We again had a leisurely start from Barcaldine Showgrounds CP... after connecting the tow car lighting to the house 12VDC - a 4mm wire from the bedside power socket, thought the underbed bin, out the bin door, in the rear engine access panel (2cm of the wire outside the bus) and to the relay block. All works fine! Oh and paid the ranger person who came politely knocking at 7AM. I was already out with wire and pliers. Refuel and off to Longreach (110km).
But first you get to Ilfracombe.. famous for it line of old machinery along the highway. Had to stop and look at some of the weird and wonderful devices. Oh and the Highway crosses the Tropic of Capricorn about there!!! We are now in the (north Queensland dry) tropics!!!
Just about the first thing visible approaching Longreach from the east is the tail of the QANTAS 747 at the airport. We spent several hours in the QANTAS Founders museum - bought the T, well actually the golf, shirt etc. Checked out the original hangar.
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| Longreach from the East |
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| The Q Founders Museum |
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| How about this for a parking spot - and shade... |
Took lots of HQ photos of the aircraft - 747, 707, DC3 and of course the new addition, the PBY.
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| De Havilland DH 60 replica in the original hangar |
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| De Havilland DH 52 |
The shop had a QF Catalina ball cap so I had to have one.It even fits... but don't wear them much as they tend to look like a pimple on a pumpkin, on my big head.
However a ball cap is handy driving into the sun in the bus - behind the 4 square metres of glass.
Eventually we went, literally, over the road to the Stockmans Hall of Fame. As we don't know many famous stockmen - and don't much like horses, we checked out the free bits and the shop... as it is $25 each for pensioners to get in... to whatever is in there...
So off to Winton (200km) the 'home' of Waltzing Matilda. The, let's call it MW Centre is $22 for us old farts so we again check out the shop etc. So we have again forked out for a CP as there are no suitable free spots we can find. That's fine.
We have disconnected the Vitara and had a drive around. Might check out the dinosaur tracks tomorrow... and/or head to Hughenden via (one of the) Kennedy Development Roads...
But first you get to Ilfracombe.. famous for it line of old machinery along the highway. Had to stop and look at some of the weird and wonderful devices. Oh and the Highway crosses the Tropic of Capricorn about there!!! We are now in the (north Queensland dry) tropics!!!
