An Explanation of Size In The Bush...

Let's be clear about something. Size doesn't matter.

When you live out here, things are always bigger. (We're just like Texas). I often have people ask me about 'size related' things when I tell them I live out west. By writing this blog, I hope to better explain 'size' from a country perspective.

Our farm spans 32 000 acres. Or approximately 15 000 hectares. Or if you are from anywhere else in Australia, it's 130 square kilometres. Just to put this in perspective for you, the average property size in Australia (much like those in a city or town) is 0.000325 square kilometres. So basically, we could fit in approximately 250 000-300 000 average 'properties' into our 'block'. And our place is very average in regards to its size for this part of the world. Some properties in rural Australia are much larger. Some are over a million acres. One is even bigger than Belgium.

* I'm not fantastic at maths... if you can actually correct my maths there, please feel free to do so...

I once spoke to an Australia Post employee in Sydney (over the phone), about trying to change my residential address to the town from A to B (as we live smack between the two, and have two separate entries to our property, all I needed to do was place a mailbox out one side to receive mail from the OTHER closest town).  The poor girl could NOT get her head around how it was at all possible to do that. In the end I gave up trying to explain and left our postal address as it was.

I recently blogged about how and why cars are bigger. It's not just that we all like to drive 'luxury' vehicles. You can read about it here.

We drive further distances for things the rest of Australia takes for granted. I have been known to do an 80km round trip for milk. And I'm lucky. Some people could NEVER do a round trip of any discription because of their geographic isolation. Our children's bus stop is 20km away. The school is 40km away. Our mailbox is 3km away. My nearest neighbour is 10km away. And all of this is very 'average' in rural Australian terms. I regularly travel 100km in each direction for groceries, access to a chiropracter and other medical facilities. Our dentist is 250km away. I travel (at least 3 or 4 times a year) for 600km in each direction to visit family and take my children to see specialists in 'the city'.

Thank goodness for social networking!


The cost of living is far greater than anywhere on the east coast of Australia. Everything has to be freighted in and out; fuel, groceries, goods and services. Pretty much, the further west you get, the more you pay. We still need to eat and breathe like everyone else, it just costs us more to do it. I'm not complaining. Not really. Not seriously. Without people like us living out here, food and produce that everyone else takes for granted, would cost even more than it already does. All your fruit, veges, cotton, wool, meat, dairy etc etc. all comes from somewhere. Somewhere like out here.

The only thing that is smaller out here is the population! But thankfully, I get to immerse myself in that when I go about all my other jobs in the city.

It really is the best of both worlds out here. It's only as good as you make it. And size really doesn't matter at all.

Let Me Show You Around The Farm...

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be able to do this... And then my brother in law came home today in a helicopter. He has to fly back to the coast in a few days, and it must have been my lucky day, as he offered to take me for a flight. I've NEVER been in a helicopter before, and I thought that petting a dolphin was as good as this last month could get. I was wrong. This was just so much fun!

So if you have never been here before, then sit back, pretend you are up there with me, and take a look at the southern end of our property. And if you are already well versed in the lay out of our property, then enjoy these pictures from the air.

This first one is just me being so excited that I felt the need to photograph my perspective. That's everyone out front waving at me. In the background is the in-laws shed and the Hut (where our nanny stayed).

Okay, this time we are officially off the ground. I have no idea where exactly this is, but I imagine it would be heading just west of our house (as the crow flies ironically enough). Centre is a small dam. It all looks so flat, but at least it's green!

This time we have done a full sweep and are heading in an easterly direction again. It's quite hard to take a straight photo when your left arm is flapping about in the wind of a 2-seater helicopter. (Just in case you thought we were so high up that I actually captured the rounding edge of the planet). We are mostly sheep, and also some cattle out here. I didn't see too many of either on this flight - though in all fairness, the property is quite large compared to a city block. I did see a few kangaroos however. This is pretty much a standard photo of how the whole property would look from the air though.

I love this photo. Top right is the driveway out to the mailbox. From the part where it goes straight (just above the cluster of trees - top right of centre) to the mailbox (which you can't see in this photo) is about 1.5km. The building on the left is one of our shearers quarters. On the right (other side of the road from the shearers quarters) behind the trees is the shearing shed. These are the ones at the southern end of the property for anyone who has been here. The road bottom centre takes you to our house, another 1.5km away.

Top centre of this photo is the shearing shed. The majority of the photo is of the yards. They could use a good shower of rain (also ironically enough, given that 75% of Queensland is currently in flood). Technically we are in the 25%, even though we are completely surrounded by water. These yards are quite large. And there is a reason they are circular like this. It has to do with the way you move livestock through them. One day I will explain this better.

 This is my favourite photo of the day. On the left is our little house, with the shed behind it. Just in front of our house here, it looks like two patches of sand either side of grass. This is where we have extended our backyard, and the grass has only grown in the middle section as of yet. I have promised to have my kids christened when the lawn covers those two sandy areas. Stay tuned. On the right is my parents in law. Quite close. Some might say 'scarily close'... but luckily they are both lovely people, and it is also (conveniently) a safe walking distance for my children to get to on their daily visit. Wonderful. When CP and I first married, our house was there (smaller than it is today), but there were no trees on the right side of our house at all. (OK, maybe just the one). CP planted almost every tree between our place and his parents, and it has revolutionised my life.

I jokingly told my mother in law today that this will be a great photo for realestate.com . In the event of selling... anyone???? No... probably not too funny... especially coming from the daughter in law.

Anyway. That's us from the air.

What a day!

PS: To everyone affected by the floods of QLD, I am thinking of you and sending my very best thoughts and best wishes. Please make donations to support our Queenslanders in need!