First of all those who read my blog earlier today and found it had many mistakes I was in a hurry to post it before we left camp, and lost Wi-fi. No time to check it and I was aware I hadn't done a post for a couple of days due to circumstances. Also I explain later in that blog we are now out of cell phone range could be for up to the next week. But we do check our e-mails most days. Woke up to a cracker day not a cloud in the sky. Since we have been camping most nights we have had rain which seems to clear by morning but not last night. We left camp at 8.00am to head to Longreach and may have gone onto Winton but we decided to slow down a bit with the hours per day driving. We will have an extra day in the outback than planed. Although our plan was just a rough guide nothing definite. We continued along the Matilda Way A2 highway which we have been on for a couple days now. We couldn't have asked for a better day with the weather. Not too hot with a nice breeze.
A couple of hours after we left Tambo we stopped at Barcaldine for a walkabout. All the little towns we have passed through are so clean and tidy well manicured with these nice wide streets. Notice in this photo how they have parking in the centre of the road as well on the side. We had seen that a lot on the coast. I suppose you can have the roads as wide as, as they are not short of space out here.
They decided to throw in a brown road today. Still very flat and green. We were expecting it to be very brown and dry but the publican told us yesterday that they have had approx six inches of rain over the last two months.
We arrived at Longreach by mid-day and went to the Qantas Founders Museum. Did our tour and had lunch there. We are now in the big and little boys world but I tagged along as well as someone had to take the photos.
When we paid our entry fee at the museum the guy at the counter gave us some good tips going forward. He new all the distances between the places we were going to. He advise us it wouldn't be wise to go to Mt Isa in view of theft and general crime as it is rife there. He said going into Mt Isa in a camper is a good advertisement to effect a robbery. Also the last stretch of road into Mt Isa isn't a good road at all. Not only rough in view of the road trains but also general busy traffic. A very busy road.
When we paid our entry fee at the museum the guy at the counter gave us some good tips going forward. He new all the distances between the places we were going to. He advise us it wouldn't be wise to go to Mt Isa in view of theft and general crime as it is rife there. He said going into Mt Isa in a camper is a good advertisement to effect a robbery. Also the last stretch of road into Mt Isa isn't a good road at all. Not only rough in view of the road trains but also general busy traffic. A very busy road.
Avro 504K( replica) which Qantas took the first delivery of one of these aircrafts on 30th January 1921.
In 1924, the DH-50 was the first purpose build airliner QANTAS used. Until then the airline used converted World War One airplanes.
PT is sitting in the passenger seats. I would hate to be enclosed in such a small space.
What about this big motor.
Or this one??
In These planes the passenger sat up in front covered in and the pilot sat behind in the outside seat.
Above and below a world record holder, the Catalina flying Boat.
The Catalina was the very last flying boat operated by Qantas. Most importantly, through its Catalina flying boat operations across the Indian Ocean between 1943 and July 1945 Qantas created, and still holds, a world air service duration record that has never been broken.
One of Qantas first Jumbo 747. When we returned from our OE in 1972 we were told that our Jumbo we cross over from Sydney to Auckland was one of the first or the first 747s to do that run.
Our home away from home had to be in on the scene.
Above and below our camp site in Longreach. First dirt grounds we have had,usually they have all had a concrete slab to step out on and more grass. But we are in Longreach now so after all it is the outback!! I asked for a good size site and she put us right down the back of the park
From our van looking up through the camp. Quiet this time of year but I believe it gets really packed in the high season. Biggest size camp we have stayed in.
We had a good day today. We were going to travel another two hours after Longreach but decided to slow down a bit and spend the night here. We are planing our next two stops at Kynuna, passing through McKinley onto Cloncurry. Then we will be heading north back up to the coast of Carpentaria.
I had my first experience in cooking in a gas oven tonight. Wasn't bad. We are noticing the sun is setting about an hour later the further west we have gone. Nice especially tonight after our great clear blue skies we had a sunset. Beautiful.
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