Longreach is the home of the Qantas Founders' Museum, although Qantas was actually founded in Winton, about 180km up the road. There is the possibility of touring two fully equipped passenger jets, a 707 and a 747, in which parts have been dismantled to show what is inside or underneath various hatches, etc. We did the 747 tour, and were thrilled to realise we had actually flown on this vey plane, probably in the early '80s, when it would have been a very new plane. It was delivered to Qantas in 1979. We recognised it as it is called the "City of Bunbury".
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The "City of Bunbury", now a museum piece
Standing in the engine |
The young tour guide was excellent and we are now well-informed about the workings of a 747 for the next time we travel on one. How the pilot knows which of the thousands of buttons to press and when, is beyond us.
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In the cockpit
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Longreach is also the home of the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame, a vast museum dedicated to the history of the Outback. It is a wonderful museum, extremely well done, but hours more than we had would be needed to really cover it. A lot of reading of panels is required.
On the entertainment side, we celebrated Christmas in July with a paddle steamer trip on the Thomson River, followed by dinner round a huge campfire and a performance by a Bush Poet. He was really very good. For the uninitiated, Christmas in July is a very common ritual with many Australians, when the temperatures are more like British Christmas time. It was certainly cold and the hot stew and billy tea and damper around the fire were very welcome.
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| The paddle steamer |
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| The sun setting over the Thomson River |
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| Part of the group huddled close to the fire |
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| Pauline and Catriana looking the part |
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