Longreach

Campground: Longreach Tourist Park
Facilities: Toilets, Shower, Camp Kitchen, Bins, Laundry, Powered sites, Restaurant, Shop.
Good stuff: Lots of showers, big designated sites, excellent location being close to town and local attractions, well equipped camp kitchen.
Not so good stuff: Lack of organised parking around the unpowered sites, weird locks on toilets and shower doors that caught a few people out (fortunately not us).
Price: $28 per night for two adults, unpowered site.

Coming into Longreach was very memorable. After the Simpson Desert Margaret had turned into a bit of a wildlife killer. From smaller birds that fly into your windscreen to the larger wedgetail eagle (one of the largest Australian birds) that unfortunately learnt its lesson when it flew off too late whilst it enjoyed its food. Then next was the biggie… the kangaroo. It is not uncommon for roo encounters but Kyle had been fortunate enough to have avoided the experience for the last 5 years until that drive into Longreach when a kangaroo decided to jump in front of the car. The brakes were on but the kangaroo was no match for Margaret, no damage to the car but the roo wasn’t as lucky. Hopefully that will be the last roo car encounter for both of us.

The two main attractions to visit in Longreach are the Australian Stockmans’ Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founders Museum.  We only visited the latter because we wanted to spend a full day at the museum. Our favourite part was the tour of three jets: Boeing 747, 707 and DC3. The tour takes an hour and a half it was well worth the time and the money spent on it. Considering neither of us are particular plane fanatics we were fully engrossed for every minute. The tour guide was excellent and the enthusiasm for Australian innovation in the plane sector was commendable and is often overlooked or just not known.

Just hoped into the Boeing 747 jet engine for a quick photo opportunity.

After Boeing 747 it was time to check out what a Boeing 707 can look like decked out...

...and if you thought that was excessive then check out this toilet seat!

The final plane we saw was a DC3 complete with patched up bullet holes .

Longreach was one of those places where we were pleasantly surprised, quite a big town, friendly people and a good campsite. There was one qualm, Boston Buns… As a treat we bought a Boston Bun from the Merino Bakery, what they didn’t know is do not give Kyle a Boston Bun with icing AND sprinkles. After walking out of the shop he had a mini rage spell for half an hour and then calmed down as long as the subject wasn’t raised again.