7 March 2013 - Longreach Caravan Park, Longreach, Queensland

According to the weather report this evening, the Gulf Country has received the most rain in the state today, however here in Longreach we have received none of it. It has remained fine and sunny with a high of 32 degrees, still unchanged tonight. Flood warnings remain in place for the Thomson River and Coopers Creek catchments,  but none in evidence here beside the Thomson.

We spent our morning chasing repair for the windscreen and tracking down an extra spare tyre shod wheel for the road ahead. Fortunately the chap at the tyre shop remembered he had seen a wheel to suit our 100 series landcruiser sometime in his yard recently and sure enough, there it was, up on the roof of a shipping container in his yard.

We also checked out diesel storage canisters at the hardware shop but decided to hold off on that until we reach Mt Isa, as we would have done for the wheel had there been none here. Seeking to stock up on perishable groceries, we popped into the local Foodworks, just a block from the camp here but were horrified at the prices. We bought very little and decided that if prices are as bad in Mt Isa, we will rely more heavily on canned and dried food for the next few weeks. We do hope that the national chains there in Mt Isa will have prices comparable with those we have paid in the cities.

We walked up and down the wide street of Longreach, most impressed with the vitality of the place, the services and the general activity all about. Longreach has a population of 3,624  and is sometimes called the capital of the outback but remember that so many towns seem to claim the title of “gateway”, “the real” and now “the capital”. The Thomson River which flows past the town on the western edge, runs on into the Coopers Creek system which is a sometimes water system that in turn, when operating flows on into Lake Eyre. On a large map this whole river system shows like a network of capillaries through a massive body. The water systems here in Australia are quite fascinating and all the more because they are so often completely dry.

We returned to camp for lunch and took the opportunity to deal with the washing I had hung out earlier and the box in the back of the landcruiser reeking of WD40. Somehow a canister of this had leaked out amongst all the tools carried in the landcruiser and took some cleaning up.

Early in the afternoon we headed to the Qantas Founders Museum which commemorates the founders of the iconic Australian brand. QANTAS, for the ignorant such as I was, stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service and was born here in Longreach and administered out of Winton, just up the road, before it became one of the leading companies in world aviation.

I was caught up in the stories of the few men who spawned the idea and practicality of the airline, and more particulary the expedition that three of those men took in a Model T Ford from Longreach to Darwin in 1919 to research locations for airfields throughout the north for the government. In 2009 a group of enthusiasts retraced that route in a restored Model T, but this time accompanied by a couple of landcrusiers and camper trailers. We sat enthralled by the DVD playing in the museum.

There is much to see in this excellent museum, most of the exhibits still to be seen. We elected for an extended pass and will return there tomorrow morning. Obviously we will have to stay another day, if not two, especially if we are to visit the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame. These are two of major tourist attractions for which Longreach is renowned; we should not short change ourselves. But then, you know us; say one thing today and do another the next.

We were back at camp in time to partake of the camp community afternoon tea, catch up with the new arrivals and still touch base with Larissa on Skype. It was good to learn that our two oldest grandkids are happily settled back into the 2013 school year and their extra curriculae activities.