#travelaustralia travelblog brokenhill outback citytocountry seachange adventure

[youmeandthepuppy]

The beginning.

So as you may have guessed this blog will contain information on our upcoming trip around Australia however I thought I would start from the beginning of how we came to this decision.

My partner and I were living together in Newcastle, NSW, a city two hours north of Sydney. We were living in a two bedroom house with our big puppy, Boston. I recently has graduated university and my partner held a steady job that he enjoyed. When I finished my degree we had two options. We could stay in Newcastle, save for a house, get engaged, get married and have children or we could completely uproot our lives and everything we have ever known and go on adventure.

As you may have guessed we chose option number 2. I was fortunate to score a job straight out of uni in the beautiful outback town of Broken Hill. Broken Hill is located approx. 1100kms west of Sydney. My partner had lined up a job in the local mine. So we sold most of our times and took one trailer load of the remaining furniture that we required.

It was a hot the day we decided to complete the trip , around 40 degrees. We had planned to complete the trip in one go to give us time to unpack and make the round trip to collect our puppy. We got about 2.5 hours outside of Broken Hill when we hear a pop sound at passenger back tyre. The tyre threads had completely snapped in half in 4 out of 5 of the threads. We waited 5 hours on the side of the road for a tow truck in 40 plus degree heat. I think we were delusional by the end as we laughed far too much about the situation.

So the 12 hours we were meant to travel that day turned into only 5. That was okay we completed the rest the following day.

When I arrived in Broken Hill I didn't know what to expect. I had stayed over night there once but had arrived in the night and left early the next morning. To be honest its not the nicest town to drive into. I cried at the sight of the old run down tin houses, dry red dirt and weeds galore.  But we made it safely and that's all that mattered.

I cried the first week as everyday was over 40 degrees. The best thing was a kangaroo that sat at our back fence each afternoon, cooling off in the shade. Now I am less excited about kangroos after spending over a year here.

The first few months here there was not a drop of rain. Coming from the coast there is a regular storm each afternoon after a hot day cooling down the air and making for a comfortable nights rest. Here, the heat is relentless. Day in and day out it is hot. Still over 30 at night time and no breeze. Something I still have not adjusted too. I remember the first time it rained. My partner I were sitting on the lounge watching tv when we thought we heard rain drops on the roof. We ran outside screaming so excited. It only lasted five minutes and was a poor excuse for a storm but hey it was better then nothing. The next few months were equally as dry however a miracle happened and Broken Hill saw the most rain it had had in years. I am so fortunate that I was able to see the dry, aridness of the outback but also saw the beauty that arose when the rains fall. Beds of wild flowers lined walking tracks for as far as your eye could see. Grass sprouted through the cracks of the red earth and animals flourished. It truly is beautiful when it rains.

Coming from Newcastle, I always thought places like Cessnock and Singleton (about an hour outside) were really country. I honestly thought this was so remote and questioned why on earth people would live out there?

Since moving out west I can tell you that is not country, not even Dubbo is that country. Its funny all the questions you get asked when you move to the country like do you have shops? what do people wear/ where do you buy clothes from? Some people are probably reading this like well whats the answer. The answer is there is shops in Broken Hill, target, big w and even a maccas.

Broken Hill has a population of approx. 19000. Its a great community if your willing to put yourself out there and become apart of it. I started my job at a local nursing home. I got approached during this job to play AFL. I had never even watched a game of AFL, could not have told you a player in the league except for my partners cousin who played for some Melbourne team I think...

Anyway my new years resolution for 2016 was to learn a new skill so I took this as a sign from god that this was the skill to be learnt. It was greats thing ever. I loved AFL, met some amazing girls and we won a premiership woo.

The year has flown out in Broken Hill and I have scored a different job working for a private community company providing services to both Broken Hill and outlying towns. I am lucky enough to love my job! It has enabled me to see so much of outback NSW that I never thought I would see.

I think that is enough for today.

You, me & the puppy

xo