Play day for bush babies - a long trip for some fun with toys

THESE kids who live in remote areas of NSW have to travel up to 200km to take part in the Outback Toy Library.

Poppy and Millie Bell play in the outback town of Menindee.

WHEN you're an outback kid going to playgroup is not as simple as walking to the local park.

These kids who live in remote areas of NSW have to travel up to 200km to their nearest neighbour to take part in the Outback Toy Library - a travelling playgroup for children in isolated regions.

Unlike their city counterparts who may go to playgroup once a week, these children are lucky they get to attend it at various nearby stations eight times a year.

Emma Fenton and Vicky Olds in the outback town of Menindee.

But it's a day they relish.

Four-year-old twins Millie and Poppy Bell, whose backyard is their family's 130,000 acre sheep and goat property at Menindee near Broken Hill, can't sleep the night before the library comes to their home.

"They get so excited because they want to spend time with their friends," the twins mother Rebel said.

Little queen of the desert Millie Bell, with Vicky Olds and Emma Fenton.

"WE are so isolated we don't get to see kids all the time so they love it." Mrs Bell Rebel said the library was a vital service offered to families in remote areas as it was a chance for their children to have social interaction with their peers as well as learning development.

She said the library came to their station once a year with around 20 children at any one time.

They do everything like most playgroups from painting to dressing up and having tea parties.

Poppy and Millie Bell play in the outback town of Menindee.

Vicki Olds, who runs the Toy Library, said the service began in 1982 first travelling to Tibooburra and had now grown to offering playgroup to 100 children.

They travel 33,000km a year in a region that stretches north to Tibooburra south to Wentworth and east to Wilcannia and White Cliffs.

Millie and Poppy Bell at play.

"We are the only children service available in some of the places we go to and it's just as important for children as it is parents," Ms Olds said.