...Hello Quilpie

We made it!!

We decided to say a proper goodbye to Birdsville at the pub on Thursday night, and,wow, did we ever have a little bit too much fun! Neither of us were feeling optimal on Friday morning - it was all we could do to finish packing and make it to the plane on time. So, you can imagine how much fun our plane trip was to Quilpie. I actually packed extra plastic bags in my carry on bag just in case...hahah. But we made it safe and sound and started our time in Quilpie with a 2 hour nap!

So far, Quilpie looks like a nice little town and I think we're really going to enjoy it here. Everyone has been really nice and kind so far and there is a heck of a lot more to do here then there was in Birdsville. For instance, on our first night here it just happened to be the night that pretty much the entire town goes to the lawn bowling club for dinner and bowling. It was hilarious to see everyone there - kids, parents, adults, teenagers. Everyone there just to have a game of bowls before continuing with their Friday night. It seems like a really nice community of people who enjoy spending time together - especially when lawn bowling is involved!

We are starting to look forward to all that Quilpie is going to have to offer. There is Tuesday night touch rugby that Dave wants to join and a cricket team that he may also try and see if he can play with. We're going to see if we can get involved in the Friday night lawn bowling. The caravan park has hot tubs and the town has a public swimming pool that we'll hopefully be able to put to good use. And there's even a library and a few stores to help pass the time. It was nice being able to walk down the street and stop into the butcher or the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner over the weekend. Oh ya, and there's grass! It's amazing to see greenery around again. And to keep their lawns in order a lot of people own rams, Shetland ponies and horses as pets to help keep the grass in their yard under control. Just hilarious! The person who lives beside the caravan park has a massive ram as a pet that Dave and I fed the other day.

It looks like we'll be able to keep pretty busy in Quilpie. There is lots of work around the park for us - especially Dave. They already have him really busy building a chain-link fence and helping to lay a new floor in the Heritage Inn Hotel with Hank. Hank is a hilarious man from Holland who has done a lot of travelling in his life. He is a 72 year old who never stops working. He's been hired by Troy (the owner of both caravan parks we've been at, as well as the Heritage Inn) to do odd jobs here and there and it seems like Dave has become his side-kick! The two of them go off and work away together and Hank tells Dave hilarious stories and keeps him entertained!

I just wanted to say a big Happy Birthday to my sister Laura today!

I hope everyone is doing well and Happy (almost) Halloween!!

xoxo

Goodbye Birdsville...

Well folks,

We finally got our marching orders the other day and we are flying out of Birdsville on Friday. We have been in this tiny town for 5 weeks but it's gone by so fast! We've had the chance to experience a lot of what the outback has to offer and we have really enjoyed ourselves! We have seen amazing things, met some great people and had the unique opportunity to explore this outback town and all its charm.

The last week and a bit has been relatively uneventful. We did have our campfire with friends. I ate a few too many roasted marshmallows, but it was worth it :) And we also had the privilege of experiencing a Birdsville Bakery Friday Night Dinner. This is a new tradition in Birdsville, but it's a great one. Dusty and his wife Theresa have started Friday night dinner, as a change from only being able to eat out at the pub. They even have a signature dish...Major Mitchell's Birdsville Fried Chicken (the B.F.C.). Get it...like Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken. And it was actually really good fried chicken! Not too greasy but full of flavour! If you ever find yourself in Birdsville on a Friday night, make sure you go see Dusty at the bakery for some B.F.C.

Other then that the only interesting this has been the weather. It has been crazy recently. We've had 3 days straight of over 42 degree weather, then it will change to a wild dust storm. we've survived a couple dust storms so far - they kinda suck though. Nothing like getting pelted in the eye with sand! But they are really interesting to see coming. They block out the sunsets and moon rising and just give the town this eerie feeling - kind of neat to experience.

So, we are heading out tonight to the pub for one final goodbye to Birdsville, then we are off to Quiplie tomorrow for the next 6-7 weeks to work in the Channel Country Caravan Park. I think it's going to feel like a luxury working there - they have 3 hot tubs, beautiful amenties, a caravan for us with an en suite bathroom. And Quiplie will probably feel like a city - a library, 2 motels, 3 restaurants, a bakery, a coffee shop, a newsagent, post office, a public swimming pool, etc.

Bring on another new adventure!

I hope everyone is getting excited for Halloween! What are your costumes going to be??
xoxo

Thanksgiving in Birdsville

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

We hope everyone enjoyed spending time with friends and family over the holidays! We sure did miss being in Canada to celebrate, but we did our best to celebrate here on our own. A delicious dinner, phoning home to family and talking about what we are thankful for.

We have been pretty busy since our last blog post so bare with me…I know, can you believe it?! Busy in Birdsville!! We have almost checked everything off our ‘To Do in Birdsville’ list, which is good timing because the caravan park in considerably slower these days, so I think our days here are limited.

We started our busy 2 weeks with the star show. The police officers wife, Sandra, used to work in an observatory in Charleville and has since bought her own telescope and runs star gazing shows in the Birdsville desert. It was AWESOME! It was about 1-1 ½ hours of her talking about planets, stars, galaxies, pointing out constellations and specific stars. She was s knowedgable and we even got to see some neat things through the telescope – including Saturn and its rings! That was definitely the high point of the night for both Dave and I…it was so cool!

That weekend, there was a ‘fun-day’ at Pelican Point here in Birdsville (just across the billabong from the caravan park) put on by the Diamantina Shire Council, which is the council that looks after Birdsville and surrounding area. It was called Wet Fest. After we were done work we went over to see what it was all about. We knew it was mostly for children, but we thought it would be nice to try and socialize with some locals. It was actually a really fun day! There were tons of organized games and activities for kids and adults to participate in – tug of war, 3 legged race (Dave and I won the adult division!), kayak races, etc. And the prizes…insane! The prizes for the kayak race, which Dave won with two local kids, was sand toys and a Canon camera each! Obviously we declined taking the camera and Dave made some friends with some little girls playing in the sand fast when he asked if they wanted the toys. But it was a very well-run day, with lots of fun for the Birdsville and surrounding community. People actually came in from the next town over called Bedourie…over 200km away. So hilarious how they describe being from the next town over – only 2-3 hour drive!

One of the best parts of the day was meeting some of the local people. We met a man named Jody (a local) and his German girlfriend Franzie. They were both so nice and welcoming. They even invited us back to their house after the day because they had some friends coming in for the weekend from a nearby cattle station. Obviously we agreed! We went back to Jody’s house and met a group of 6 people who he used to work with – they were from all over the world! Tanzania, Australia, Denmark…it was so nice to spend some time with them and have a few drinks as well. We also spent our first night at the local pub – a hilarious establishment with amazing sayings all over it. For example, they have a 7 course meal for only $22 – a pie and 6 beers…hehehe. We played pool late into the evening and got to spend some time getting to know our new friends J Some of the most hilarious parts of the evening were the animal life we encountered. In a 3 hour span I got to hold a baby pig (named Terry) and feed a baby calf. The things you can do when you are open to any opportunity.

The next day was the NRL finals – so we found ourselves back at the pub to watch the game. It was a pretty good game actually – the Sydney Roosters won over the Manly Sea Eagles. Rugby League is a much more interesting game then Rugby Union, which is what we play in Canada. If you haven’t seen a game ever, you should try – so insane how much contact and tackling there is!! We watched the game with our new friends and the night got away from us again! We are definitely too old to drink 2 nights in a row and have to go to work the next morning….but it was too much fun not to join in, especially since all of our friends work on a cattle farm that is over a 3 hour drive away. They only make it into town every 3-4 weeks, so we may never see them again, but it was so nice to get out of our little caravan and make some friends!

One of the nights we were at the pub we also met a girl named Jenna. Her family is from Birdsville and we have since found out that they pretty much own all of Birdsville – the Brook family. They also own 2 of the 3 cattle stations around the area. Anyways, she is about our age and very nice. She even invited us over to her house a couple of nights later for a games night. There were 6 of us there and we played Pictionary – Dave and I won! It was a really nice relaxing evening with people who actually live in Birdsville and who will hopefully get to see a little more before we ship out of here.

One of the best things we’ve had the chance to do since being in the outback is spend a sunset at Big Red. Big Red is a sand dune about 40km outside of Birdsville and it is one of the main attractions of Birdsville and the Simpson Desert. It is the tallest sand dune in the Simpson Desert. We got there just in time for the sunset and it was spectacular. A warm, still night, with a beautiful sunset! One of the managers of the caravan park, Neil, took us out and we were so grateful that he did. It was amazing!

We’ve been keeping our evenings busy with campfires, roasting marshmallows and watching The Wire and The League. We are thinking of hosting Jenna and our Birdsville friends for a campfire tomorrow. That is, if the weather cooperates! We’ve also started to plan our adventures after the outback. We have bought a flight to New Zealand – leaving Brisbane on January 1, 2014. New year, new country! We are starting to really plan things to do while in New Zealand so if you have any suggestions please feel free to email! So far we have planned a 4 day hike, a 3 day kayak trip and a rugby weekend in Wellington in February… we are very excited about them all!

I think that’s about it for now! We really are enjoying our time in Birdsville, as crazy as that sounds coming from a city girl who never thought she could live in a town of 80 people. But everyone has been so nice and we have had some great experiences and been able to spend a lot of quality time with each other also. It’s been great so far and we’re ready for any other adventures ahead!

Special shout outs now: Congratulations to our friends Meag and Andrew on the birth of their beautiful baby boy, Harrison. We couldn't be happier for our friends Laura and Forrest on the birth of their baby boy James (a 4meister in the waiting). Last but certainly not least, congratulations to our amazing friends Gorman and Zulys on their engagement!!! Yay! Cannot wait to celebrate when we are back in Canada!!!

Miss you all

xoxoxo

 

 

Last Town Before Nowhere

So, we have been in Birdsville for a full 2 weeks and things have been going well so far. The caravan park has been busier than we expected, which is keeping us out of trouble! Our cleaning partners, Barb and Steve have left the park though, so now it’s just Dave and I here. It makes it a little more boring, so we do miss them! We spend about 4-6 hours a day cleaning, laundry, making beds, etc. It’s not mentally hard, but it’s keeping us moving physically, which is nice. Now that school holidays are coming to an end, the work should start to slow down a bit…but we’ll see.

So, with the rest of our days we have been exploring Birdsville and surrounding area. Before Barb and Steve left, they took us on a drive out into the desert. We got to see an old cemetery in the city, as well as this form of tree (a Waddi tree) which only grows in 100-120 sq km in Australia. It’s pretty rare and apparently very durable. You have to cut the tree while it’s still alive, because if you try to wait until its dead then it essentially turns to rock, it is so hard! They also took us over to the Birdsville Race Track, where the famous Birdsville horse races happen the first weekend in September every year. Then Steve took us to a small sand dune nearby where we watched the sunset – there are some pretty spectacular sunsets here in the outback! And the stars….wow! You can see so many stars here, with all different constellations also. There is a woman in town (the police officers wife, Sandra) who runs a star show with a telescope every once and a while, so that is definitely on our list of things to do while we’re here. Another day, Dave and I rented bicycles and went for a ride. We made a few stops – a local Aboriginal area, as well as Pelican Point. There is a ton of birdlife around Birdsville: pelicans, corellas, Australian ravens, galaws, butcher birds, etc. We’ve also seen a feral cat that likes to hang around the caravan park, and a goanna walking around. No scary snakes, scorpions or spiders….yet :/

 We have also been frequenting the gym here a few times a week. It is hilarious trying to use their few pieces of equipment to put together a full program. But the workouts are definitely better than either of us could have imagined here in Birdsville. And the best part is that the gym is air conditioned! It also has a huge TV and Wii unit – we’re trying to hunt down the hand held devices so we can try playing Wii cricket while we’re here.

 The weather has been so variable while we’ve been here, you never know what you’re going to wake up to. We have had some days around 23-24 degrees and others over 40 degrees. The evenings can actually be pretty cool also. The last two nights have dropped down to about 10-12 degrees. And the wind can be insane! We’ve had a couple of days when the wind has been over 50 km/h causing huge sand storms and wreaking havoc all over the caravan park. The last few days have been beautiful though – 25 degrees with a light breeze, and nice and cool at night for sleeping! We’re enjoying these days while we’ve got them because before you know it, it’ll be 35+ degrees almost every day…eek!

 We’ve also seen and done a few other random things. Dave has eaten a Kangaroo pie at the local bakery (I stuck with a chocolate milkshake). And we have seen this man who has 6 camels that he just walks around the town. Almost every day you can see him herd his 6 full camels from the Billabong through the town and back again. I was able to catch up to him one day – man are camels ever huge when you’re standing right next to them. I’m not sure what he does, or why he has the camels (no one around here really is) but it’s a spectacle non-the-less.

 

We’re hoping you are all doing well and starting to get excited for Thanksgiving!

We’ll be in touch again soon

xoxo

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Hey Everyone,

We are alive and well in Birdsville! We had a great last few days in Brisbane before heading out. We got to watch some Rugby League playoff games with Woody and some NFL football with Ryan, as well as see some sights in Brisbane. We took a city cat boat tour along the river in Brisbane one night, which was beautiful with the water front all lit up. There was also the Brisbane festival going on, with light shows and other attractions, but we didn’t make it to anything because we had some rain. But Brisbane was a great city and we are excited to have another chance to see it once our adventure in Birdsville is over.

So, now to the nitty gritty. We left Brisbane on Tuesday, September 17 at 7pm on the overnight train to Charleville. Oh man, was that a hilarious night. First of all, it is a 17 hour train ride west into the outback – the line is called the Westerner and we learnt while we were on it that they may be shutting it down soon because not many people use it anymore and because it is OLD! It sounded like it could have used some oil on it because it squeaked and squawked all night long. Also, there were two options of tickets – since ours was bought for us by the people running the caravan park we were in economy with all the rif raf. We had one gentleman who coughed a gross phlegmy cough the entire night long and screamed out randomly, just for fun it seemed. There was also 2 little kids who ran up and down the aisle and screaming, stood on top of chairs to turn the lights on and off constantly and stole a pen from a man near us and started drawing on seats. Needless to say, their grandmother wasn’t very good at keeping them in line. We may spring for a sleeper cabin if we train back to Brisbane J

The train only goes as far as Charleville these days, so we switched onto a coach bus for a short bus ride to Quilpie, which is a town of about 300 people. The owners of the caravan park also own another park in Quilpie, as well as the Heritage Inn hotel. So we stayed at the Heritage Inn for the night before our flight out to Birdsville the next day. Quilpie was a cute little town though – we went for a short walk around and saw a little museum about the area, as well as the town pool, pub, grocery store, post office and coffee shop. It only took us about 20 minutes to do all of that!

On Thursday afternoon we finally boarded our last mode of transportation to get us to Birdsville. Laura, you would not have enjoyed this! The flight starts in Brisbane but makes frequent stops landing and taking off again in small communities along the way – including Charleville, Quilpie and Birdsvile, as well as 5-6 other towns. Man, were the landings and take offs rough!! I think I almost broke Dave’s hand grabbing it so hard out of fear – and were my hands ever sweaty! Once we were in the air it was okay and the view was pretty amazing, but I am not excited to do that again on the way home! But we successfully made it Birdsville by mid-afternoon…we had arrived to our new home for the next 3 months!

 

We immediately got a tour of the town and a run-down of its history from Neil, one of the managers of the caravan park. It probably could have been summed up in about 5 minutes but man, can Neil talk! We were out there roasting in his Ute (his truck) for about 30 minutes getting driven around the town, which only consists of a bakery, police office, hotel, community centre, info centre, gas station (which also doubles as the post office and bank) and the caravan park. Apparently, the population of the town is 80 people, except on the weekend of the Birdsville races (which happen on the first weekend of September). The population of Birdsville increases to almost 7000 people who camp all over the town to enjoy the races.  The best part of the tour was when Neil mentioned that the community centre had a gym. Apparently the Australian government and donators like to donate random stuff to Birdsville and one of those donations was money for a gym and two tennis courts. The tennis courts only ever have 4 people who play on them and the gym has about 4 pieces of equipment, but we should be able to do a little bit of stuff there, and it’s got A/C!

So, since being in Birdsville, we have settled into the Roma (our caravan) and had 2 days of work. We have been working with Barb and Steve cleaning the caravan park – they are so very sweet and very helpful! They retired about 3 years ago and have been travelling around Australia ever since. They go from little job to little job and travel the rest of the time. You should see the set up they have in their car! They even have a satellite dish with them and TV so they can watch over 300 TV channels. We went to watch another National Rugby League (NRL) playoff game with them last night!

Our job at the caravan park is basically trying to keep the desert clean! We have to do a lot of laundry, clean all the rooms and cabins they have on site, as well as keep the amenities clean. It’s not hard work, but it is exhausting doing it in 30+ degree heat – and the temperature is only supposed to climb while we’re here. Oh yeah, and one exciting feature of working in Birdsville is constantly being attacked by flies! They don’t bite, but they sure are irritating, especially when they try to fly into your nose and eyes!

I think that’s it – sorry I’m rambling! I hope you enjoy hearing about our small town outback life. We will continue to post updates when exciting things happen – so you may not hear from us for a little bit because we’re not expecting many exciting things to happen, hehe!

Oh, and for those of you who read about Birdsville on Wikipedia, they caught the fresh water crocodile a few weeks ago…don’t fret J

We hope everyone is doing well and we’ve really loved reading your comments and emails!

And It Begins...

How Ya Goin'?

We just wanted to say thanks for coming to check out our blog. This is where we plan on updating you all on our adventure's during our year abroad!

So, it all started in Toronto, on September 7, 2013. It took 2 car rides, 3 plane trips, many sleepless hours (that is, until we got some Gravol in our system), countless movies watched and 2 days to get us to our destination...Brisbane, Australia. We have never been so happy to see a familiar face waiting on the other end of that journey. Jeff Woodroffe (or Woody) welcomed us into his home with open arms and has been a spectacular host since we arrived. He has given us free reign of his house, his internet, his permanent address and maybe one too many beers :)

The first few days were spent setting up bank accounts and cell phones and starting to hunt for jobs and apartment. During our travels we stumbled upon Travel Bugs and a friendly Australian named Patrick - this is where the craziness began. So, Patrick's main job is to find short term employment in rural Australia for backpackers. We weren't too keen on the idea of rural Australia, but figuring we had nothing to lose, we sent him our resume's and contact information. Before we even had a chance to think things through, Patrick had called with a UNIQUE experience for us. Has anyone ever heard of Birdsville, Queensland? Nope, neither had we and neither had most Australian's we've talked to since then. Well, Birdsville is a small town of approximately 280 people in very rural Queensland - by rural I mean 1700km inland from Brisbane...I know you're starting to chuckle to yourselves and think...WHAT?!?! We were doing the same thing! I dare you all to now google Birdsville and say a short prayer for us.

So, Patrick proposed this opportunity: work in Bridsville for 3 months at a caravan park and help Trish, Margie and Troy with reception work, housekeeping, gardening, etc. We had a chance to think things over and chat with Margie and Trish, who were absolutely amazing in answering all our questions and reassuring us that this was do-able and actually a really great opportunity to see a part of Australia that most Australian's never have the opportunity to see. Only a few tears were shed (by Steph obviously) and the decision was made - Birdsville here we come. The deciding factor came down to what we like to call "Our Year of Yes". Our goal this year is to never say no to an opportunity presented to us (within reason of course) and see where it takes us. So far, it's taking us on what we hope is a pretty unbelievable experience in the Australian outback.

We leave on Tuesday, September 17th, so the next few days will be spent setting ourselves up for what's to come - loading up on sunscreen, hats, downloading TV shows and movies (recommendations are welcome!), ensuring we have enough data on our plan to survive three months in nowheresville and seeing some of Brisbane before we head off.


But that's not all the fun and excitement we've experienced in the past 5 days in Brisbane. We have also seen and learned a few interesting things about Australia that we thought we would pass on. First, every one is so nice! The thing we have been most impressed with is how appreciative and pleasant people are to the bus drivers in Brisbane. No one gets on or off the bus without saying "hello" or "thank you". It really is amazing! Also, we knew that people drove cars on the other side of the road in Australia, but didn't really think about how this would impact walking around. Dave learned this the hard way when we were in the New Zealand airport bathroom and he was trying to enter the men's room. Being from North America, he kept walking on the right hand side of the hallway leading to the washroom, but he kept bumping into people coming out of the bathroom. He tried to stand his ground before he realized that he was in the wrong. Not only do they drive on the left side of the road, but they mirror that when they walk as well. That took some getting used to!

Lastly, we have had the opportunity to spend some time with some other transplanted Canadians in Brisbane, care of the lovely Ryan Latimer. Latimer is doing med school here in Brisbane and he has been extremely kind in inviting us along on some adventures. We've thrown rocks at a wild turkey that was trying to set up a home in his backyard. We've spent an afternoon in his pool. We've been able to go out to a cool bar called Archive to celebrate his birthday. And we've met some of his great friends, who were all so nice and welcoming.

All in all, we've had a fantastic first week on our adventure in the South Pacific. We will try to keep you all up to date by frequently blogging about our adventures. But, if anyone want's to get in touch with us you can email: stephgardonio@yahoo.ca, dibrown2@hotmail.com, or add us to Skype (dibrown2).

Thanks for stopping by and reading - please know we miss you all already!
xoxo