Our Cloncurry Year...

The 10th of September marked our one year anniversary of living in the hot Cloncurry outback, in North West Queensland, WOWSA!

We can't believe we've actually been living in this tiny town for one year, the time has just flown by so quickly, it's madness!

After nine months of travelling along the east coast of Australia and then across the top of Australia we made an unexpected stop in Cloncurry, North West Queensland and a whole lot of doors opened for us and life took a different turn. We've had ups and downs, mainly ups here in Cloncurry and over twelve months later we are still in Cloncurry. We are going to find leaving this place quite difficult, who would have thought we'd get so into living this outback town lifestyle...Me, well I'm open to nearly everything and anything, I love the adventure and experiencing a different type of lifestyle!

At first our car broke down out of town, however, we thought we would have it fixed over a few days and be on our way over the weekend, well, as we soon found out everything happens at a MUCH slower pace out here in the outback towns. Apart from the mechanics being closed so that they could attend a rodeo, we where told we had to wait 6 weeks for parts to arrive from Melbourne...So we decided we weren't going to spend our travel money on living expenses, so we quickly got some work. Well, plenty of work kept rolling in, so we decided to stay just a couple months. We then very quickly (Shane preached the second Sunday we were here at Cloncurry Christian Church) got involved with Church and decided we would stay and help out at the local church, work, and see what life would be like in the outback. We also got involved and got to know many people in the community and when we decided to consider leaving again, we were offered a cleaning contract at a caravan park which I did for about 5 months before I got sick and Shane for over six months (and the wet season was coming up quickly too), which then leads me to the next reason we remained, I got sick!

I've remained up and down with my health, Shane continued working and just went with the flow...
We have had the privilege of being part of many AWESOME outback community events both in Cloncurry and Mt Isa ( Mt. Isa is about 120kms West of Cloncurry..we have made many trips to Mt. Isa since living in Cloncurry)...We've been to 4 rodeos and one of them was the biggest one in the southern hemisphere, it was FANTASTIC! We've been to the Cloncurry Christmas festival, Cloncurry show, gem festival, horse racing, the BIG C150 celebrating Cloncurrys 150th birthday celebration and many more Fun, community outback events, it's been a privilege do be a part of these events.

So many reasons have kept us here...we decided to remain here because we wanted to, we never thought though that we would still be here nearly 13 months later. The more we get to know the community here, the harder it is to say goodbye, especially for me, I think I've kind of formed an attachment with this place, something about it that I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it is and it's not just one thing, it's a few different things...I'm definitely a sucker for community events, I'm a sucker for being involved with the community. I want to give more to the community, I want to see communities thrive and come together, support each other, celebrate ups and be there for each other during the downs of life...

  

                                           We will miss this place when the time comes to leave...We'll see what the future holds...We plan to settle somewhere one day, after a lot more travel and maybe a long stop somewhere on the coast...you just never know what the future holds!
Thank You Cloncurry and the Cloncurry communtiy for embracing us, for those that befriended us...Thank You. Thank You for so VERY much!
Cloncurry became our home and it is once again a bit sad to say Goodbye, however, Goodbye for now Cloncurry, we'll see you again one day I'm sure...It is time to move on and see what else the future holds for the RECH Family on our FUN, CRAZY, ADVENTURE...Our Faith Led Journey!

                        

I hope all is well in your world.
Love from,
Dimi, Shane, Elissa, Serena xox

Frogs, Frogs And More Frogs..Oh and Tar Tar Lizards Everywhere...

Yep, Cloncurry has a heap of frogs, Tar Tar lizards and gecko lizards here. We are forever removing frogs from the amenities blocks. Oh and the tartar lizards and gecko's are everywhere! The toilets often occupy one or two frogs. The most frogs we've seen in just one toilet was seven frogs, seven frogs in one toilet bowl, YUCK!

Thankfully we've all kind of adjusted to living with these creatures around us, because the geckos live in our home with us (when living in the Oasis park house the geckos were forever crawling on the walls, we've even had a couple living in our caravan), they get into everywhere. 
We haven't adjusted to the snakes and bugs..the snakes are scary and the bugs, they are EVERYWHERE...all types of creepy crawlies. Mozzies and flies everywhere, grasshoppers everywhere, locusts everywhere, cockroaches YUCK, and bees are easily 4 times the size of an average wasp with a huge stinger and bee nests all over the place, yep, Cloncurry is one special place, Hahaha 😨😁

The Tar Tar lizards are quite cute, they come in all shapes and sizes, and they usually scatter when you get too close to them. The tar tar lizards also wave (well it looks like they are saying hello to you, Haha), it is adorable!

Our girls are so used to these cute creatures, they will often pick up the tar tars, geckos and even the frogs and have a closer look at them...

It's a whole lot of FUN living in North West Queensland, lots of things to see and do, lots of new experiences to be had and different things to explore...We are one very blessed family, living life how and where ever we want to...Life is pretty GREAT.

I Hope everyone is well and enjoying Life xo
Love Dimi

A Whole Lot Of Laughs..Thanks For The Catch Up...

It was great to catch up with these friendly faces from back home in Sunbury, Vic.
We had a whole lot of laughs and enjoyed catching up on all our travelling adventures over Sunday and Monday. The 4 girls really enjoyed each others company, and had a great time together...It was a great few days.
                              
Thanks for the laughs and sharing your journey with us guys, it was GREAT to see you and hear all about your wonderful family adventure around Australia.

Take Care Guys, stay safe and enjoy the rest of your travels xo
Love, 
The Rech Family xo

                           

Mt Isa Mines Rotary Rodeo 2017...

So a few weekends ago (11th-13th August) we went to the Mount Isa Mines Rotary Rodeo, this rodeo attracts more than 20000 people and is the largest annual rodeo event in the southern hemisphere, WOOHOOOOO, it was HUGE and a lot of rodeo FUN was had, we loved it...I would so go again, I'm thinking about going next year for the 60th year...it really was a great experience...YEEHAAW!

Check out the Cowgirl and Cowboy...

Love Birds...

Our Cowgirls enjoying the show...

The Mount Isa Mines Rotary Rodeo is part of the Australian Outback, where the Australian outback meets the grit of a mining town, east meets west and man meets beast, Hahaha! The rodeo was pretty much non-stop rodeo action with bull riding, saddle bronc, bareback bronc, rope & tie, steer wresting, team roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping.
The rodeo was also full of food vans, rides galore (pretty much every ride that was at the Cloncurry show was at the rodeo), market stalls selling a whole lot of cowboy gear, awesome country music bands...Look there was sooo much there, if your going to go to a rodeo then I reckon the Mt Isa Rotary Rodeo would be one of the BEST ones to go to...Might see you there next time, you never know 😉
                             

My HOT Cowboy!

Me and My Cowgirls...

We had such a GREAT night at the Mt Isa Rodeo. 
All the animals were fine and well looked after, can't say that for the humans many were beaten and copped a broken bone or two, however, they know what they are getting themselves into.

The rodeo was a whole lot of outback FUN, YEEHAAWWW...I hope to go again some day, I'm sure we will!
Hope all is well in your world xo
Take Care,
Dimi xo