By Ellen

Tibooburra is the most remote town of New South Wales. It has a population of about 150. Soon after we got to Tibooburra from Broken Hill the rains hit, and within 24 hours all the roads north were closed. A few hours later all the roads to anywhere were closed. Our plans to reach the more remote outposts of Innamincka and Birdsville were scrapped.

So, what does one do in a town this size for four days and nights? We wondered about that, but it soon became obvious that this was going to be a great experience that we would cherish for a long time.

Tibooburra has its cast of characters to be sure. One is Lena Kelly, age 68, who has lived in this tiny town since she her family brought her here in 1937. She raised a family of five boys and two girls. Her husband, now deceased, was postmaster of the area. Lena's children have mostly left the area although one son, Arthur, comes into town weekly as an RTA man. The Road and Traffic Authority maintain the roads and decide whether they are closed or open after the rains. Arthur is a jolly and likeable fellow.

Clifton Pugh was another great character. A well-known Australian artist, Clifton's bawdy murals grace the pub inside the Family Hotel on Briscoe Street, the main street of Tibooburra. These murals grace every wall in the pub and are not protected. Soon the art work will succumb to the relentless cracking of the walls caused by the tunneling roots of the towering gum trees. Efforts have been made to delay the inevitable but mostly the needed repairs are too costly for the current owners of the pub.

Liz and Peter Petrovich are the current owners of the famous Family Hotel. They met and married eight years ago and have been the mainstay of Briscoe Street, welcoming outback tourists to their pub. We had dinner there every evening. Liz and I at one point even brought out our flute and saxophone for a late night duet.

The NSW National Parks people were also great fun to spend time with in Tibooburra. PhD-candidate in biology, Rebecca Montague, and feral cat specialist, Kim Piddington, took us on some good hikes into Sturt National Park (between rains, of course). And Heath McRae of the Australian Plague Locust Commission treated us to a helicopter ride with his pilot, Tim Turner, while they surveyed the area by air for locust swarms.

Tibooburra even has a drive-in theater. It was closed, of course, because of the inclement weather.

It was hard to beat, that little outpost in the Australian Outback. If we had to be stranded somewhere, Tibooburra was a great place to be.

A German student, Sandra, covered with the ever-present flies of the Outback	Lena Kelly with a friend a the pub inside the Family Hotel
Ranger Dave Monahan, who oversees the Tibooburra area including the Sturt National Park	A stranded tourist calling home during the storms over Tibooburra. Visitors could not leave town for four days and nights
Comparing maps was a common activity during our days in Tibooburra. Everyone was looking to find an alternative route out.	This is the famous drive-in theater in Tibooburra, complete with rusty lawn chairs. Films are shown every Saturday night, weather permitting.
There hasn't been a crime reported in Tibooburra since 1974. And they caught the television set thief the next day. If you need the police now, you have to call Broken Hill for help which is approximately 380 km away.	Feral cat specialist, Kim Piddington, covered with flies in Sturt National Park
Here is Kim holding up some ancient gold mining tools. These are sheets of metal dotted with holes miners used to sift through gravel and sand in the rivers, looking for gold.	This is a close-up of one of the sheets, showing the home-made holes.
Some mining tools found in the ruins of an old gold mine on the edge of Sturt National Park.	Two Dutch visitors, Bert and Gus, are stranded in Tibooburra with us. They are on assignment from a Dutch magazine doing stories on the people and places of Australia's Outback. They are shown here talking with Peter Petrovich, owner of the Family Hotel.
The Road and Traffic Authority group, who were in Tibooburra to check on roads leading out of this remote outpost.	Lena Kelly's son, Arthur, having a good time between rains.
Liz and Peter Petrovich, owers of the Tibooburra Family Hotel	An aerial of Tibooburra.