Tin sheds and snakes: One woman's outback adventure

IF YOU'RE a young person considering a move to the bush, 86-year-old Valerie Thomas has some words of wisdom for you.

"It's for you if you want a challenge," she said.

The spritely senior was 24 years old, and a private-school educated city girl from Brisbane, when she married a farmer and moved to a property north-west of Roma called Pinnacle.

"I went out to live in a tin shed. My mother first came out with me," she said.

"She was so shocked she couldn't believe her eyes."

Valerie moved to the bush when she married Fred Thomas, and they went on to raise six children together.

"My father knew Fred's father, they must have got talking," she said.

"That's how I got the opportunity to go out to their farm where I met Fred."

Valerie said while she had a very rich life in Brisbane, her move to the bush was exciting.

"I loved the land," she said.

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Tin sheds and snakes: One woman's outback adventure