It was a big decision for us to move from South Australia to Queensland, leaving our close friends behind and our first family home. Took a lot of guts and gambles our stable living in Whyalla for an unknown future in the sunny state. Nevertheless, as it's part of our 5-year plan to relocate to a tropical state we grab the opportunity and made our dream a reality.
On 27th of March this year, we left Whyalla at 6AM with the hope of a better future. Passed the OneSteel gate with a heavy heart as the company gave us the break six years ago to work and live here in Australia. Working for OneSteel gave us financial stability and experiences that will be surely missed especially to those persons who helped us along the way.
The excitement and worry started when we crossed Sa-NSW border as we asked ourselves this is now the point of no return... Are we ready for the change in our lifestyle and career? The answer was a big YES, it took us 3 months, lots of consultation with our close friends and heaps of prayer to finally sign on the dotted line (LOO).
As we are crossing the NSW-QLD we certainly noticed the big difference among the three states as an avid road traveller, not sure if others look at it closely as we do as we value our safety when we travel it is the SIDEROAD in the rural areas. Unkept weeds that is almost 1m tall, soft edges with no warnings, not enough room if you have to park on the side of the road in case you have to and the scariest that I can think of is if you want to take a piss and a snake is lurking next to you. I know there is a toilet in rest areas but sometimes you cannot plan or control the call of nature to wee. I was planning to write a letter to the states of Qld and NSW to seek info about their maintenance plans on the roads but put on hold on this thoughts as I want to checked other states and territories first. But definitely I can say that in South Australia all the SIDEROAD's are clear, wide for emergency parking and with minimal weeds as you cant totally eliminate it. Anyway this is our observation only and still on progress of making a conclusion once we visited all the other states and territories by road.
Pics posted are randomly taken and for information some of the rural roads in NSW and QLD where being trimmed when we passed it but overall percentage wise is very small.
SA roadside
NSW roadside
QLD roadside
What we loved most during this trip was the change in the environ from dry, brown and dusty to fresh, green and leafy areas plus the change in weather. We don't mind the sweating of our armpits, looking forward to those nights sitting on a chair with a glass of wine and feel the cool breeze of air.
Travelled more than 2200kms from Whyalla to Blackwater with 2 stops (Cobar and Emerald), it's sad for me to see lots of dead animals along the road often think why these animals are not smart enough not to cross the road and not to cause serious car crashes.
First night in Blackwater, we stayed in the transient house that pretty much look like houses in Philippines provinces with "silong". Can't stop thinking about those night creatures that often mentioned in our elders stories and so the long night began. Good thing that we only stayed for 6 nights then moved to our permanent home with much lower "silong".
Queenslander House
After our stuff arrived we were surprised how much junk we have collected in 6 years and not able to fit it in our new home. The company has provided a 2-bedroom house only to us as we don't have kids yet so the solution for our problem is to have one bub soon. And how soon is that? I will let you know in our future blogs...
Note: "Silong" = basement
"the stranded"
"big toys for the big boys"
