Longreach..........'The Heart of Outback Queensland'..........Yes it certainly is that.  Now what did we do on this visit to Longreach?  Much the same as we did four years ago, but it was all just as enjoyable.  

As soon as we got to Longreach on Tuesday afternoon we went into Outback Pioneers - Kinnon & Co, to book our 'Longreach Experiences'.  So glad we did it this way because we were able to change the times of when we went to the 'Three Big Experiences' far more easily, than if we had done it through reception at the Caravan Park.  We needed to work in with getting the new windscreen in the car as it was booked in for 8.00am on Wednesday morning.  We had decided we would purchase a 'Big Three Pass' which enabled us to have the full Cobb & Co Stagecoach Experience, a visit to the Stockman's Hall of Fame, the Quantas Museum and a Kinnon & Co dinner cruise on the Thomson River.  There was a saving to purchase our tours this way.

We did the Cobb & Co Stagecoach Experience on Wednesday morning.  We all walked into town as there is a nice walk along the edge of the highway amongst the many trees that have been planted and named.  We had not done this walk before and it took us past the Shire Council Offices and the Town Hall.  There was time for a snap of the Visitor Centre that is in a building which is a replica of the first Quantas booking office.  This building is in Quantas Park, near the entrance to Eagle Street, the main street of Longreach.  All streets in Longreach are named after birds.  Those running east/west are water birds and streets running north/south are named after land birds.

At 10.00am we were welcomed into the new 'Welcome Home Cafe and Tearoom' for scones, jam and cream with tea or coffee.  This building has recently been acquired by the Kinnon family and has been tastefully decorated to go with the 'Outback Heritage' approach to tourism the company promotes.   The 'Welcome Home' building was a hotel many years ago and it is now also the booking office for 'Outback Pioneers' tours.  The stagecoach ride is the only opportunity in Australia to gallop in a stagecoach on an old mail route.  We enjoyed it but 'Oh' my goodness was it dusty!  It is very, very dry in Longreach!  In 2014 Peter was keen to ride up on the top as did the lawyers and doctors in the Cobb & Co days (they paid more to ride up there), but this time his suggestion was to get in the carriage with the commoners.  We ended up dirty enough as it was, but you should have seen the colour of those that rode on top, at the back of the carriage.  They get the blower vac out to blow them down at the end of the ride!

We had about half an hour to browse the Station Store before the 'Harry Redford Old Time Tent Show'.  The Kinnon boys refer to this store as being 'Mum's Shop' and all the stock is quality and there is plenty of it.  The old cars are still parked out the front attracting attention to the tourism business.  Kinnon & Co have gone into accommodation and all tours are now being sold under the name 'Outback Pioneers'.  They have new buses as well and the images of the experiences the family have been providing in Longreach since 2006, including the new brand name that has been placed on the bus is very impressive.

We had paid extra to have a 'Billy Can' lunch and we picked that up on our way into the tent show.  In the billy can was a tasty silverside, cheese & pickle sandwich, a drink, a very large home cooked biscuit and an apple.  Great idea to pick up a few more tourist dollars.  The tent show put on by Kinnon brothers Jeremy and Lane was good old fashioned entertainment.  The brothers definitely have the 'gift of the gab' and provide plenty of laughs with their quick wit, humour and animal tricks, giving us a taste of the 'Harry Redford - Captain Starlight' story of 1870.  Harry Redford was also known as Captain Starlight and he was a very clever cattle duffer in this area, stealing cattle from Bowen Station, the first station to be settled in this area.  Jimmy Johnson (Lane) was Harry's right hand man and he needed to employ another bloke for the ride.  He interviewed 'Half Watt' (Jeremy).  And after the tent show, there was more.  We lay back in deck chairs in the 'Old Time Theatre' and watched the bush movie 'Smiley'.   And......Peter and John didn't even go to sleep!  And.....we were given a bag of popcorn.  Our day was  certainly filled in, by the time we walked back and picked up the car, taking a few more photos on the way.  We found a dead tree at the Shire offices that had been carved and a structure promoting the fact the town of Longreach lies on the Tropic of Capricorn.

On Friday evening we did the dinner and cruise on the Thomson River with 'Outback Pioneers'.  The initial drivers of the business venture Richard and Marisse are overseas on a business trip.  Their two sons Jeremy and Lane are very capable young men and both have their hearts firmly entrenched in what appears to be a very successful tourism business.  There is a great story about the Kinnon family on this link  https://www.tradefarmmachinery.com.au/features/1605/profile-a-switch-from-farming-to-tourism

Once again the dinner cruise was fantastic.  We were picked up by Lane in the new bus and I don't think he has driven it very often.  But he soon found how to adjust the air-conditioner and kept us laughing with his jokes.  He told us about how they came to start the business venture in Longreach, back when he was just a littler tacker.  He remembers coming into Longreach with his Dad and brother in what was yet another year of drought on the station and they were passing all this caravans.  His Dad said "If only we could do something and tap into all these caravaners"!  And that they have! 

 

The 'Captain Starlight Light Show' on the edge of the river was once again enjoyable with the sound effects of the crickets etc, the coloured lights and the river right there.  The screen is actually out on the river.  Dinner was a good old tasty campfire stew with mashed potato and a slice of bread.  The desert of apple strudel and custard was carried around on something flash from 'Mum's Station Store' and we finished with billy tea in enamel mugs and a slice of damper.  

Scottie recited some poetry and Lane entertained us with the chook pulling the cart.  Lane changed his hat from bus driver, to host on the 'Thomson Belle Paddlewheeler' river boat and then to welcome us before dinner, to chef when he served up the stew, to entertainer and to host again to conclude the show and drive us back to our accommodation.  Lane had also taken us on our Cobb and Co ride on Wednesday.  Peter chatted with Lane and he told him 'They all love what they are doing".  It is the same thing Jeremy told Peter four years ago.  We certainly take out hats off to the Kinnon family.