Outback mum I FLY A PLANE TO WORK!

Mum-of-five Talia's 'car' has wings Talia Ellis, 37, Berrigan, NSW

- Lizzy Dimopoulos

Soaring through the sky with the rich red of the outback unfolding beneath me, I spotted the billabong and prepared for landing.

A bush pilot, I was flying over Birdsville, an isolated town on the edge of the Simpson Desert in far western Queensland, for the very first time.

It's a whole new world from up here, I smiled.

Parking the plane and going into the Birdsville Hotel across the way, a cold beer and hot meal was just what I needed while the plane was refuelled.

Aged 21, I'd just got my pilot licence and couldn't wait to spread my wings and explore the great Aussie landscape.

I'd landed a job as a pilot in William Creek, a tiny town with a population of just six in outback South Australia.

Spending my days in the air, there was always lots of work to do, including mustering cattle and sheep!

Fast forward seven years, and I was still living in William Creek, taking tourists on scenic flights over Lake Eyre, in South Australia.

At 29, I met Courtney, then 35, who ran an outback tourism company with his brother.

Clicking, we bonded over our shared love of the bush.

Once, I flew us to North Falling in love, we married in August 2016, in Broome, and settled in Aubrey, about 300km north-west of Melbourne.

Still, we'd regularly fly the 1800km to the Birdsville Hotel for a sundowner! And when our family grew, we'd take our five kids! Queensland for a date and we stopped at Birdsville for lunch.

'It's pretty handy having a pilot girlfriend,' Courtney chuckled.