OUTBACK FARM

Water drillers, Danyelle and Anthony Haigh give up their nomadic life of searching for water for cattle ranches, to offer their two sons, Heath and Theo, a more settled life. They swap water drilling for farming.

They sell up everything and move 3,000 kilometres from their home in Queensland to a remote, ramshackle, 5,000 acre farm, slap bang in the middle of Australia! Out there it’s harsh, desert country, where temperatures exceed 40 degrees and bush fires rage.

City girl, Danyelle and country boy, Anthony have never run a farm before and they’re banking on growing hay - in the desert! The debts are huge and they’ve given themselves just 2 years to make it a success.

Big dreams? Or a big fat nightmare? 

EPISODE 1
Anthony and Danyelle Haigh start their new life converting a failed, desert farm into a hay growing business and tourist park, diving deeper into debt with the purchase of a massive irrigation watering system. Two year old, Theo, gets sick and struggles to breathe. With the nearest hospital over 2 hours away, Anthony and Danyelle must act quickly to save Theo’s life.

EPISODE 2
Farm hard Elijah and farm caretaker, Shane are left in charge on the farm while Anthony is away. While laying water pipes, they sever the main water pipe risking the farm’s entire hay crop. Danyelle gets her first booking for the tourist park accommodation but it still needs a complete renovation. It’s all hands to the pumps to get it ready in time. Meranda and Shane are feeling the pressure of the work and the remoteness. Their son, 4 year old Finlay, goes missing.

EPISODE 3
The brand new, $300,000 baler, has a missing part, putting a stop to the Haigh’s first harvest. New farm hand, Bree is brought into help Elijah, prune 300 lemon trees, that are vital to the farm’s lease. The Haigh family leave the farm to attend an Outback style rodeo called a Campdraft. Danyelle gives Bree and Elijah just 5 days to complete the work on the lemon trees. On the family’s return to the farm, governess Deri, tells Danyelle she is leaving.

EPISODE 4
Anthony and Danyelle hit the road with their first delivery of hay. They’ve barely left the farm when their truck breaks down. As they attempt to limp home, the truck shudders violently and black smoke pours from the exhaust. Anthony can’t stop the engine. Monsoonal storms approach the farm sending down lightning that starts a bush fire which heads straight for the farm. Anthony and Elijah attempt to put the fire out by back burning. The only hope they have is for the wind to change or the rain to pour.