Category: Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)

Free Homeschool Checklist Pages 0

Homeschool Planning – Free Daily Checklist Sheets … Plus Life Then & Now!! (Pics)

We had a really long, really lovely spring break. One of the really fun things was visiting a zoo where we could all feed the kangaroo, camel and other animals. That brought us fond memories of living in the Outback. Down below I will share some old photos of the kids from our days in Australia (we lived their for 12 years and the kids were all born there)… but...

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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...

Goodbye to the Outback! 14

Goodbye to the Outback!

It is hard to believe we have been living in the Outback formore than twelve years. The time has come for us to moveback to the US to be closer to family and friends there. Still,it has been quite difficult to say goodbye to those we’ve becomeso close to here. We fly out tomorrow (May 15th). We organized to go on a camel ride with some of our friends afew...

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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...

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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!!

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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...

Simpsons Gap 0

Getting Ready to Say Goodbye: Beautiful Simpson’s Gap Photos

Our time has been taken up more and more by our move away from central Australia. We are both excited to move on and sad to leave this beautiful area. We’ve been here 12+ years and have amazing friends and memories. It has been overwhelming the number of things we need to do to be ready to pack up and leave, so expect fewer and fewer posts. Just another 6...

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Huntsman Spiders

The other day as I pulled away from the house, a huntsman spider crawled up over my shoulder… luckily it was on the OTHER side of the glass, but it really startled me. Let me tell you, when you see that 3 1/2 inch (8 cm) spider out of the corner of your eye, you flinch! This huntsman was hanging out on our garbage can today. Perhaps it’s the same...

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Port Lincoln Ringneck Parrot

Last week LD was very excited about birds (wewere going over the vertebrate groups and talkedfirst for a week or so about reptiles, then for anotherfew days about birds.) He made a bird feeder and we bought bird seed tohang on our front fence. It took a while, but today wefinally had visits from the Port Lincoln (or Ringneck) Parrot.

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What’s the Difference Between a Kangaroo and a Wallaby?

After I posted the pictures of the kids feeding the wallabies over the weekend, someone asked a great question. They asked what the difference between a kangaroo and a wallaby is. I’m no expert, but I’ll give a brief answer here. We actually went to the Desert Park (zoo) yesterday, so I happen to have a picture of a Red Kangaroo from our outing yesterday. The Red Kangaroo is common...