Longreach

Our drive towards Longreach took us through many interesting areas.  We firstly went through Rubyvale and Sapphire where there were manyother travellers trying there luck in the gem fields.  We also saw an entire heard of brahman cattle in the centre of Rubyvale.  A strange place to find them for us but I imagine not an uncommon site to the residents of Rubyvale.  Our journey then took us toward the Drummond Range where we took an opportunity to looking into the valley below.  This is the last point of the Great Divided Range we will be crossing for awhile so we expect a lot of flat gound from here on in.

Our trip also went through Barcaldine were we stopped at the Tree of Knowledge...for any supporters of the Australian Labour Party this will interest you...it was the founding place of the ALP...many strikes had occured during the early 1800's and a group of shears were charge for causing a stir which was really their first meeting.  The tree was poison about 8 years ago now by an unknown Liberal supporter...lol....actually no one knows who poisioned it.  The structure they built after the tree was poisoned was amazing...It was a tribute to this great tree.  I really enjoyed our quick visit here.

 

















We arrived in Longreach about 4.00pm where we joined a queue of 10 other caravans trying to check in... Thank goodness we booked as the place was absolutely packed.  When I came out of the office with a handful of post packs & boxes Jordan couldn't contain her excitment.  All but one box was for her as it was here birthday in a couple of days.  Unfortunately we tortured her as she had to wait until her birthday to open the packages.

Our first day in Longreach we did some catch up. School work, washing, cleaning all those fun things that need to be done.  We met the resident brolga's in camp and fed them some wet bread.   Naught us but I want the kids to see broglas as they had read about them in Aborignal dreamtime stories.  We also wandered around the town centre in the afternoon and visited a store which had a Cobb 'n Co Coach.  We watched it fill with people and take off for a journey around Longreach.  I think it would have been a bit of fun but we did not have time to go on it.

Our second day in Longreach we headed for the Longreach School of Distance Education (School of the Air).  We walked in only to find David and Sandra in the tour also.  We had not seen them since Mission Beach so we did a bit of catching up during and after the tour.  I really enjoyed listening about this school and the amazing dedication of their staff and there home tutors(parent - usually mum).  The organisation skills of the teachers in this job are phenominal.  They even start their day at 7.30am, first on air lesson at 8.00am.   It was such a unique experience.  

This was designed and constructed by a grade 5 student.
Now that's impressive.
YES dad was an engineer so he had all the necessary
tools to complete this task.
The video diary shows child do 95% of work.

From there we went to the Qantas Founders Museum. We visited all the different areas. The museum and all of the interesting stories of their founders, the historical Qantas hangar, the DC3, the Moscow light tower and we also took the tour of both the Boeing 747 and Boeing 707. We had a really interesting day and the kids really enjoyed the tour of both of the airplanes. The 747 we were able to take shots inside but the 707 we were not allowed. Unfortunately the British goverment when purchasing the plane signed a contract stating no photos were allowed to be taken due to the previous own a muslim Prince. We also found out that Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 flew in this plane and Jordan sat in the exact seat that John Travolta sat in when he was inside the plane. The kids really showed how interested they were and learnt lots about each plane and the founders of Qantas - Fysh, McGuiness and Finch. When we returned to camp we took nibble and drinks to David and Sandra's caravan and caught up some more.

Happy Birthday Jordan! Jordan woke to find the entire caravan covered in streamers and balloons and was so happy she was beaming with excitement. Jordan had previously gotten her ears pierced so wasn't expect too much from us but each present she was given was even more exciting than the last. The fourth and last box put the biggest smile on her face. A new doll that she had been eyeing off. Ohhh the little doting mother she is. After getting through our presents she then started on all the packages from her family and friends. Thank you to everyone who made the effort to send her something. We really appreciated that she is loved and remembered! What an amazing lot of gifts you all sent. They were just perfect. She loved them all.

'Wake up everyone it's my birthday!'

Jordan decided that going to the Stockman Hall of Fame was what she wanted to do for her birthday. When we arrived we watched a live stockman show with horse tricks, camel tricks and bullock displays. We got to hear bush poetry and funny yarns and watch a whip cracking display from 2 sisters. We then went back inside to continue our tour of the Hall of the Fame. We spent a fair amount of time watching a whipmaker - Anthony Rennick - make a whip. It was very interesting and Austin also got to help him while he made the whip.

For tea we decided to take Jordan out to the RSL where David and Sandra also joined us. The meals were huge. The kids meals were bigger than what I dish up for Nigel and I so you could imagine what the kids eyes were like when they got them. The day was really wonderful and one I think Jordan will remember for a long time. 

We left Longreach heading for Winton.  The road was straight, flat and fairly uninteresting.  But we look foward to visiting Winton and seeing all the dinosaurs fossils and footprints.