In the outback

In the five months I've been in Australia I've seen a lot of Queensland and most of that has been outback Queensland. When I left the UK I didn't think we’d be spending too much time away from the coast, that’s what everyone pictures when they picture Australia right? But being out in the outback for roughly four of my five months has been the best Australian experience I could have had. 

Jack and I quickly realised, after my arrival, that we wanted to stay in the country for longer than we’d planned and to do that Jack would need to get himself a second year visa. To get this elusive entity the Australia government requires you to do three months work within certain industries within Australia, one of those is rural industries. Luckily for me and Jack we fell into rural work quickly and haven’t really left it alone yet, save a week or so on the coast. 

Back in May we put an advert on Gumtree essentially selling ourselves as ‘young enthusiastic backpackers seeking rural work’. Yes those are the exact words we used to grab potential employers. We weren’t really expecting a response as there are thousands of ‘young enthusiastic backpackers seeking rural work’ out here for the exact reason we were. To our surprise we got an e-mail from a man called Steve offering us three weeks of work in return for board and wages. Three weeks was a good start and would give us some cash to get us going. So off we trundled to a little village called Toobeah in south Queensland not far from Goondiwindi (you should find that on a map a bit easier if you’re interested).

We spent three weeks in Toobeah on Steve and Yo’s farm, Alamagordo. We had the best time, we got on really well with Steve and Yo and were so grateful for the experience they gave us. To top it all of they found us our next batch of work, north west of them, on a friends farm in Augathella. So after three weeks of fencing, general farm maintenance, stair building, veranda renovating and a bit of cattle work, oh and tractor driving not forgetting un-dioreah-ing a horses bum, we left Steve and Yo to head north. 

We’d heard rumours that the more west and more north you go the more wild it all gets, so I was little nervous heading north west (how many times will I get that baby’s name in this post I wonder?). Driving to Augathella the roads got dustier, the land more barren and greenery more sparse. We were in outback Australia and there was no going back.

After I got over my initial Wolf Creek-esque fears, we had an amazing time. We spent three months at Newcome with Robin and Bash (Ian, everyone’s got a nickname out here) and we did so many things we’d never have got the opportunity to do otherwise. We mustered hundreds of cattle, went through two lots of weeners (calves that have been taken of their mum and are being trained to go through the yards) learned to weld, drove tractors, graders, quad-bikes and had over all, a generally great experience and again met some lovely people. 

We headed back to Steve and Yo’s after three months, yes three months, out in Augathella at Newcome. We did some house sitting for Steve and Yo for a week before heading just twenty minutes down the road, a very short trip compared to all other trips we’ve done, to work for Steve’s cousin and his wife, Ian and Rae on their farm, Kondar. 

Again we were so lucky with the people we were working for. They were so lovely and kind and despite the fact they were paying us  and we were doing jobs for them we didn’t really feel like we working at any point. We were knackered at the end of the day but the days are so fun and relaxed and easy going that a days work isn’t a struggle. I got to do a bit of horse riding at Kondar, we looked after a potty calf christened Lucky and we got to watch some camp drafting as well as going along to a couple of social events with Ian and Rae alongside the work obviously. 

We’ve been so lucky with our outback experience so far and all the people we’ve worked for have been kind, generous and so easy to get on with and we’re keeping in touch with all of them which is so nice for us. From our point of view, as backpackers, we probably wouldn’t have come out to any of these places unless it was a requirement for our second year visa and do and see all the things we’ve seen and done so we both think it’s a great idea as it gives us a chance to do those things we wouldn’t otherwise. I know the people we’ve worked for love the idea too as it can be difficult for them to get the people in to do some of the jobs that us backpackers do so it’s a two way thing.

Obviously not everyone out there is as lovely, kind and normal as the people we were lucky enough to work for so it’s important to be careful when you’re going out to the outback as it’s unlikely you’ll have phone signal out there. If you find work from a site like Gumtree, try and check the people out first if you can. Most people are on Facebook now a days so it doesn’t hurt to take a look, but don’t panic if you can’t find them just make sure you let people know where you’re going and ask your employers if you can give someone their details for contact purposes. Also be sure to give your employer a next of kin just in case something goes wrong. We’re lucky that there’s two of us and we have a vehicle. I’m really not sure if I’d have done these things on my own without a car but that’s just me. 

Oh, and don’t watch Wolf Creek before you go out there.