Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everybody!!!

Good luck, health, happiness should be with you!!! We hope you are celebrating the change of the year duly.  Where are you going to be on New Year’s Eve? Are you going out with your partner? Are you staying at home with your family? Are you travelling?

2012 will be a new start so if there is anything you want to change New Year is a good opportunity to start. What’s about for example getting your hair cut? Or changing the color of your room? Even little changes can make you more comfortable make you life more interesting exciting. Write a piece of paper what you want to change during the next year or what you want to do and keep it somewhere. In the end of the year you can see which of your dreams have come true.

So all in all have a good start and enjoy as much as possible.

Christmas

Christmas is over…

It is all over so fast and you have to wait for it one year again…

How did you spend your Christmas this year? Have you been visiting your family at the coast or on a property? Has your family been at your place? When did you open the presents what kind of lunch or tea did you have?

We had a really nice Christmas in the real Outback. We did not start until 10 o’clock in the morning because we wanted to sleep in and to get ready with our lunch preparation. So at 10 o’clock everybody came to open the presents which were placed under the Christmas tree.

It was absolutely unbelievable how many presents there were. When we finished opening all the gifts everybody had a look around to see what the others got. Afterwards the big feed startedJ. With cheese platter, fruit platter, chips and bikkies, nuts and dried fruits, until the real lunch was ready. During lunch a little food fight with jellies and nuts was started and you could hear bangs everywhere because the Christmas bonbons were opened. After lunch dessert was prepared together to enjoy it afterwards. The day ended with nice chats and satisfaction.

So how did you spend your Christmas?

Latest Update about the last Tour

Just some pictures of our wonderful sandboarding experiences on Tour!!

 

Two Swedish boy's on Tour

Sunday morning 8 o’clock in the headquarter office of Out the Back Australia. The two Swedish Backpackers enjoyed a big cooked breakfast with rissoles, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, bacon and toasted bread. After the finished their morning ritual (which took about an hour, we could never imagine that boys need that long in the bathroom). 

When they finally reached the car it was time to head to Rocky station. After an hour drive we arrived at Rocky where Chris and Mike Webster welcomed us on the entrance to the wallaby walk. Leading us through the Walk and telling us all interesting stories about their property and the attractions along the walk. The hollowed tree was one of them. Mike used to play there when he was a kid and amazingly the tree is still alive. Another attraction was an old wool washer. Niklas could not imagine how somebody can build something like that.

After we went back to the start of the walk, Mike showed us how to cross the 70m ling free-swinging footbridge with a motorbike. It was absolutely spectacular. When we crossed the bridge we were even more amazed how he can cross the bridge with his motorbike. Klas said he would never do something like that.

At their nice house we enjoyed a wonderful morning tea in the winter garden. Scones, cake, fruits, sandwiches, tea, coffee and everything else you could imagine. Talking about living on a property like that which can be flooded for 18 month so that you have to go a long way to get your groceries and gear over to your house which is build on the other side of the river, we enjoyed the time at Rocky.

Interested in the second part of the day??? Continue reading tomorrow!!

On Tour again.

On Friday evening we started a Backpacker Tour once again. This time our nice tourists were Niklas and Klaas from Sweden.

After a welcome-dinner, they spend their first night at the Caravan Park in a huge tent. The next morning they started with breakfast before they went kayaking on the Warrego River, which both of them really enjoyed.

It was quite a good workout, paddling for 4 hours and just stopping for lunch on a riverbank and a refreshing swim in the river.

In the afternoon, we headed to Charlotte Plains, which is always a bit of a highlight on such tours. Niklas and Klaas have never been out on such a huge property before and neither out in the bush. So they enjoyed it.

We went to the shearing sheds, were Peieta told us a lot about sheep shearing and the history of the shed. The next sight was Jack's Hut and the camel waggons.

Then we finally went to the artesian bores. On our way we've seen a lot of wildlife - kangaroos, emus and even camels. That was great for our two german interns as well. They had been to Charlotte Plains the third time now, but never seen one of the camels before, so Saturday was their lucky day :)

Eating cheese, chips and biscuits with dips, everybody enjoyed the landscape. A swim in the bore made the evening even better. We enjoyed the sunset and a wonderful dinner cooked by Larissa which were veggies and a potato bake and nobody missed the meat, because it tasted delicious and nothing could make it better.

It was afunny day with a lot of things to see and do and in the evening everybody was tired, but Niklas and Klaas decided to go out anyways. So they went to the Billabong Pub where they had more than a few nice chats with the locals.

If you want to know what happens on Sunday - then you have to read our blog tomorrow!

Bus Trip

Today is another exciting day again.

This night there will be two backpackers from Sweden, arriving on the bus from Toowoomba. Their journey started already at 6:30am this morning, when they had to leave Brisbane via Greyhound. The earliest bird catches the worm. That’s it! They are catching a fabulous adventure here in Cunnamulla. At Toowoomba they have to change the bus and hop on Coach Queensland. They should be enjoying their bus trip to Cunnamulla right now. Lunch break will be in about two hours. Magnificent wildlife and heaps of Outback landscape  can be spotted during the bus trip. With the biggest population of kangaroos this area is really famous here in Queensland. If you get bored during the bus trip there will be some entertainment on the two screens in the bus. Various movies from comedy, to horror, fantasy and more will be shown.

Relax and sit back and enjoy this long bus trip. We are looking forward to see the two Fellas arriving today at 7:45pm here in Cunnamulla.

Do you remember your last bus trip? Where have you been traveling to?

Exercise in Cunnamulla

Another Yoga lesson passed yesterday evening at 7pm at the youth club of Cunnamulla.

It was a really rainy and awful day with thunderstorm and lightning but in the end it cleared up in the evening and the sun finally showed up again.

So at 6:50pm the door of the gym, the old shed was opened by Maryanne Johnstone and the small group waiting outside went in. When everybody had settled down with his mat in a circle and Yvonne finally arrived the yoga lesson started.

This evening even a male attended had found his way to the yoga class. Everybody tried his best and did all the exercises in his or her own rhythm. 72 years old was the oldest attendant and she did really well. So hopefully they are continuing their yoga classes every several month, when they can get a yoga instructor. Otherwise Maryanne is doing a great job including different types of exercises in her aerobic classes.

Join the classes on Monday and Wednesday at 7 pm at the youth club. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet people and to have some physical exercise together in a group. FUN, SPORT and SOCIAL CONTACT.

So when was you last visit of an exercising group???

Sue's Christmas Dinner (last part)

Today it's a little bit later than usually, but better late than never :)

We wanted to tell you about the main course and the dessert of our lovely dinner. And it really was lovely, the main course was Crispy Stuffed Pork with Roasted Vegetable Salad and Hassel Backed Potatoe with Jus.

Everybody was happy and it was delicious. It even got quiet for a few minutes while the ladies enjoyed their main course. This silence equals a big praise, because it wasn't quiet all evening. There was talking, laughing and joking all evening long. The ladies had a wonderful time.

The last course was the dessert and it was, once again, amazing what Larissa has created. Five little treats, sweet and tasty. On the manu they were called "Festive Five Candies" and they really were festive: Passionfruit Icecream, Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies, Lemon Slice, White Chocolate Cups with Strawberry Fruche and a icecream tarte. Nobody expected so many delicious little sweets.

A lot of "thank you's" were spoken after all the food and the ladies enjoyed another glass of wine and a chat. They didn't want to go home to early and the party went on for a little longer.

The evening was a success and fun for all of us and we're already looking forward to Sue's next dinner.

Sue's Christmas Dinner Part2

Today we are going to tell you about the second part of our fabulous dinner on Saturday the 26^thNovember.

After getting their aperitifs the ladies were in a really good mood and started unpacking their Christmas presents which was part of the decoration. Big bangs everywhere and laughter about the inside of the presents.

“Ho, Ho, ho”, you could hear then. A real Santa stepped in. Completely dressed up, in red and white, with a long, long beard. It was time for the seventeen ladies to get their Christmas presents. With a lot of laughter and some interesting face expressions they unpacked their presents. If they are going to use them that’s a question which we will never be able to answer. After this exciting visit from Santa the Starters were served.

Five tasty things on every plate. In the menu it was called “Glorious Five Canapés”. There was char grilled zucchini with cream cheese filling. A rice cup with a mango and prawn salsa filling, a herb cheese fritter with baby rocket, a Thai meatball with sweet chili sauce and at least chunky pesto bite.

Overwhelmed but happy with so many choices the real dinner started and it went silent for a few seconds when everybody tasted the first bit.

Main course and dessert interest you as well. No worries we are going to write about the last parts tomorrow!!

Sue's Christmas Dinner

Like we told you on Friday we had a really busy weekend. Preparing the whole week long for the big event on Saturday night.

Sue's Christmas Dinner.

So finally it was Saturday Peieta, Tanja and Larissa were cooking and decorating the whole day long. At six o’clock the whole event should start. So Peieta got on the bus and left to pick up most of the ladies here in Cunnamulla. Chris Webster , Sally Moody, Chris Mills and Maureen got their personal chauffeurs or have been driving themselves to town. All in all at around 7pm the party started. The ice boxes weren’t big enough to chill all the wine and champagne bottles the ladies brought with them. After every lady found here place around the fantastically decorated table, which has been the fabulous work of Tanja, the evening started with an aperitif. Strawberry and orange ice cubes with chilled champagne.

This was the first time you could hear a lot of “Ahhhhh” and “Ohhhs”. Do you want to know what we were serving as Starters?

Then you have to read our Blog tomorrow.

Christmas Dinner

Today, just a short update about our day and our work.

We're pretty busy at the moment, because tomorrow night a big event takes places in our Out The Back Australia Gallery and Cafe.

Last time, it was in September, we had "Sue's Fancy Dinner", this time we're looking forward to "Sue's Christmas Dinner". 17 ladies will enjoy this event tomorrow evening.

And believe me, it will be an event. That's all I can tell you by now, but I promise, on Monday we'll tell you all about it including menu and pictures.

And maybe - Santa is coming to share some presents - who knows?!

Let's be surprised and excited, ......and I, yes, I should go back to work and help preparing.

See you tomorrow evening! :)

Viviane on Tour last part

On Sunday Viviane and the Outback team started early. At 9 o’clock it was time to get in the car and head for Eulo. Before, Viviane enjoyed a wonderful local breakfast with the Mills family. It was a drive with a lot of information about the surrounding area of Cunnamulla and the businesses and industries here. At Eulo there was time to take some pictures during a quick stop. Afterwards the mud springs were the next destination. Unfortunately they are dried out but the landscape was enough to get amazing pictures. Viviane was very pleased and had even to delete pictures from another trip so she could get more and more of the beauties of Australia. After a long long drive the final arrive was in Hungerford. Amazing, to step trough the border of New South Wales and Queensland. For lunch the old pub was the best opportunity, we even found Swiss money on the ceiling of the pub. The cellar was really scary but Viviane was brave enough to climb down and to explore the cellar. On the way back our trip took us to three amazing lakes. The saltwater lake had even the color of an ocean and with the sandy bank it was like at the beach!! Finally back in Cunnamulla the day was nearly over. And Viviane got ready to leave the next morning.

 

Viviane on Tour

Sooo this is our next report from our grandios Tour with Viviane.  When we came back from the magnificent kayaking trip we headed off to Rocky Station.  After about an hour drive we arrived at Rocky. During the drive we were entertained by Les Capewell the local drover and whip cracker of Cunnamulla.  He was talking about all the kind of different trees, grasses and animals we saw on our way.

At Rocky’s we went for the Wallaby walk which guides you along the river and let you have an amazing experience spotting Wallabies and kangaroos. Luckily we were able to spot several and one was really close and had a Joey in his pouch. It was a nice walk in the shade of the trees. Afterwards we went over the 70 m long free-swinging Indiana Jones styled footbridge. Les scared the death out of us when he started jumping on the bridge.

Safely we went back to the car and started to head for Charlotte Plains. Kangaroos and more kangaroos all kind of sizes and sorts passed our way and the sunset was absolutely amazing.

When we arrived at the hot artesian bores we were nearly starving thank goodness an amazing cheese platter saved our life’s. Enjoying cold drinks and nice crackers, olives and cheese we watched Viviane trying to crack the whip. She did a really great job and was very pleased with herself.

After a long drive back the evening ended with fish and salad as dinner in the restaurant of Out the Back Australia.

 

On Tour with Vivian

Amazing days with Viviane!!! On our 4-Day Backpacker Tour!!!

The Tour started on Friday when Vivian arrived at 19:45 at the head office here at Out the Back Australia. After a nice dinner in our restaurant Vivian enjoyed a quiet and peaceful night at the Cunnamulla Hotel.

The next morning started at 9 o’clock with a cooked breakfast in the café. Scrum pled eggs, cooked tomatoes and toast as well as fruits… yummy!!

Afterwards action!!! It was time for kayaking along the Warrego River. Start was at the Weir which is 5 km away from Cunnamulla. John Mills dropped Peieta, Vivian and Larissa there to start the kayak adventure. After paddling against the wind everybody was really hot and needed a break. So lunch break at the river bank where they went for a nice swim in the river and enjoyed a steak sandwich. Which was cooked on a spat over the fire. Unfortunately we had no knife so it was a bit difficult to part the steak. After a short paddle to the other side they have been picked up by Eddie Mills, Peieta’s Dad.

Then it was time to head for the next part of the Tour.

Interested what we have done else?? Read our Blog tomorrow!!!

 

Graduation Day

Today is a big day for the highest class of Cunnamulla’s state school.

It is GRADUATION DAY!!

Thank goodness most of the pupils think. Oh know some might recognize because they have to do something else. Job? Relaxing? First there are the holidays so you do not have to worry about that but you have to get organized.

Anyways it is a big day in life a big change you are released in the real world of the adults. On the one hand side that’s wonderful on the other you might be afraid. That’s okay even here in an Outback town like Cunnamulla pupils are pupils. Everyone should enjoy the last day in school because the things which are following are not like anything you have experienced before. In fact it is really nice to know you never have to go back but there will be one day you are really missing school or the regularity of a school day. If not that’s even better. We all should enjoy ourselves but do not forget about getting a job and earning your first money. That feeling is a great feeling, I can tell you….!!!

But anyways, celebrate this big day!!

Congratulation to everybody who is graduating today, we hope you are all having a wonderful day, enjoying the sun, celebrating and having fun!!!

What have you been doing on your graduation day?? Do you remember how you felt?

Sporty activities in the heat of Cunnamulla

Yesterday (Wednesday) has been a big day for the aerobic class which is normally hold by Maryanne who also runs the pool in town.

It was a big surprise when she told the woman who were waiting for the course to start that there would be no aerobics tonight. It was switched to yoga. Some of the woman were really suspicious about that and could not decide if they really want to stay. When the class finally started everybody was trying really hard. Even with some complaining words most of the woman enjoyed the new movements and experiences.  In fact they did not just do relaxing and meditation, the worked on their tummies and tried to strange their arms. Mussels were working all the time. In the shed it was not as hot as always so you could really see a progress when the group started to sweat after a few practices.  The nice breeze coming in through the open door and windows made the sweating tolerable.

In the end of the lesson everybody was happy going home and enjoying a nice dinner after doing such hard body work! We will see how much mussel ache we get now…

Have you ever done Yoga in Australia or even here in Cunnamulla?

Did you like the yoga lesson?

 

Fascinating Sky

Did you see all the lightnings yesterday evening? I was totally fascinated. It just looked amazing. Of course, hopefully there was no dangerous lightning strike somewhere around, but watching it was really exciting.

I even tried to take pictures, but it wasn't possible for me and my camera. I just made a short movie, which was easier. And as well at the Cunnamulla Fella Festival you could think the sky was as black as possible, but luckily it didn't rain.

In general the sky shows a lot of amazing sides out here. It changes the colour all the time, it can be dark blue, light blue or pale blue,but as well grey or even black. Sometimes there are many many clouds - black clouds, white clouds, small or big.

Out here in the outback the sky seems to be way bigger than anywhere else and the horizon seems to be closer and farer away at the same time. If you haven't seen that on your own it's difficult to imagine.

Here are some impressions, how beautiful and sometimes scary the sky can look :)

Lunch Time

After a weekend full of fun, laughter and action it’s sometimes hard to start work again. Today is already Tuesday, which means almost middle of the week. Just joking, but maybe you should indulge yourself a little bit.

Therefore we created “Lunch Specials” for just 10$ each. Different meals every day that it’s not going to be boring and that it helps you to eat a cheap but tasty meal in your lunch break.

A lot of meals are fresh and include salads or vegetables, which is good especially when the days get hotter and the temperatures are rising, but we offer hearty meals as well.

Today our special is “Macaroni Cheese Bake”. If you’re not in the mood for that today, so maybe you’ll be in the mood for our special tomorrow which is “Quiche with side salad”.

I am sure everybody can find something he likes in our weekly lunch special menu. We want people to come over and enjoy a delicious lunch in a nice atmosphere. We’re happy about every customer we’re allowed to serve.

Have a nice day and maybe we'll see you!

Cunnamulla Fella Festival

It is Monday again…hope you are not to exhausted from the weekend?

Have you been to the rodeo and the bull ride? We really enjoyed it!! What’s about you? How did you like it?

On Friday we enjoyed a wonderful evening watching the entertaining Crack up sisters and the cowboys trying to stay on the bucking horses!!! Some of the horses bucked really straight others seemed to be dancing to the playing music. All cowboys tried to present their best side staying on the horses at least 8 seconds. It was great fun to watch it. Afterwards the band “Gung Ho” was entertaining the crowd to dance and having a good night. Refreshment and drinks at the bar did the rest to get all people in a good mood. So it was a really nice night with a lot of entertainment.

On Saturday the whole festival started slowly with smoko at the Centenary Park. The real show started at 7pm in the evening and we were really lucky that the big storm went past us and we really could enjoy a hot night. The PBR pro Division bull ride did a big show. As well as at the horse rodeo the rider has to stay on the bull for 8 seconds. Unfortunately the bull is not really pleased having somebody sitting on his back so most of the cowboys were on the ground before 8 seconds. They all did a really great job especially the bull fighters who caught the bulls after the rider fell off. Some bulls were really lazy and one lay down to get a rest for the crowd that was spectacular. Just one accident in the whole ride was a pretty good result. So all in all it really was worth to watch the cowboys and bulls. The following Firework was amazing and the sky really sparkled in thousands of colors. Afterwards there was music again and some people weren’t too shy to swing their dancing legs.

We had great fun and danced all night long!!! How did you enjoy the weekend???

 

Busy Day, but almost Weekend :)

Today, we're really having a busy day. Everywhere in town there are many people, because of the Cunnamulla Fella Festival. There is Smoko in Bob Poncho Park and we are always on the run for video footage. That means, we're there to take photos and videos and maybe interviews.

Of course, one of us always has to be in the shop to serve customers, answer the phone and doing the normal daily jobs. So we're switching, that everyone of us get the chance to have a little bit of festival atmosphere during the day.

One interview we're absolutely looking forward to, is the interview with "The Crackup Sisters". They are one of the live bands for the festival. You can hear them tonight at the rodeo and tomorrow morning at the Ergon Energy "Breakfast in the Park". They are really nice and funny and we will post our interview and the videos next week, that you can get an impression of the festival 2011.

If you want to have a look right now, just watch our current youtube video http://www.youtube.com/user/outthebackau?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/ARONuybu6w8

Hopefully you all can enjoy a relaxed friday and a great weekend. Soon the weekend starts, I'll promise :)

See you next week or maybe here in Cunnamulla at the Cunnamulla Fella Festival!

Wild Animals

As our Internet did not work on Friday we were not able to post our picture for wild animals. So we decided to do this today. It is a snake we spotted at Louise St. Unfortunetly a dead one but anyways. Stay save and watch the ground while walking! They love rainy weather and high grass.

Heat!!!!

 

Today it is already really hot. As we have been outside already for a while we were sweating!! So what can we do to stay cool and to get ourselves comfortable?

What are you doing if your air-condition in your house just is blowing in the living room. You have one freezing room and all the others are hot like in a sauna. Even opening the window often does not help anymore so what to do?

Actually we have not found the best solution yet. Did you? A ventilator is a possibility but it is a little bit noisy, so you have to sort out if you could deal with that.

Otherwise you can take a hot shower because instead of a cold one you are used to the heat then. Probably that will help you in the evening to get a nice and cool sleep.

Thank goodness we are having a wonderful air-condition inside Out the Back Australia.  So if you are joining us for breakfast or lunch you will not be sweating!

Anyways, what are your tips to stay cool and to get used to the heat?

Wild Animals

Are you scared of wild animals???

 In the Outback there are quite a lot of them. Some of them are just coming out at nighttime others are spotted during daylight. Where have you seen your last wild animal? In fact some of them are dangerous as well so you have to be very careful when you are walking around. Always watch the ground then you should be save!

Kangaroos for example are wild but they are even more scared of getting close to you than the other way round. Birds are flying away if you are loud and noisy, lizards do not care about you when you do not interrupt there sunbath.

The fishes in the river and the Yabbies are harmless as well but you have to take care when you go in the river Yabbies can be aggressive when you step on them then they pieck in your toes. For fish it does not matter how big they are always afraid of humans so they will swim away when you are getting closer to them.

But what is about snakes? Have you spotted some of those already? They can be quiet dangerous if you interrupt them and you are not careful enough! We just spotted death ones but you never know when they come out. So stay save! Do not give the snake a taste of you!!

Have you already spotted one? Where?

 

Melbourne Cup, Lucas Cranach got third!!

 

Melbourne Cup is over. Just a few minutes and one jockey is the lucky guy who won the Melbourne Cup. It is unbelievable how fast the race is over and how much the whole nation gets emotional while watching the race. In fact it is not just the jockey who has to be lucky; it is also the horse which has to be in a perfect condition. While watching the Melbourne Cup you could nearly feel the atmosphere through the television. Dressed up people were standing in front of big screens, having lunch at a pup where they were able to watch the race which stops the nation.

Of course the Melbourne Cup is also really popular for the betting. Actually it is just betting and hoping that the horse you have bet on will win the race. In Australia nearly everybody bets on this race even when people do not know what to bet. It is just like a national thing everybody does.

Dunaden is the famous winner this year. It was the closest finish ever in the history of Melbourne Cup. The French rider of Dunaden, Christophe Lemaire first thought he was beaten by Red Cadeaux. He could not believe. Lucas Cranach from Germany got third. We at Out the Back Australia were really excited about the Melbourne Cup because Lucas Cranach belongs to relatives of Chris and Mike Webster who are the owner of Rocky station. So Congratulations to him for getting third we kept our fingers crossed during the race while having lunch at the IGA. We are looking forward to his next race and we are really excited to tell you about it!!!

How did you enjoy the Melbourne Cup? Are you a lucky winner too?