Introduction to today's journey
Looking in all directions, the completely flat land of Longreach stretches without a feature to the distant horizon. The sky is filled with large storm clouds dropping welcome rain bringing life to the farmland following a decade of drought. It is hard to believe only recently these farmlands were parched and barren, for now there is more than enough fresh growth to feed the stock aplenty until it dries up to become a serious fire hazard. You need to be tough to be able to farm out here in the unforgiving Queensland outback.
Today's journey stays within Longreach, exploring the Stockman's Museum during a storm before heading out to Camden Park Station for lunch and returning to town in the afternoon.
Today's Journey
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A big storm passes over Longreach in the early morning drenching the area. The Thomson River cruise will be cancelled tonight and the track around Rosebank Station is inaccessible for several days. Lucky we got both done when the weather was still fine. Across the road is the Longreach Station where the trains travel from here to the coast at Rockhampton. The rain of the past two days has closed the railway line a couple of hundred kilometres along the line. |
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We head to the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame Museum, a recently built museum with a lot of historical artefacts on display. |
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Exploring the interior of an old cabin restored inside the museum. |
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An old coach which used to travel across the vast plains of Western Queensland and over to the coast. |
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A retired plane used for the Flying Doctors service, with one of its main bases here in Longreach. |
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Heading out from the museum, storm clouds still loom, but we travel out of town along the vast flatness for a few kilometres. |
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Shortly past the airport, we pass the weather radar, picking up all the storms of this unusually wet day. |
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A large storm is approaching as we enter the long driveway of Camden Park Farm. |
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This is another very large farm extending to beyond the horizon. |
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We reach the elaborate homestead where we have lunch as our hosts tell stories of the history of the farm. |
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We return to Longreach town centre in the late afternoon to explore it as the sky begins to clear.
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As the sun sets, we head back out to the QANTAS museum to have another look at the huge planes under the shelter structure. Here we watch an audiovisual presentation projected onto the side of the plane as the thunderstorms continue to rumble around us. |
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