May 4 Charters Towers to Longreach

HAPPY 1^ST BIRTHDAY TO OUR BEAUTIFUL GRANDSON –

BAILEY LOCHLAN CUNNINGHAM

We miss you so much little man. 

Oh! What a night.  Kevin’s mattress went flat, we shivered with cold, seemed to be awake more often than asleep but otherwise a great night for camping.  (he he)

Kevin dragged me out of my semi stupor with his crashing around to boil the billy.  A lovely cup of tea was the result which I enjoyed partially – only partially because my cup split and most of it dripped onto the ground.  What else? We said.

With a repair to the mattress complete, tent and all luggage packed away, we chatted to the locals who had come to see us off, (“Aviation Tragics” they called themselves), whilst a Cessna Caravan stopped by to collect 2 passengers.

We departed at 8.45am in the still calm morning air.  Turning back for a low pass over the friendly locals we set our track for 200 degrees over 230 nm of nothing. Although cloud was to the ground to our right ahead lay clear conditions and smooth air. 

The miles of green nothing with numerous river courses and white cattle seen from above changed to miles of more open country brown nothing with brown rivers.

Finally arriving at Longreach after 2 hours and 15 minutes before us lay the 2 km long runway with Qantas Jumbo clearly evident.  The small town lay off  to the south west of the airfield.

We refueled, parked and tied her down before deciding to look at the Qantas Aviation Museum which is adjacent to the airfield.  Walking through the RPT terminal we entered a large domed building which was completed in recent years.  The main room of this museum held a number of exhibits with video footage of people speaking about the historical early pioneers of Qantas.  There were a few of the original aircraft used by Qantas as well as engines and personal artifacts – all very interesting.  Kevin took the guided tour of the 747 and 707 aircraft on the other side of the terminal and this took almost 2 hours. During the tour he climbed into the captain’s seat of the 747 and collided with switches above his head and took quite a large piece of skin off!  I meanwhile spent my time in the museum then the coffee shop reading all about Longreach.

We then lugged our gear to the Discovery Caravan Park and gladly fell into our cabin for a refreshing shower and regroup.

It was too late to book tours etc so we walked in the town centre about 1.5km (amazing for Kev) and browsed around the shop fronts.  After purchasing some supplies we caught a taxi back to the CP and Kev went onto the airport to collect some forgotten items.  Walking back from the airport in the dark Kev walked into a cut tree branch and gouged a 3 cm chunk out of his bicep!

We phoned Nikki and Sarah before they went out to celebrate Bailey’s birthday. Bailey wouldn’t talk to us. L

An easy dinner and restful evening was necessary prior to a good nights sleep.