Longreach area

Another excerpt from my journal:

THURSDAY, 18 April – An extremely warm day at 38 degrees and our first day of exploration in this region.

Morning:  On the way in the train we passed through a town called Ilfracombe which is only 27kms east of Longreach, and we had espied an interesting array of old machinery.  So this was our first stop today.  Further investigation revealed a display of farming and industry machinery used in this region and called the “Great Machinery Mile”.  

Probably faster service than 

Dial Up!!

Check out the Outback Pub hours

A Cement Wagon wheel

A little town of 350 residents, full of history and friendly locals. We enjoyed a couple of ‘coldies’ at the historic Wellshot Hotel where the ceiling is covered in a variety of paper currencies and the walls are covered with an amazing collection of drover’s hats.

A Furphy Wagon

Darwin vs. Victoria stubby war

Afternoon:  Enjoyed a very reasonable priced lunch at ‘Starlight’s Tavern’ and then spent a leisurely hour in the “Outback Pics” photographic gallery admiring photos of some of the areas we expect to explore over the next two weeks.

Billy tea, damper, poetry & fun

Back in the Van park at 5.30pm we joined other ‘happy campers’ around a large campfire to enjoy damper, billy tea, and an hour with a local bush poet.  What fun, and a great way to end our first full day in the “outback”.  

Tomorrow will be another day of exploration, history, culture, and fun – and an extra night in Longreach has been decided upon.

FRIDAY, 19 April – Another very hot day at 39 degrees. Our extra night at Longreach meant we could take time to explore more of the history in this area.  It also meant a change in travel plans in getting to Winton to meet with local quilters, but today’s activities were worth the change.

Morning:  QANTAS Founders Museum - $16pp (concession) entry – Excellent – 5 Stars

This is a very fascinating museum with lots of ‘hands-on’ audio-visual displays. There is an extra guided tour of the 747 Jumbo but we opted not to take the tour as it was extremely hot out on the tarmac and we chose to spend the extra hour exploring the exhibits inside the museum. This included quilts (spotted on arrival of course), model aircraft, static displays, photos, local memorabilia, and a theatre running a black and white doco about the history of our first airline. We spent four hours exploring this unique museum.

Airport shuttle 1920s style

Who's at the controls?

Afternoon:  Change of plans – too hot to walk around the Iningar Nature Reserve so we visited the Arts and Crafts Gallery which is housed in the original ambulance station built in 1921.  There was a small quilt exhibition with about 12 quilts made by local quilters and their district centenary quilt, made in 1987, was also on display.

Back in the outdoors again we drove out to the ‘free’ campground at the Apex Park on the Thomson River. A few vans here but not as busy as we expected.  There are a lot of black-winged kites, whistlers, and corellas in the area and the OGO got some great shots down near the river.

A quick visit to Parks and Wildlife to check on roads, etc to Bladensburg NP (proposed camping spot).  No problems there – warned that flies are extremely bad in the area. Suggested purchase fly nets – bought last two in local IGA so they must be bad!!!!

Evening:  An enjoyable “happy hour” with a couple from WA – Dave and Danelle – and prepped for early start tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the ‘real’ beginning of our Outback Adventure.

GOOD THINGS ABOUT LONGREACH:

QANTAS Founders Museum (very good value);  Bush poet at Van park (gold coin donation and lots of fun); lots of verdehlo at local Bottle-O; ‘Outback Pics’ gallery (free); fantastic sunsets

NOT SUCH GOOD THINGS ABOUT LONGREACH:

Heat; no fabric shop

MOST MEMORABLE TIME:  Bush poet’s evening entertainment

Hope you have enjoyed this entry.