Outback Adventure Tour

With animal welfare close to our hearts and a dedication to promote a love for all creatures far and wide, Animals On The Move, once again, embarked on our annual Outback Adventure Tour in 2011.

Rachael Woodham, Animals On The Move farmer, team member and legendary (in our minds) camel racing jockey... combines her love of animals and the great outdoors with another of her passions, Camel Racing!

Rachael set off on the 4th of July with her two side-kicks (children) and a bunch of farmyard animals (49 to be exact) on the annual, Animals On The Move Outback Adventure Tour. They travelled from Victoria, through outback NSW to far north Queensland, for a cumulative distance of 3,000 km (pretty far !).

The epic two month long journey visited primary schools, kindergartens, child-care centres and popular public events at three Camel Racing Festivals.

“Outback schools don’t often have the opportunity to participate in the kind of programs we offer, so we bring the farmyard to them!,” said Rachael Woodham, farmer and Animals On The Move Team member.

The journey began…

School homework dairies were in check and readers packed, swags on board and fully fueled with food, fresh water and diesel. .. the animals were loaded into the van, Noahs Ark style. The farmyard sessions were already booked and the map drawn out… it was time to mooove.

The journey brought a mish mash of our fun farmyard experience to outback communities, plenty of laughter, colourful animal anecdotes, games and animal learning activites. There were were plenty of smiles and hands on fun with children petting and feeding our large range of animals. They even adopted a kangaroo to care for along the way!

“When Animals On The Move visited, we didn't realise how popular it would be. We had well over 100 children aged newborn to 5 through the gates eager to meet the animals. We could have had the animals there all day they were so popular!“ said Kylie Toms from Daphne Street playgroup in Mount Isa, Queensland.

The Outback Adventure Tour combined with Rachael’s Camel Racing events was a great success. Willing farmyard helpers welcomed thousands of families to pet and feed the animals during the Camel Race Festivals whilst Rachael competed. Rachael dominated the competition and won fourteen 1st places, and also took home the award for jockey of the day. Twice!

Rachaels parents, animals lovers themselves, Leonie and Trevor and best friend Manda, flew up to the Boulia Races to watch Rachael race and help out with the Animals On The Move farmyard experience at the event. They were disappointed when the Races were cancelled due to flooding, however, the farmyard still welcomed many. Rachael's parents had an adventure of their own when their plane was forced to land on a dirt track after getting lost in the outback.

Charlee, 7 and Kurt, 6, documented their experiences in their journals for homework and got to see real dinosaur bones and visited a Bilby farm! The children were a great help at the schools, played games with the children and explained the farm animal products we use in our daily lives and where they come from.

Rachael's son, Kurt was amazed the children didn’t have to wear shoes to school in the outback! Rachael's daughter, Charlee, loved spotting the many kangaroo’s whilst on the road trip and questioned, “Are Kangaroos made in Australia?” It was a learning experience for all!

With this year’s successes of winning the Access For All Catergory at the Cardinia Shire Business Awards and over-all 2011 Business Of The Year, Rachael was determined to expand her expedition this year and visited the most outback communities so far, and aims to see even more on next years journey.

Rachael loves to mix business with leisure when combining the tour with a family holiday and Camel Racing events. “This year's Animals on the Move Outback Tour has been the adventure of a life time for my children and I. Not many families can go on holidays, travel far and wide, have a fantastic time and bring smiles to the faces of many!”

If you live in an Outback community and would like us to visit your place, please contact us...we love being on the move!