Looking Back -- A Year Ago This Week we Left the Outback

A year ago this week, we said goodbye to the outback. It was bittersweet for us. We were ready to come to the US and live nearer to our family, but we loved our twelve years over in Central Australia. The kids were all born there. In no particular order -- here are some photos from the Outback (animals and other stuff). For many, many more -- click on the Where We Live link. When I started this blog, that is where we lived (I guess I had no eye for the future!)

We had many amazing friends over there. We found out last week that one family we are particularly close to is going to move to the same town as us! Hooray!

This is pretty typical scenery.  This was taken on a camping trip along a dry river bed.

We always wore hats and often wore fly nets when we went hiking or camping because the flies were so bad.

This is a thorny devil.

We used to go feed the wallabies behind a local motel all the time (about once a month).  You could by food for a dollar and the rock wallabies would feed out of your hand.

This beautiful place is called Simpson's Gap.  I used to do a lot of mountain biking and when I was training for mountain bike races I would ride my bike out there (roughly 20km each way).

This is a Galah (ga-law).  They are pretty, but make an awful squawking noise especially since they fly and feed in flocks.

We had bird seed out on our fence and attracted lots of birds including galahs above and Port Lincoln Ring-necked Parrots (below). Port Lincolns are often seen together as a pair.

Stuart Desert Pea

I took the kids hiking at Standley Chasm all the time (above and below). The chasm was awesome looking at noon when the light came straight down.

Each year there were camel races in town.  They were great fun to watch and a big tourist attraction.

This is a redback.  We had them all around our house. Ugh. They are related to the black widow and they are venomous.

The kids loved the Reptile Centre because you could hold the lizards and one of their (non-venomous) snakes. This is a blue-tongued lizard.

This of course is Sydney. We flew in and out of Sydney whenever we flew back to the States (which we did reasonably often since there were lots of weddings, funerals and rotation trips in the 12 years we were there.)

Tasmanian Devil

Wombat

Little ED feeding and an emu.

Feeding the  kangaroo in South Australia

echidna

koala

Goodbye to the Outback!

It is hard to believe we have been living in the Outback for
more than twelve years. The time has come for us to move
back to the US to be closer to family and friends there. Still,
it has been quite difficult to say goodbye to those we've become
so close to here. We fly out tomorrow (May 15th).



















We organized to go on a camel ride with some of our friends a
few weeks ago (pic above).  Since I was sick (and missed it) and
the kids had such a wonderful time, my friend and I went down
for a final ride today.  After so many weeks of hard work, packing
and cleaning it was fabulous to get out and just have fun!

Last Saturday we had a wonderful goodbye party/bonfire
beneath the crystal clear Outback skies.  You'll never see the
Milky Way and starry sky like you do here so far away from
any big city (1000km to the nearest major city!!)

It's hard to express in writing how much we'll miss everyone
here, the low key, traffic-free lifestyle and the amazing things
that make living in the Outback so unique and wonderful. I will
personally miss all the sports and music that have so enriched
my life.  I've gotten to play field hockey now as an adult for 10
years (how many women get to play hockey after college/university
in the US unless they're Olympians?  I'm certainly not that good!).
I've also loved playing soccer, mountain biking, running through
the gorgeous outback along red, sandy 4WD tracks, camping with
no one around for miles/kilometers!  And my music has been an
amazing blessing. I've made the most incredible bonds with the
others in my wind ensemble, the Alexandria Quartet (though we're
actually a quintet!!).  It was a privilege playing with all of you
(I play the oboe).

My love and hugs to all those incredible people I've gotten to know
here!

There will be no new posts at the Homeschool Den for quite a
while. Perhaps as long as three or four months from now. We'll
be traveling to see family, sell a house, buy a house, and things
like that.  We  don't expect to get our household goods for at
least 10-12 weeks  (that is, if we've managed to find a place to buy
right away. Otherwise, it  will all go into storage for a  while.)

Anyway, thank you so much for reading our blog.  Farewell for now!

Bike Trail

The kids have been real troopers as we pack
up, sort, break down furniture, sell appliances,
outdoor play equipment, and everything that
moving entails. Not to mention the endless
errands around town. We were also stuck at
home as ED was sick all night a couple of nights
ago.

Today, we dedicated the morning to some plain
outdoor fun. We packed up the kids' bikes and
had a really fun ride along the local bike path. It's
really pretty and we all deserved the lovely
morning out!

Five Foot Spider's Web

Golden Orb Spider:

 
































When we stopped for a water break, we spotted this huge
spider. It's web was at least five feet across. The main
portion of its body was as big as the first joint of my big
toe (it was probably 4 inches across if you count the legs)!
Glad it was off to the side; it'd be horrible to ride our
bikes into that web!!

Jesse Gap

One of the few things we did out-and-about
last week was to go to Jesse Gap with friends.
The older kids had a lot of fun climbing up
the rocks. There was a "cave" up behind the
trees and the boys spent a long time exploring
while the younger ones hid plastic Easter
eggs in the grass. (Yes, we kept a hawk's-eye
out for snakes!)

Meanwhile, on the home front we've continued
to sort, pack up and sell. We've gotten rid of
much of our "big stuff" the truck (but not the
car), all the playground equipment, trampoline,
lots of appliances (since Australia is 22o, etc.),
baby stuff, tot-toys and more. I even sorted
through all our home-school stuff, sorted it into
send by ship (and not see it for 4-6+ months)
and take-it-with-us in suitcases stuff. I emptied
the workboxes and disassembled them for the
packout, etc.

The packers come in two weeks. We leave Australia
two weeks after that for new adventures in the U.S.

Galahs

We put up a brick of bird seed on the front fence. Last week
in addition to the Port Lincoln (Ring-Necked) Parrots we
had a number of galahs come in for a feed.

A Couple More Port Lincoln Parrot Pics

Stuart Desert Pea

These flowers grow here in Central Australia. My
neighbor has some growing on the verge.  I've always
liked them because they're quite unique, so thought
I'd snap a picture or two and share them here.