On our bucket list of places to visit was the QANTASMuseumand the Stockmans Hall of Fame, both in Longreach. After a reasonable drive – 106km – to Longreach we stopped off first of all at the QANTAS Founders Museum. We checked in at 10:15 to be told that there were no more tours available that day, but we were to wander through the museum and the original hangar (built in 1921). We should have guessed it was going to be busy because of the number of caravans parked out the front. It is a good display, but because we knew we couldnt do the guided tour of the various aircraft we both had the same thought that we are over static museum displays of this nature. We enjoyed what we saw, but felt a little let down and thought the $25 pp entry fee was a bit expensive ($57 pp if we had done the museum and airpark tour).
We drove into the town centre looking for a caf or bakery for lunch and were staggered first of all at how busy the pretty town was, and secondly the lack of cafes. We spotted one bakery where
the queue was almost out the door and not one visible caf. Never mind, we will go back to the Stockmans Hall of Fame – there is bound to be a caf inside.
Second disappointment of the day – we couldnt even get into the museum let alone attend the Stockmans show today or tomorrow. What we hadnt thought about is that is currently school holidays – that just into our radar. It looks like we will have to forgo these tours for another time.
Our biggest disappointment however was in our own naivety: school holidays = lots of people; lots of caravans = even more people. We should have realised. Although talking to another camper back in Barcaldine he was told there is a 4 week waiting period for Stockmans Hall of Fame, citing school hols, extra grey nomad traffic and reduced numbers of permitted patrons.
20kms east of Longreach we drove back to and had a refreshing drink and a tasty lunch at the Wellshot Hotel. Sitting under the front verandah we watched the world go by and remarked that this was more our speed.
Arriving back in Barcaldine we thought it best to see if the supermarket would be open on Sunday so that we could replenish supplies before we next head off. Good job we stopped as they were about to close at 2pm for the weekend – so we had the quickest shop ever!
There are quite a few vans at the Showgrounds today and those around us are very chatty and friendly; sharing water hoses as tanks are refilled and we even had an extra power lead offered to us when our 30m one didnt quite reach from the board to our van (needing to recharge the laptop).
The afternoon demands a relaxing time in the sun and the solar panels are also loving it after 4 days of overcast conditions.
