Day Five – Longreach

The alarm went at 6 but I reset it so in future, while travelling, it will be 6:30 to wake and rise. So at 6:30 I reluctantly got out of bed, had a shower and dressed. Then I had cups of tea and toast for breakfast. Lynn got up and showered and dressed and had breakfast. At around 8 we left and cruised down the main street to see what was open – very busy! Then we headed off to the Stockmen’s’ Hall of Fame. It was still raining so when we got there (8:30) we went inside even though it didn’t open until 9 – but that gave me the chance to look at the merchandise and relax. At 9 we got our tickets (well, wristbands) to go in and we mentioned about going to the Dinosaur exhibition at Lark Quarry. Later on she mentioned that the road was cut – so that is off the list for this visit. While looking around I ran into someone else who had used the RFDS – he had a hear attack and was out for a few months. By 11:30 we had finished a comprehensive look around (but we still got a voucher to enter back tomorrow if we wanted to) and went into the town to do some shopping (supermarket me, clothes Lynn) and to have lunch (at the bakery). By 12:30 we were entering the QANTAS Founders’ Museum and arranging to go on the 1 p.m. jet tour. A look at the short movie with Michael Caton and a quick look at the exhibits and at 1 we were on the tour. Because it was still raining and cold, most of the talk was inside and the talks and show outside was brief. It was with relief that we went back to see the exhibits inside, where it was warmer. I had a look at the Catalina outside (which had been spruced up since my visit last year) and then had a chat to two local constables. At around 3:30 I rang Abby, who was just on her way back from the beach (but it was cold in Melbourne too). We left about 4 and decided that as we wouldn’t be able to see much at Winton, we would go through and head towards the coast. I filled up with fuel and ran into the same police again! After a final run down the main street it was back to the motel, sort out and get the washing on and then prepare some tea. I collected my email, wrote up the blog notes and started to have a vegetable tea, to finish off food I had been carrying since Melbourne. I complemented that with some sliced meat from today. Lynn wrote up her diary and then had a look at today’s photos and then had her tea. As everything had been done and the washing has been collected and sorted, it was to bed for a good night’s sleep.