We arrived on Saturday and were perplexed why every shop was closed and it was only midday. We then saw the sign for “Country Races this Saturday” and made the connection that the town had emptied for the event. Off to the race course to take in this rural event. When we got there the place was completely empty. We bumped our gums all the way back to van about rural towns etc etc.
We then realised it was Sunday ! We really are winding down on tour !
We dropped the van at Apex campground on the Thompson River which is 4 k out of town. Huge big open campsite .
We thought we would celebrate “Sunday” by spending the afternoon by driving further up the river for a spot of swimming and fishing.
Kate got over her dislike of brown water and dived in for a dip to cool down. The awning on the car came in handy for a bit of shade . In what is becoming a bit of a theme – no fish above tiddler size . I am considering writing a special section of the blog on “The antique teenagers guide to fishless rivers and waterholes” .
I spent half an hour driving out of town to get some decent firewood and used it as an opportunity to give the chainsaw a work-out too.
Superb dead gum logs that burned hot and really slow. During the log hunt – I came across this burnt out motorcycle -dont know whether it had a spot of bad luck or was post steal burn out .
We knocked up some BBQ chicken breasts with fried onions on the side on our little open fire cook station ! We are coming pretty skilled on the old open fire now . I got an A* from the boss for my egg fried rice a la hotplate.
From our last night in Mount Isa to now the temperature has dropped significantly. During the day we are getting 34 as a high and at night 18 as a low. This makes such a difference from the 44 and 29s we have experienced for much of the trip especially getting a good nights sleep.
Longreach has two main attractions in town . The Qantas founders museum and the Stockmans Hall of Fame.
QANTAS or The Queensland And Northern Territories Aerial Service was founded in the local area by two entrepreneurs in 1920 just after the first world war . The museum has loads of interactive material to highlight the historical artefacts and planes.
They have a Catalina ( still holds the world duration record for flying set way back in the second world war , the flying boat was basically a big fuel tank with a propeller or too ! The star of the show is the 747 which was donated back in 2002 ( the museum is a not for profit organisation with no commercial links to Qantas). I nearly bought this book from the gift shop but it unfortunately didn’t have the exciting factual matters arising from 2010 !
The stockman’s hall of fame was my favourite with a full days worth of learning about the early pastoralists through to modern day stockmen duties. 
There was a show ring too where we were introduced to a Brahman Cow (Jarjar binks) , stockman horse , blue heeler, border collie and a flock of sheep . The stockman then put them through their paces including a quick sheep shearing lesson.
At the campsite we were joined by a pair of Brolgas. We think the young one had a broken wing and they had become tame as they cadged food of any passers by. At 5 foot tall and with a wingspan of 7 foot they are quite imposing. We did the dutiful thing and fed them some bits and pieces . They did become over friendly and over stay their welcome at one point chasing Kate across the campground to the accompanying yelps and screams that may have sounded like the mating call of a Brolga as it only made then more interested !
