfast in park at nine o’clock. Typical german, you have to be there some minutes earlier. Maybe this would be the reason, why we were alone for the first half an hour. But the long wait was worthwhile. After a time, more and more people were coming together. For the morning the menu was crocodile. Very interesting for an European. Café and crocodile, a breakfast you have to adapt to. After the breakfast you could do some sports with a session of aerobics and tai chi. It was a really nice morning with a really wonderful sunshine. But we were happy to go back home for relaxing a little bit. On the evening was the highlight for the organization team. Although 5 $ entry, 8 Germans won’t missed the spectacle. The team of organization was awarded. The hall was decorated really nice, by the colors black, red, yellow. In the beginning we saw a presentation about the history and the nice sites of cunnamulla. After that, was the awarding with some emotional speeches.

According to it, Shean began again with this show, but on this day, more for the Adults.

It was real fun to listen to him and the atmosphere was very good. After the first part of the show, I had the chance to taste some meat of kangaroo. It tasted different to other meats, but I don’t like it so much. Also the meat of crocodile. Shean continued his show after the dessert. It was such a great evening, and I think if you have the possibility to take part on such a project like naidoc week, do it! You could take one’s own initiative. I like to see, how the different culture were finding together. They were dancing and laughing – it should be so every day.

More than words can say.....!

2010-09-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hey mates

New photos are online, we try to show you the feeling about the outback and its nature. Have a look at our photos on facebook and you will see, how exciting it is.....!

Photos about the outback and its nature

The countdown is running

2010-09-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

A lot of people will visit Cunnamulla on the 12th and 13th November the reason is the 8th annual Cunnamulla Fella Festival.
The festival offers a lot of activites and you will see that it is unlike the festivals in the major cities. It is one of a kind! You will get to know a very different culture and lifestyle. The people who live here are very friendly and make you be a part of their community.

The festival will offer you great program! Including an open air country music concert for free, a bush iron man competition, a bush cunning and survival skills competition and a lot of other things. So come and see for yourself!

The Professional Bull Riders will be the highlight on this festival for sure! There will be a competition and the winner will get prize of $8000!

Out the Back Australia offers a 6 Day Get Down and Dusty Tour including the Cunnamulla Fella Festival. It combines the highlights of the scenery and nature in and around Cunnamulla with a guarantee of fun at the festival. Don't miss it and be part of it!

Tour Highlights
• Festival activities including Bull ride, live music & bush tough man contest
• Farm Stay
• Working Sheep and cattle property
• Natural Artesian Spa
• Sunset boat cruise on the Warrego
• Campfire dinner under the stars
• World’s only Date Winery
• Opal fossicking
• View Aboriginal artworks and galleries
• Meet the locals
• Bare foot bowls
• Bird and wildlife
• Aussie “pub crawl”

for more details visit our webside:
http://www.outthebackaustralia.com.au/ToursPackages/AccommodatedTours/6DayGetDownandDusty.aspx

Sunset River Cruise

2010-09-15T17:57:00.000-07:00

Sunset River Cruise on the Warrego River

Peieta took us and two other guys (Jeff and Nate) to a lovely house out of town close to the river. Leesa, who was our captain, was already waiting for us. The sunset river cruise started at 4.30pm. We discovered the great Warrego River in a small motorboat.

Leesa passed on drinks to everyone, she probably tried to get us a little tipsy. I guess it worked.

The weather was absolutely amazing and so we had the chance to take a lot of fantastic photographs. The colourful sky was very impressive.
The huge variety of birds and wildlife made the biggest impression on us. Leesa was the perfect guide for this tour. She is very passionate about the River and its wildlife. She told us lots of stories about the birds, trees and the river itself. In the summertime you should have a closer look to the banks, because you don´t want to miss out on the kangaroos lying in the shadow underneath the trees. It was a great trip and we are definitely looking forward to our next outback adventure!

After the cruise and lots of drinks we were starving. But thanks to Peieta dinner was already served. It was delicious as usual. As you can imagine we slept like babies after a long day.

The new german interns

2010-09-12T18:06:00.000-07:00

Hey Mates

We, Niklas and Nilo, are the new german interns from Out the back Australia tours. We are replacing Linda and Kathrin and we will try our best to fill in the gap they left.

We are the new staff members of Out the back Australia Tours, which is a tour operator offering tours to experience rural Australia. Nilo will stay in Cunnamulla for 6 months and Niklas for 4 months.

Our first impression about Cunnamulla and the Outback is very positiv, the people who live here are very friendly. The nature and the scenery of the Outback is incredible and gives you only a hint of how big this country is.

One adventure I already experienced with Linda. We visited Charlotte Plains, it´s a farm appr. 90 km away from Cunnamulla. The farm owners, Robyn and Reid Russel are very nice and generous people and made us feel like home.On the first day, Reid showed us the artesian bore.

The Artesian bore is a place over the artesian basin, which is one of the largest underground water reservoirs on the earth. The water consists of different layers: bearing water, porous sandstones and impervious siltstones and mudstones. In general underground water is quite hot, only some rare bores are filled with cold water. The water was very hot but relaxing at the same time! It is kind of like a huge natural hot tub.

Back at the farm a delicious dinner was waiting for us.
The second and last day in Charlotte Pla
ins Linda had planned a special trip just for me. We went crazy on a Quad Tour through the Outback and got all dusty and dirty. For me it was the best part of the whole trip.
It was a great experience to learn how to drive a Quad Bike and feel the spirits of the Outback.

3 new shops

2010-09-08T00:07:00.000-07:00

3 new shops are opening in Cunnamulla

A lot of people were visit the shoppingstreet from Cunnamulla on this Sunday. Reason was the opening from three new stores in the city. Therfore Linda an I (the new german) got up early in the morning, at ten o´clock! On Sunday..... :) very hard.

Arrived in the shoppingstreet, I was eating my first australian sausage, it tasted ok, but I think I will miss the german special sausages!

Now to the stores, the new stores include a hairdressstore, which help the denizen and particular the girls of Cunnamulla, because it is the only hairdressstore in this city.

Furthermore there is a store with traditional products from Australia. I hope to learn how to play didgeridoo, if not.... I must buy me a cowboy-hat :).
Finally a new store for ladies fashion with beautiful clothes is opening.

The offer in Cunnamulla will get larger in the future.
That is a great oppotunity for everybody to visit this incredible city and have their very own adventure.
So come and visit Cunnamulla!

Sunday trip to Glencoe

2010-09-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

We started our Sunday morning with a delicious breakfast at the gallery, cooked by Peieta. Everyone was smiling an giggling as soon as they saw each other, but I really have no idea why O: - )

So our group started the trip to Glencoe Station in good mood and curious about how a real sheep station and real outback sheep shearer work.

The farm owners Helen and Huge Miller welcomed us hearty (have you noticed that I write something like that everytime we going to someones place out here?) and after the first informative talks we made our way into the shearing sheds. There were about 6 shearers and at least 12 shed hands who do an amazing job!

Huge was passionate in telling everything that he knows about wool, sheep and the work which comes with. To admit, it was very impressive how he evaluate the strength of the wool and its quality. That attests a lot of experience and knowledge!

All what you see in this shed is about hard hands-on work and highest sciences. The sheep have to get shorn by hand and the wool gets classed by hand.

After the wool is sorted, it get pressed and they put a print with the quality and the stations name on it. You have to send probations into a classing office, to get a certificate how good your wool is.

It was very interesting to follow Huge’s and Helen’s explanations. You simply can’t imagine that something like this is what people live from. For a European it’s hard to understand that this is real. It’s more like a little extract of an old movie. But it is quite honestly fascinating.

Afterwards we enjoyed the fresh air and had billy tea and damper with the station owners. Really yummy and old-fashioned. Sid tried his best to copy the way Helen poured the tea in the cups, but to be honest - it didn’t work, although it doesn’t look that bad when a man takes over some ‘housework’ ;).

All of us had a lot of fun, especially Kai as he found a friend for a lifetime: another black sheep! Have a look at the picture and you’ll see why.

We even had the chance to sit on a motorbike with a dog in front and in the back. They are trained to jump on the bike and stay there while riding! Cool!

Of course we took some “I am sitting on a bike with two dogs at a sheep station in the outback” pictures.

Kai was also allowed to have a little drive with the quad – of course with a dog on the back!

We learned a lot and got an insight of real station work. Unfortunately we had to leave Glencoe Station to pack up our stuff and get prepared for the coming painful goodbye.

The first tears nearly dropped as we had to leave our new four-legged, tail wagging friends from Glencoe station..

Our ways split up at the Cunnamulla Airport, where the Skytrans flight service took our group except Leesa and Kathrin to Brisbane.

Thanks all of you again for these great three days!

Thanks for coming to Cunnamulla, spending time with us and being like you were!

I think I speak for everybody by saying special thanks to everybody who was involved and made the time as it was:

Wonderful!

Dirty and wet...!

2010-09-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

Because our reps came in eager to experience an artesian mud bath. The same one, Linda and I had a short while ago (look here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=218888&id=223043289611&ref=mf).

All of them were a little excited, probably ‘cause they didn’t know what they had to expect. But after Ian (farm owner) explained how it has to go and set up the tubs, they were simply happy and curious.

They got served a plate of snacks, like dry dates, fresh dates, crackers, biscuits, cheese and olives. And of course they had at least one glass of wine. Each wine had an individual taste which added to the enjoyment.

Adam, Kai and Peter shared a “tub room” everyone in his own tub. Sid had his tub for his own in the bathroom and Clare and Alyssa enjoyed their bath in a stretched double tub.

We didn’t have had a bath on our own, so we spent our time with being jealous and having a beer at the pub in the Eulo Queen. After around one hour we came back to see our tour group out of recognition: Adam, who was 52 before ;) , was 28 again suddenly and Alyssa youthfully 20!! Clare turned 30 again and even Peter looked more like 32 than however his real age is.

(All given information aren’t linked to actual facts and free chosen by the author).

All joking apart - they looked absolutely relaxed, refreshed and happy.

And that was exactly what they should have been!

Everyone told us how great it was and after I saw the pictures from their cameras, it seemed to be a lot of fun, too!

Alyssa and even Adam – so it’s not only a girl thing! – were interested in the lotion they put on their skin last. You remember? This one, that makes your skin soft and smooth – however the three guys put it on their backs.. Anyway.

After we got some take aways from the Eulo Queen for our bus trip back to Cunnamulla, we had a funny entertaining drive and good chats.

The best thing was, that after we got changed and sorted again, a yummy Camp Fire dinner was waiting for us!

Some locals came around to have dinner with us. The temperature was enjoyably fresh; nearly windless and the few stars which were brave enough to not hide beneath the clouds decorated the dark blue sky.

The scenery was lovely. People in every age were hanging around with each other, chatting, eating and drinking. A little highlight were the marshmallows, which not only fancied the younger once in our group, did they Alyssa?

Pears, veges in white sauce, potatoes, chicken, lamb, soup and gravy were well done cooked by Peieta and Natalie.

We enjoyed the familiar atmosphere and it’s a good feeling to even be happy and in good mood about little things (like marshmallows). Linda and I took the part of “local entertainment” and tried us in couple dances. We even got a compliment!

Later on our ways lead us into a pub in town, where a few tequila fancier find to each other. So it was a pretty good night by playing pool, talking and having fun together.

Best preconditions to start into the Sunday!

Opal action in Yowah!

2010-09-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

Our Saturday started with awesome breakfast cooked by Natalie, a team member of Out the Back Australia. Typical Australian food, with eggs and bacon, toast and sausages.

After all of us were starched we went by bus to Yowah. This way took a little while, so the majority of our group decided to make an early nananap.

Exceptions were our bus driver Leesa of course and Sid, who demonstrated this day how energetic he can be.

As we arrived Scotty welcomed us hearty and offered us beautiful healthy lunch. Unfortunately nobody of us was hungry already, so we decided spontaneously to delay our meal a bit. Instead we travelled to the bluff and watched some “Alien stones”. The shapes of these stones stacks are just unbelievable. One of them, in my opinion, couldn’t even stand that way, it does. Maybe I should have been more attentive in my math and physic lessons at school.

From the bluffs we enjoyed the most beautiful scenery you can imagine! Mulga trees and switch grass like in Africa, only hippos and rhinos are missing (okay and lions, leopards, giraffe…). A sheer endless wide in front of us, adorned by ochre and dark green spots, and – who’d a thunk it? – hills! Maybe I could be tempted to say mountains.. But what can I tell, I am spoilt by the alps.

To be sure we had to climb the small path down the bluff and found different ways up again. Some of us took the easier one, while some of simple hadn’t had a look for the next opportunity and took that dangerous fluttery way direct in front of them. And earned laugh from that ones who stood on top.

Now we made our way to the opal mines. All of us, especially Kai, were looking forward to this part of the trip: Having our own look for opals!

Alyssa, Adam and Sid slowly got into the hang of it, while Kai got it started instantly. Linda, Peter and I needed some more time, to suss how to see the little shiny colored stones on the ground.

We even were allowed to grab some nuts and Scotty cut them for us in the backyard of the opal shop. We spent some time there and everyone was excited, if somebody or even himself has a opal hidden in his or her stone nut. It was really like Kinder Surprise!

Noticeable was the difference in size and number of the nuts our group member have taken. As some of us just took three middle sized ones, other ones didn’t care about “small things” ;) .

Of course we were excited about every stone, even it was not your own one. Pure team feeling and no jealousy! (Well, we got a little bag with some more opals as a present before we left).

Even no envious looks when we had healthy lunch together. After our landscape viewing, climbing and opal experiences we ate our lunch at Scotty’s shop and headed straight back to Eulo. And there our reps got very dirty…

VIP`s in Cunnamulla

2010-09-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had a lot of VIP’s in Cunnamulla!

Peter Hagan and Adam Pulitano from Bus Queensland, Alyssa de Laurence and Sid Konnur from Queensland Rail, Clare Nash and Steve Jones from Skytrans and Kai Ostermann, Regional Director Europe from Tourism Queensland were on parade with us, Out the Back Australia!

All of our guests arrived on Friday, but they were fit enough to make their first experiences with Queensland’s outback.

As we prefer small groups to guaranty for an individual and personal trip, we split them up into a kayaking group and second one, that did the river cruise.

Linda went kayaking and I had the honour to go on a boat cruise with Leesa Smith (tour guide), Chris Webster (owner Rocky Station), Steve, Clare and Kai!

It was just beautiful to see the sunset beyond the trees and to breathe the fresh cool air.

The roaming sunrays touched only half of the crowns of the trees so they created a really special scenery. It seemed they would have been illuminated by single lights direct in front of them.

We saw a lot of birds, which was especially for Kai, as a passionate bird watcher, a must have. Our group was chatting and laughing all the time, discovering and joking about the Australian slang and wildlife. At this point I won’t repeat what was said … !

The selection of drinks and snacks found good response as we had a plate with crackers, salami, cheese and tomatoes, and red or white wine, different kinds of beer and soft drinks. Sounds nearly like tea, hm? It does especially when I think about the other group, paddling at the other side of the great Warrego River.

After they got changed and we got sorted we went to the bowls club, to have a game with the locals. The teams were mixed of locals and visitors, so there were a lot of opportunities to get to know each other. For that ones, who were focused on winning or even focused in how to bowl the ball, there was another chance at dinner to hang around and chat with the lovely citizens of Cunnamulla.

The food was just awesome and we experienced a great hospitality. Thanks to everyone who was involved.

It was fun for all of us, especially for those ones, who haven’t played bowl before. Like Alyssa, who got personal training by father Rod, THE ex-champ per se.

She thanked him for that in front of the completely audience while her presentation at the evening.

Also Kai, Peter and Steve had a presentation about what their company is doing, recent reports and what their plans for future are.

Kai gave an insight of what it means for a company to make international marketing and to work international.

All presentations were really interesting and not only for our locals rich of information (also for German tourism students).

After being fed, learning a lot and getting thirsty, we decided together with the majority of our representatives to have a few drinks at a pub in town.

We didn’t stay that long, because it was a really long day and the pub closes at twelve anyway.

This was pretty good start into a weekend full of action and new experiences!

The show in Cunnamulla

2010-09-02T18:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend was an event in town, to which everybody was looking forward!

So what could it be, what the whole town was so excited about? Na?

It’s easy: The Show!

- Maybe nothing where you would think it’s overwhelming, but it’s definitely a social event and something different to the normal life out here - of light traffic, snakes and hard working interns.

There is a lot to do and to see at the show. You can find many different exhibitions there: who has the biggest pumpkin, the prettiest rose, the best looking cake, a lot of photos where priced in different categories. Five different schools presented their results how to design a green garden to crop and grow plants in an organic way.

Very Impressive!

Pretty famous are so named “show bags”. We’ve never heard that before and were very curious what’s going on with these things.

And because we couldn’t stand it, we had a look at the show ground before the show has started! A direct view backstage!

You have to be made for the “show”-life if you are working at one. Travelling and living in a little caravan with all the things you might need, never staying long at one place, but making friends everywhere you go. Working at the show is also possible for backpacker. The boss of the show told us, he had a German girl working for him a few weeks. The idea is not too bad at all, is it?

One of our first stations while having a look around was the lady who sells the show bags, Annett Abbott. She has been in that business for over 35 years now and never wants and wanted to do something else. She loves running her “Showbag Time” and to see different places of Australia.

,,Every show has its own atmosphere and character. It’s different wherever you go to. I love making places alive and love to see the smiles of the children, when their parents buy them a bag.”

Probably she loved our smiles as well, when Linda and I bought a Socceroo Bag the next day. We had a little bit more money left, because our boss from Out the Back Australia paid our entries (Thank you!). We met a lot of other staff members at the show and had a great time together by riding the “Twister” many times. After our first ride we thought about doing a second one, after we would had a milkshake each and bet on who spews first… But we haven’t done it. – What a pity!

Instead we snuggled with fledglings! Light yellow ones, black ones, even striped ones! They are sooo cute!

We also saw lots of motorbikes, horses, sheep, cattle and, surprise, people. There even was a sheep shearing and wool classer contest. Of course we had a look at and were quite impressed how hard and fast this work is! On the other hand, this is what a lot of people out here live from – farming and shearing.

If you are more an active type and want to do more than “just” watching you get the chance to play mini golf, have a ride at the dodgems, buy a bull, sliding down a big air skid (I thought about it!) and go for a motorbike or horse ride.

And there were a lot of food stands selling sweets, Chinese food or “bratwurst”. How German is that? 

There are things to do, see and eat for everybody of every age.

A wonderful family day!

We had a great time at the show and somehow it felt familiar.

Everybody was there… at least on the party in the evening! The organizer had prepared some surprises and funny games. At lot of guests participated in those games, of course Linda and I did as well! Well, we didn’t win, but we tried our best!

The only thing we were really blamed for, was missing the goat races! And we were very sad about it ourselves. It sounded like a lot of fun, seeing people sitting behind a goat, being excited in which direction the creature in front of them would move to, IF it moves!

But I am sure, we won’t miss something like that again. Sounds like a “must see” to me!

And we will get our chance… at latest at the next show!

Mud bath in Eulo

2010-09-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

Today we will report about another attraction in the surrounding of Cunnamulla:

Eulo!

Eulo is a small town belonging to our shire area and is one of the places, Out the Back Australia operates in.

Here you can visit the Eulo Date Farm & Winery and enjoy your personal mud bath or try and buy some dates, date wine and cosmetic products.

We were there to experience all these things. The farm owners Nan and Ian welcomed us hearty and showed us what their land has to offer.

We looked forward to our mud bath, because it was a little cool this morning and only the thought of hot water on our skin made us smiling happily.

The bath tubs are very special! Not only the colors, also the stands look notably. They remind me of different animal feet, like bird crawls and hooves of horses or cows.

But it is not that crushing as it might sound now. It creates more a friendly and comfortable atmosphere, with the palm crowns over your head and bamboo fences around you.

You can choose where you want to have your bath and there also is the opportunity to do it in a double tub!

After we decided who takes which tub, Ian- one of the owners, explained us what to do in which order.

At first you enjoy your mud bath. That means you are laying in a hot mixture of water and mud. Then you put another layer of mud on your skin and have to wait til its dry. That feels a little bit strange, because your skin gets strained a bit. After that you go back into your mud bath and then you take a shower. You will be surprised how soft your skin feels like after doing it that! .. Especially when you are finished, cause in the last step you put a special date lotion on your skin. Now you feel at least twenty years younger! It is really very nice!

Towels, cream and mud are provided.

So just bring your bikini or nothing and enjoy it!

You even can be hungry as you get some snacks like cheese, crackers and dates during your bath.

If it hadn’t been morning, we would have got some date wine while bathing and relaxing, but instead we got a beverage of our choice, which was a hot chocolate in this case. Thank you!

It is awesome to lay in the hot water, feeling your muscles relax, drinking a hot chocolate and listening the birds how they welcome the first sunrays in the morning.

Now it was time for us to celebrate that wonderful day: with a dram of date wine, which is very sweet and yummy. Same as the dried and fresh dates are, you can try and buy in the shop on the farm.

We bought the cream we put on our skin after the bath. It’s a really good one, giving your skin minerals and moisture.

Last we had a little chat with some tourists visiting the farm and discovering all the small and big things in the shop and the surrounding.

That was a fantastic start into the day and we probably will do it again someday, but then maybe at night time... !

Rodeo action

2010-09-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

Hello again from adventurous DownUnder!

A few days passed in which we had the chance to experience something for us completely new! Have one of you guys ever seen horse AND bull rodeo before?

No?

We neither.

So we were very excited when we started spontaneously to Charleville last Saturday. We packed our stuff up and after pumping the wheels, we were prepared for our trip.

That was what we had thought!

The drive to Charleville turned out as a real adventure.

At first there was a big big brown snake laying on our site of the road. She was really really big. I mean very big! I was very afraid of her, although she was outside. But it was just .. Did I say she was big?

That picture of the snake burned in my head. My heart was fluttering.

It took a while after I got over that shock by breathing and do a lot of “Wuuuuusaaaaaa” with Linda.

Another thing is that the street gets very small at some places, so it was a real challenge for an unpracticed driver to keep the car in lead. Fortunately I am not an unpracticed driver!

So all the emus and kangaroos couldn’t make me nervous at all (which is a lie, but that’s a thing nobody has to know ;) ).

Half of the way we stopped to have a little break and get some more fuel and continued our trip. After circa two hours drive at all (‘cause we followed the speed limits all the time!) we arrived at Charleville and made our way to the show and the rodeo.

Linda and I were a little bit excited and Josephine, a friend out of town, explained us some rules concerning the rodeo. Good to know!

They have to stay at least 8 seconds on the bull to come to the next round. And winner is that one, who stays on the quadruped longest.

There was also a rider from Cunnamulla so that we knew instantly whom we had to cheer for! And he was pretty good!!

Nevertheless the horse riding was more interesting for us, because it looks quite more impressive. Isn’t that a strange thing in human nature to be entertained by watching other people in danger? .. Anyway.

Have a look at our video and get an impression of what we have seen.

Next to the rodeo was a hype with flashing colorful lights, a lot of carrousels and – what else – a lot of food stands.

We felt like little kids when we saw fairy flosses! Of course we had to buy some and enjoyed it! We sat down at the grandstand and watched the rodeo, eating candy floss, drinking hot chocolate and getting sugar flashed later on.

There were some air slides, which really fancied me, some very high moving technical carrousels, which fancied Linda .. and a bar in the middle of the whole place, which, you can imagine, fancied us both ;).

All in all it was a great experience to see a rodeo and how the people around being engrossed in the rides!

If you haven’t experienced one before, you should catch it up!

PS: Be curious in what we can report from the Cunnamulla Show after this weekend!

On tour with Johannes

2010-09-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

On Friday, 16th of April, Johannes – a 25aged German- arrived at Charleville. He won the trip in an online contest and was curious in the real Australian outback.

Leesa, Linda and I picked him up and welcomed him hearty. We gave him a short insight what he has to expect the following days as the 6 Day Get Down and Dusty Tour was waiting for him!

We had a snack at the bakery and then made our way to Cunnamulla with good music and a lot of entertainment. Johannes (Australian way = John) was really excited about seeing his first kangaroos. Unfortunately all that ones he saw were laying at the roadside and hadn’t moved anymore. A big sorry for that!

After we got back to beautiful Cunnamulla John moved into his motel room and we got changed quickly ‘cause we had an appointment at half past five at the bowls court. John learned really quickly how to play bowl! Bad for Linda and me .. We lost against Leesa and John – but pretty sure that was beginner’s luck!

We had a few beer while playing bowl and our dinner at the club house was simple delicious. So it was an easy decision whether we should go to the pub or not!

A few minutes later we found ourselves in a good humoured crowd at the pub, dancing, chatting and playing pool. Almost everybody seemed to be outgoing that evening and so we had a really great time with a lot of fun and funny pictures!

(Saturday)

The next day started at nine at the gallery where we had a delicate breakfast and where up to a town tour. We discovered a lot of interesting places around Cunnamulla and were deeply impressed, especially by the wonderful landscape. You could feel like you would have been in Africa, only the elephants and rhinos were missing.

In favour we saw emus, running beside our tour bus and healthy looking sheep, seemed to be chilling on the road. The colours of ground, the skies and water around are absolutely breathtaking! So deep contrasts of brown, blue and green – every painter would find his inspiration in such an impressive landscape.

For lunch we got back to the lovely scenery of Cunnamulla.

Afterwards we were heading straight through the golf course.

That day was a golfing fun day and a lot of people out of the town where there as well, also a few known faces from the pub the evening before.

At all there were 15 holes and at least two teams of three people each starting at one hole. I think our one was the only team with 4 members. But we are excused! Anyone of us had played golf before and our first tries, without any practical or either theoretical knowledge, might have looked quite helpless.

We wouldn’t be real Germans if we would have given up after such a bad beginning. So we gave our best as we always do and improved across the day! To be honest we got some help from (so called) Monk, who has been playing golf for more than one decade. What a luck! Maybe that is also the right moment to thank Ruby (a female golf pro!) and Collin (our first fan!) for their support and patience.

John was doing pretty well and Linda was really good, too. We keep silent about my golf skills at this point. I think we were amusing for everyone around us, especially the other teams. We also had a lot of fun with the golf buggy. I don’t want to tell you in detail how I felt out of that speedy limousine two times, but you can bet it was greatly fun for all who saw it.

Furthermore I have to tell you, that they have Pick-Ups, driving around and sell some beverages.(I don’t have to mention, that the most sold thing was beer?)

So we spent our whole afternoon with friendly fantastic people and learned as much as we could about golf. It was awesome.

The sunset we had seen that evening was not less amazing as the whole day was. This time it was a purple orange one! You can’t imagine how many different colours a sunset in the outback can take! That’s something you have to see.

We rounded out the day with a campfire dinner at the gallery. I know I probably repeat myself, but the food was absolutely dainty.

While sitting around the fire and enjoying our dinner we were discussing where to go that night. We decided to have a look at the party at the golf club house. We were invited by Monk and were promised a big party with good live music.

Unfortunately we were a little bit tired and didn’t stay long, because we already had known that the next day would become exhausting.

(Sunday)

On Sunday a kayaking trip was planned and all of us were in good spirits. Leesa took us to the river blank next to the bridge. We set up the kayaks and made groups of two people per kayak, Linda and Johannes in one and Leesa and I in the other one.

I think we looked pretty sportive and professional in our shorts and lifejackets!

Now our adventure could begin!

The first meters were only for synchronizing and getting wet with every stroke. But then we knew how the wind blows!

And that is not only meant as a phrase, ‘cause we had headwinds and I was looking forward to have tailwind when we would come back, but that hope was for nothing.

We were really happy as we were complimented by Leesa for our paddling arts! Linda and Johannes got to know the whole river with every single tree and bush in it. Funny for Leesa and me!

Our lunch break we made on a silent place on the bank of the river. Sheep steak again, grilled on open fire and bread. Yummy, but it was too much again.

Johannes and I have had the great idea to jump into the water from the kayak. Said, done! Good picture and good fun!

The second thought was to jump into the water from the tree growing across the river. Unfortunately the water wasn’t deep enough to jump into. We didn’t want to take a risk. After we were sitting in the kayak again, we saw a little snake making her way through the water straight through our second kayak. Probably she was a toxic one, but all of us, including the snake, stood calm and nobody got hurt while sunbathing.

In the meanwhile it was midday and we had to go back to Cunnamulla, because our day hit more surprises for us!

After taking a shower and got changed we headed towards Charlotte Plains.

That is a farm in the surrounding of Cunnamulla, approximately 90ks of distance. The farm owners are Robyn and Reed Russell. Everyone who has read our blog constantly shall already know them ;)

This time we didn’t stay in swags and tents under the stars at the artesian bore, but slept in the rooms of the sheep shearers. Pretty nice! Lovely double rooms with common bathroom and kitchen. We enjoyed our dinner at Robyn’s house with some other guests and had a good talk about historical and political topics concerning Australia.

Okay, caught me red-handed. The other ones had interesting talks, while we tried to follow, but honestly they lost us quite early.

The night was restorative and calm. Awesome night sky like every night. No words for that.

(Monday)

Our breakfast included toast, egg, sausages and steak grilled on open fire. We also had the chance to get some yoghurt and cereals.

Restored we made a walkabout through the shearing station, that was already built in the 19th century. Impressive!

Robyn told us a lot about the history of that building and her property, which has been in ownership of her family since she can remember!

In connection with that we visited more interesting, historical significant places on her property.

And then, the next highlight should follow!

No elephants,

No rhinos,

BUT

Camels!

Oh my god! Camels in Australia!

How cool is that?!

We were so lucky as one of them was brave enough to come up to us.

The whole time, that means also the driving time!, we felt free like the wind, because we were allowed to stand on the loading area of Robyn’s Pick-Up.

So we had a lot of space to move and to take pictures of the fleecy friendly camels (and us). That brave one was really cute. He looked at us with that innocent “I don’t know what you want” look, which also cows have when the look at you while they eat their grass again and again. I really like them!

You should have a look at our pictures to get a real impression of how good camels can model!

After that great experience we drove to the artesian bore again. The hot water spring we had a bath in the day before.

And, the biggest thing: During our drive, kangaroos were jumping beside the car and along the road like you know it from all the Australian movies! Awesome! Absolutely awesome!

At the bore we met the tourists from the evening before and also Reed, chatting and relaxing in one of their folding camp chairs. We joined and also got a tea of coffee and some biscuits. Thanks!

To prepare for our return to Cunnamulla we had to pack our clothes from our accommodation. John and I decided to walk as far as we would come. We were very surprised as a Pick-Up passed us and Linda was driving! Her first driver lesson ever and that in Australia, off road with a big Pick-Up! Congrats! ;)

We walked further on and Robyn appeared with her car to pick us up.

Lunch consisted of tasty sandwiches this time. We were happy about that, ‘cause we were still full from breakfast.

Then we drove back to Cunnamulla, where we were already expected by Leesa, to take us out for a river cruise towards the sunset.

The river is quite impressive at daytimes, but I think it is more and more at nighttimes!

When the sun goes down and all that different colours are reflecting in the dark water and new shapes were drawn by the branches of the black shadowed blank trees.

A romantic scenery, good snacks on board and smiling people around is all what you need to round out that fantastic day.

Maybe not all as one big piece is missing in that puzzle. Dinner!

We had dinner at the river with elegant candle lights and self-cooked mixed food!

This time the topics were easier to follow.

(Tuesday)

And then Tuesday came and we made a trip to Eulo to discover the opal fields. On our way out we made a stop at the mud springs. Cool hill of warm slimy mud. Good for you skin!

In Eulo we met Scotty, a local who is very active in the community. He showed us the surrounding and the opal mines! Also he showed us how to find opals, how to wash and clean them and how to process with them. We were very taken with the opal jewellery, but that’s not a surprise, we are girls. BUT John liked them also!

Finally we all got a little nice opal as a present from Scotty! Thank you so much!

As we were back in Cunnamulla which was in the late afternoon, we took a shower and prepared for the evening. We had a fantastic dinner at the Cunnamulla Hotel and afterwards we were heading to a pub crawl.

We had a few bets with some locals we know at the Warrego Motel and some games pool til the pub was up to close. Ooooohhhh…!

It was not that kind of night as it was on Friday before, but nevertheless a successful one and Johannes’ last evening with us.

(Wednesday)

On Wednesday we started the day at the gallery with yummy pancake. Then we made a Cunnamulla town tour by feet! Johannes was interested in the history and all what Leesa knew to tell about this little town. He also was glad to see a post office, to buy some stamps and send postcards.

Now we went sand boarding. A cool sportive activity and something different to our green grassed hills in Germany. John is an exalted snowboarder so it was no problem for him to use the sand boards.

As much fun as he had he was happy to take a shower afterwards, ‘cause like we already told you in our first sand boarding report on our website: it is really sandy!

Unfortunately our time with Johannes ended at Wednesday afternoon as the bus left Cunnamulla.

It was a really great experience we will never forget. Hopefully he enjoyed it as much as we did and will come back one day to visit us, Cunnamulla or to open his self-employed IT Service!

Thank you and

SeeYa soon!

Noorma Picnic Races

2010-09-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

10./11.04.2010

Hey Mates!

I am very glad to inform you that we started our new working week energetic and enthusiastic (and that we got not eaten by the mosquitoes at the weekend).

‘Cause we spent our weekend together with Ann and the English girls at Noorama, where some horse races took place, which was connected with camping and a lot of fun!

But let us start from the beginning:
The last weeks a lot of people were talking about something like “The races”.

We didn’t care that much, because .. well .. who knows what the Aussies have in mind by chatting about stuff like that. But then, day by day, we realized that this must be something socially important. So we checked out what it is and here we are.

A horse race with full catering, bar, entertainment for kids, music and a lot of fun!

- That was what we were promised.

For such an important event you have to look really good and Linda and I thought about for felted weeks what we should wear. We were told that the female majority would be highly dressed up, with swept-back hair, glamorous dresses and high sandals.

Now imagine you are a young girl, it is your first time in Australia, you had have to fly with at least 3 different airlines and so you have to mind a lot of the international package rules. I am nearly sure you can’t imagine what it means for such a girl to decide, what she will take with her for the trip of her lifetime and what not. And, that’s a law, whatever you take with you, you will wish you took one of that things you dismissed!

But who could know that we would have to wear pretty dresses?

To present me as the hero in that story, I shared my beach dresses with Linda and Ann, so that we could wear something like a (pretty) dress.

Then the big day came.

Saturday, 10th of April 2010.

The hairdo lasts.

Sorry, just kidding….

So, after we dressed up and put all useful things we would need in the car, we made our way through Cunnamulla and went to the farm where Ann works. We met with some locals and the English girls and drove together in three cars to the racing place.

We paid our entrance and looked for a good place to park the car.

Then we had a look around … We saw a lot of muscular horses with healthy gleamy coat and athletics bodies. After we lowered our heads we also could see some thin, friendly looking jockeys ;) .

The weather was great: sunny, something around 30 degrees, with a small breeze from time to time. There were high tents to find some shadow and to sit and enjoy a cool drink you just got from the bar. We started with cool champagne mixed with orange juice (for free!) and delicate fingerfood, served by charming middle-aged women.

After having a short lunch the races started.

The distance the horses had to pass increases from one race to the next. I don’t have that much knowledge about horses and stuff, but I think they were pretty fast! But also here I felt sorry for the animals. Poor horses!

Everyone was in good spirits, especially when his or her favorite won!

Linda and I hadn’t had a bet, but some of our friends had. The English girls even won some dollars, which they used for their next refreshing beverage.

So we spent this afternoon with chatting and taking pictures and of course having some drinks. I mentioned it that often, I think I don’t have to write that we kept on going with that the whole evening?!

We also watched the “Fashion in the Field” show, where the best male and female outfits were chosen and the first three got an award.

A DJ joined the party after the races ended. The music was really really good I can tell that.

People of every age danced and were laughing together. You should have seen that.

Germans would say it was a big great village fete! Probably they would say so in England too.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun that evening!

We were dancing to real country music and to famous modern stuff, a good mix for everybody I would say.

But everything has come to an end and so we took our swags (or cars ^^) and camped directly under the stars. It was nearly morning till all of us went to sleep.

As we all regain the way to daylight we had a hefty breakfast from the grill, cooked by charming middle-aged women again ;).

Then we packed up our seven things and everyone followed is heart home.

Linda and I slept the whole left Sunday and started, like I said, energetic into our new working week!

Our first Outback tour

2010-08-31T18:15:00.000-07:00

Hey, howareyoudoing?!

We have a lot of news and amazing impressions for you!

Last weekend Linda and I made our first tour with Out the Back Australia. And here it is:
We started at the Gallery in Cunnamulla, where we had Damper with a lot of friendly and great people from the town. Damper is the original handmade bush bread and it tastes quite good! The traditional way to eat it is to put some honey or treacle on it and some butter if you want to.

A TV Team from Channel 7 was also there. They participated in the whole tour to get an impression of what is offered in that beautiful place and its surrounding.
One attraction, I mean really an attraction, is playing Bowl. Every Friday evening half Cunnamulla seems to be at the bowl court. In such a town everybody knows everybody and it is quite easy to find a team. Bowl you can play one vs. one, two vs. two …and so on. The only condition is to have enough balls!

For us it was a complete new experience, because neither Linda nor I played that game before. Fortunately father Rod, our heavenly succor from next door, agreed to explain us the basic rules and to teach us how to play that special game.

We had some tries and it is not that easy as it seems!
Nevertheless both of us won one match against ex-champion Rod! Ha ha!
And such achievements make you really hungry! So we had a simple but tasty dinner at the Bowls Club.
Now then we were prepared for the evening – It’s showtime!
Linda and I made our way to the Hotel Cunnamulla, a Pub in town, to meet Ann (another German girl) and some other new friends.
The evening was very funny and amusing! Aussies love to have a beer, a few beers more … and a lot of beer after that.

Well,… to be honest it is not that bad. These are very good people to have party with! We spent the evening in playing pool (or maybe it was more a try to do that), chatting and having one or another drink. We got to know some more locals, who are very open minded and pretty peppy. You will notice that very fast ;-) .

It was a very good evening for us and after a few hours of sleep we started good-humoured into the day!

We drove to the gallery and met with Carla and the guys from TV to have breakfast. Our wishes were lovely cooked by Carla and it was really yammy! That was the first time we were that brave to try vegemite, a typical Australian spread. What can I say? .. Everyone has his taste ;-) .

After everybody was full and satisfied, we (Ann, Linda, Chris (TV), Chris(TV), the bus driver Trevor and of course myself) entered the tour bus and drove to a lovely house out of town close to the river. There was John already waiting for us, who was our “captain” for the following boat trip. In a white lovely boat our group discovered the great Warrego River!

The weather was absolutely amazing and so we had the chance to take a lot of fantastic colorful pictures. Well, maybe I have to admit that we tried to get a little bit more tan, too.
It seemed that the endless width of sun reflecting water becomes more and more beautiful with every centimetre we passed.

On the bank you could see kids playing and wonderful trees. Most impressive were the majestic painted birds we see during our trip. Bride white ones, with elegant wings and profound eyes – curious, sprightly flying ones, having a closer look at us while passing by. They hid in the impressive blooming trees in a blot of deep full green.
But not only our eyes were in demand.
Listen to the calm afar rush of water, carrying you into another world full of harmony and peace. That sound becomes more alive and louder, when you come closer to the twee waterfalls.

I don’t promise too much, when I say I am pretty sure you would love it. Feeling the wind in your hair and just close your eyes for that fantastic trip.
Maybe you will be that lucky as I was, because I got the chance to drive the boat and it is really really great fun! Probably I am that enthusiastic, because I never did that before. Anyway, I love it and tried my best to scare my passengers!

Actually we survived also my driving arts and found feed again at the place we started our trip. Meanwhile it was lunchtime and we were expected by Carla and her parents to have lunch together. With really good salad and different kinds of quiche everybody found something to enjoy.

Now we had new energy to face up to our next adventure – Sandboarding! –

Sounds like it is: sandy!

Although you will feel sand at points you never felt sand before, you’ll have a really good time at the sandhills. If you waxed your board exhaustive, you can glide down the hill pretty fast. We shared that experience with some kids from Cunnamulla, who were only a touch better than we were ;)

After that it was absolutely necessary to take a shower. That was it what we did. In only 30 mins three girls were showered! Isn’t that unbelievable?!
From now on we had time to relax a little bit, because our next stop was Charlotte Plains. It takes a while to get there and so it was more sleeping than relaxing for all (except Trevor) of us.

Charlotte Plains is a farm appr. 90km away from Cunnamulla. The farm owners, named Robyn and Reid Russel, are very nice and kindhearted people!
Together with a few more farm owners from other properties who came around, we chased sheep into ..I can’t remember the name of that metallic fence construction.. to be honest I nor know the name for that in German. Anyway, we helped to chase them into that whateveritscalled, where they get marked according to their quality of wool. After spending some time in that, we continued our tour to the artesian bore.

What’s that?
That is a place over the artesian basin, which is one of the largest underground water reservoirs on the earth. The water consists of different layers: bearing water, porous sandstones and impervious siltstones and mudstones. In general underground water is quite hot, only some rare bores are filled with cold water.

Our one was very hot!

We had to erase from the spring to go into the water and not to get cooked. But when you are insight the water you will love it! Especially for those people, who love whirlpools it will be great. There is no artificial blowing (only natural one if you like it that way), but the temperature is the same as in a 4 stars hotel whirlpool!
So we enjoyed our bath and made some steps in the direction of the spring, but we couldn’t get that far, otherwise we would have become melted.
Afterwards we set up the campfire and had a fantastic dinner! The steaks tasted that fresh and the apple crumble was to die for! The atmosphere was pretty romantic, sitting around the campfire, eating and drinking with the farm owners and sleeping directly under the million of stars.

Don’t mind: if you are not that exalted about sleeping on one ground with crickets, grasshoppers and all that other creeping things, you can sleep in a one-man tent. It’s badly cool that you can have a look at the stars out of your tent protected by a fly screen.

In those swags/tents we spent a comfortable night and got up early in the morning, to have another bath. After feeling warmly refreshed we joined the little crowd for a lovely handmade breakfast. We helped the staff a little bit and then Trevor drove us to the Rocky Station.

There we met Mike and Chris Webster, the station owners. The Rocky Station offers beautiful trees on the blank of the river and a cool swinging footbridge! People who are afraid of heights could need a little time longer to cross the bridge. Actually I am not afraid of heights, but nevertheless I felt a little bit uncomfortable the first time. We walked over it with 3 people at once, so the bridge had enough space to swing and jiggle. Concentrate on your aim and you will manage it like I did. After the first time, it is not that freaky anymore: now it is good fun! Mike also had fun, because he drove his motorbike across the swinging wooden footbridge.. Impressive!

He and his wife also invited us to have tea together. Linda and I were totally glowing for the presented food. Handmade sandwiches, cakes and cookies. Yammy Yammy Yammy!

There we wanted to stay a few meals longer…;)
But everything comes to an end and so did our tour.

Trevor brought us back safety to Cunnamulla at round about 2p.m. on Sunday.

We enjoyed all the experiences we made on our tour. It is really great to get so close to nature without leaving the safety of nowadays. Everything was so authentic and yeah, country style. Maybe we could get used to.. But we will see…

The first german interns Kathrin & Linda

2010-08-31T17:03:00.000-07:00

Friday, 19th March 2010

Hey Mates!

We, Linda and Kathrin, are two German girls staying for 6 months in Australia. In detail we will stay in Cunnamulla, a real outback town on southern Queensland.

Here we are team members of Out the Back Australia, a tour operator offering tours to experience the real Rural Australia.

This blog will be about all the fantastic things you can do, see and make in and around Cunnamulla.
One adventure we already experienced with Leesa, a Out the Back Australia tour guide, was shearing a sheep!

Although you may come from the country, visiting a sheep shear station in Australia is something completely different.

Our first impression of the sheep farm was being a Cowboy (or girl!) out of the early 50’s.

The station and it’s surrounding are very charming and really old-fashioned. You will see, next to probably hundreds of sheep, men wearing good old Cowboyboots and -hats, like you know them from the famous John Wayne movies. Everything is coloured in warm brown, orange and red tones – That it is, what let German hearts beating higher.

After you had a look around you get explained, how the whole station works.

The final of the tour is that you can have a try to shear a sheep! We both were very excited about that – and actually it was! – Feeling that vibrating sheep at your fetters and the not less vibrating shearing machine in your hand..

For Linda it was a quite great experience, while I felt sorry for the sheep the whole time. Nevertheless it was an adventure for all of us:

The sheep shearer (teaching us how to shear a sheep),

the two of us (trying it),

the herder (watching us while doing it)

and at least – for sure – also for the sheep, being sheared that soft!

our blog

2010-08-31T16:09:00.000-07:00

Hey mates, maybe some of you can remember that we already had a blog with many texts and impressions. But after the desaster with the old website everything got lost... excepted Kathrin and my articles.
That is the reason why we start in the past and blog everything what is already done.

I hope you will enjoy our funny and informative texts about everything around Cunnamulla. You will find out that here is heaps to do and how Germans are feeling about the australian mentality.

Thanks

Queensland Weekender on tour with us

2010-08-30T22:59:00.000-07:00