You can’t come to Longreach and not visit the iconic Stockman’s Hall of Fame. I last visited about 20 years ago. It was great then, it’s even better now. It start off with a 20 minute movie about the settling of the west and the stockmen who helped to do that.  Then we moved onto the museum part for which you’re given a set of headphones and as you walk into each area it triggers the headphones to start talking to you which I think is just wonderful because I do get bored with having to read all the information all the time in museums. There were also extra little bits on the recordings of people talking about their lives and experiences in the outback. Fascinating stuff. We had about an hour and a half in the museum and then there was a live show to watch at the back of the centre. Lochie Cosson was the stockman/showman and he had horses, sheep, dogs and a mule all very well trained and put on a very entertaining hour‘s show with his animals. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Across the road from the Stockman‘s Hall of Fame is the Qantas Founders Museum. Also a really interesting tour. Longreach, of course, is justifiably very proud of its heritage as the place where Qantas began and they have lots of memorabilia and stories and films about the beginnings of the airline. They also have a 747, a 707, and a couple of other planes that I can’t identify parked up beside the museum. Later that night we went back for a light show which they project up onto the 747. Really good.

We took a drive out to the Longreach Golf Course just to see a golf course with no grass, completely barren dirt! It wouldn’t enthuse me to take up the game!

We’ve had a lovely couple of days in Longreach and we’re moving on to Winton tomorrow.