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28th June: We were pleased to arrive at Longreach today - unfortunately our impression of Emerald was somewhat coloured by our noisy neighbours. Having unhitched the van and set up camp, we headed downtown for provisions.
29th June: Spent almost the entire day in the QANTAS pioneers museum. It was very well done - we only bought the basic $19 package (for extra money you can do wing walks and have tours of a 707 and a 747). There were a number of short audio-visuals with aviation pioneers (or their descendants) talking about their exploits, some good aircraft displays (including the original QANTAS hangar, design, building and office), and a couple of very good movies: one was the restoration of a 707 in Southend, UK and its return to Australia, and the other featured Hudson Fysh (what a name! one of the founders of the airline) talking about the history of QANTAS. This 2nd movie was black and white, made in the late 60s or early 70s, and we only stumbled upon it after watching a fairly dull video about QANTAS apprenticeships and training in a little cinema just off the original QANTAS hangar.
30th June: Today we visited
the Stockmans’ Hall Of Fame, which I must say was a bit of a let-down. It is a lovely building, beautifully laid-out, and clearly a lot of thought has gone into some of the pioneer displays; unfortunately there were quite a few non-functioning audio-visual presentations, the text accompanying many displays was very poorly edited and quite dumbed down, and the short movie about the centre was just a lot of spin, and all green (projector not working properly - could have forgiven the spin if we’d been able to see the images in the film in their true colours). Anyhow we dutifully spent 4 to 5 hours there. The good bits were the first section about early Australia, its formation and original inhabitants, and the final section about the stockmen and the social development of agricultural shows, rodeos and other events that make/made up life in outback Australia.
1st July: Today for a bit of low-key sight-seeing we drove back to Ilfracombe, a hamlet 27km east of Longreach. It has a population of 127 and until recently, its own shire council. They were most aggrieved at being amalgamated with Longreach - on the same scale as Noosa’s grievance over
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Nigel in his element!being combined with the rest of the Sunshine Coast. I’m not sure either of the grievances should be taken seriously! This is an Australia-wide thing, and it makes sense. In Ilfracombe there is a display called “The Machinery Mile” where they have assembled lots of farming/mining/roadmaking/pioneering equipment used in the early years of the district. It was very well done, and interspersed with the machines were pioneering collections of things as diverse as bottles, firearms, kitchenware and cooking items. I think I enjoyed it more than the Stockmans’ Hall Of Fame!
2nd July: We forgot to book into Winton last night for a stop on the way to Cloncurry. When we rang at 9:30 this morning after filling up with petrol, couldn’t get through at first, and when we finally did they were booked out. SO we decided we might as well do the 520-odd kms to Cloncurry in one day (having first established accommodation was available there). It’s a fairly dull, straight, flat drive between Longreach and Cloncurry - but it rained for about half the way, which I think is pretty unusual for up here. Also I saw along the way a Bustard (it looks a bit
like a fat goose), 2 big groups of emus, and a group of 5 Brolgas! Unfortunately no photos of any of these as I was driving each time!
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Marg
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First Hello
Hi up there Don't know what's happened to this font nor how to fix it [as usual]. Great reading about your doings . Am having trouble with the order -what did you do to your Knee? Pictures are good too. All o k down here as at thius time - denise coming up on Mon 19th for a week almost. You are doing well in the footie but I am WINNING [ temporarily] sp? Look forward to reading more from you and sorting out the order