Lovin Longreach

Wednesday 2 September, our journey to Longreach was uneventful, the only thing of note was the fact that we had a strong tailwind for most of the trip giving us an amazing 13.5 litres per 100klms fuel consumption. We also took less time than anticipated as the vehicle sat on 90klms per hr at lower revs than normal. Our arrival in Longreach saw us drive up the main street and visit the tourist info centre before going out to the tourist van park and setting up for a week. It was hot (about 35) with very strong winds and semi-overcast, not at all nice and we retreated to the van and its air conditioner. The park has a small pool and some separate spa pools, but it is very stark with virtually no trees and all gravel except for some slab sites and some cabins.  Roos regularly invade the park and a couple of Brolgas have also appeared.

Roos at the rear of the Jeep in the park

Thursday 3 September, we awoke to a much nicer day and went into town and booked some tours then had coffee and scones at an art gallery. Jim finally got a haircut and feels human again. After lunch in the van, we returned to town to catch up on shopping then further relaxation in the van.

Friday 4 September, we did our Kinnon’s Cobb & Co experience, with Jim winning a seat up front with the driver. This was a really excellent thing to do, the highlight being the team going into a short gallop out of town on a dusty track. This was followed up at the depot with yummy Devonshire tea, a classic Aussie movie (Smiley gets a gun), then the hilarious Harry Redford Old Time Tent Show, involving well trained animals.

 The team starts to open up

Back in town with freelancer following

Love that smile!

Saturday 5 September, in the morning we set off for the Qantas Founders Museum and a guided tour of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, a Boeing 707 with a trick interior, and a venerable DC3. This experience was good value, as was the lunch we had there. We returned to the van for a rest, then were picked up at 4.45 for Kinnon’s Thomson River cruise on their paddle wheeler. The cruise was followed by a campfire stew and damper meal (which was yum) with Scotty the bush poet, then Starlight’s Spectacular on a floating big screen.

Checking the jumbo engine

Boeing 707 lounge – ah the good old days!

Thomson River Cruise

Scotty at the campfire

Sunday 6 September, Jim was in for double joy today and received good wishes from all the family. We went to the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and also enjoyed the Stockman’s show. We had lunch at the Hall, then waddled back into the exhibits until mid- afternoon when we had had enough and returned to the van for a rest . Next we attended the late afternoon session of the Australian movie Last Cab to Darwin, which gave us multiple opportunities to keep saying we’ve been there! Julia shouted Jim to dinner at the Woolshed Restaurant. Being attached to the van park, we did not have to drive, and enjoyed our dinner and drinks.

Stockman’s show

What a load of bull – Julia!

Monday 7 September we attended the Longreach School of Distance Education (LSODE), the modern version of School of the Air. It was interesting watching a teacher in a room with a big screen talking into her mouth piece interacting with a number of students, some even in overseas places. Afterwards, we drove the 25klms over to Ilfracombe with the intention of having a hot artesian bath, as the van park spa pools are not heated. It turned out that they only open the baths from 3-6, so we had lunch at the pub and checked out the mile of machinery. Ilfracombe is very low on water and council has provided large plastic water cubes to the homes of the locals. We returned to the van and flicked on the air-con as the temp was just over 30.

Longreach prayer at LSODE

Ilfracombe mile of machinery

Tuesday 8 September, Jim was in heaven at the Powerhouse Museum. While it has some of the usual country town exhibits, a highlight is the Nogo cottage display – a real time capsule, however, the centrepiece is the old power house itself. All of the generator sets are in place as they were when the powerhouse closed in 1985. They included Mirrlees and English Electric sets similar to those Jim had operated and worked on in an earlier life on King Island and in Woomera. What a fantastic collection for posterity. On our final full day in Longreach, we did a big shop and topped up the Jeep at 177,043 klms with $65 of diesel at $1.40 per litre. We have enjoyed our break here in Longreach and would recommend a visit to the town by anyone.

Powerhouse museum

Nogo Cottage