Longreach, Qld

Day 108 – 31/8/2019 on a Midlife Adventure.

Another month comes to an end and I’m now in the heart of Queensland, it was a cold morning at the Lara Station Wetlands but the sunrise was pretty good over the water.

Heading out at 8 I was quickly back on the road with a stop back in Barcaldine, Qld for a breakfast bite.

Hitting the towns further to the west I arrived into Ilfracombe, Qld.

I stopped to take some pictures of their farm machinery museum that is roadside.

On the road into Longreach, Qld from a distance out you can spot the tail of a Qantas plane.

On arriving into town you see the Qantas Founders Museum to your right with a massive 747 one of the displays.

Initially I headed to the Longreach Tourist Park to get setup which was pretty easy as there were no other caravans near so I had plenty of space to navigate to my site. However I’m close to the pool and toilets so I’m happy here.

From there it was a quick trip into town to book some tours.

Then it was off to the Qantas Founders Museum.

I chose to do the Museum tour with the 1.5hr Aircraft tour which this weekend will be the last time they run that due to works being completed to build a large shed to house the exhibits over the next 12 months.

The Museum is informative about the history of the Queensland And Northern Territory Aviation Service (Q.A.N.T.A.S) where the founders originally were contracted to setup runways to support the Australia to England race throughout northern Queensland.

where the founders originally were contracted to setup runways to support the Australia to England race throughout northern Queensland.

Passenger services were initially very basic but the passengers had it better than the pilot who was in an open cockpit.

We then headed out for the tour of the aircraft both a Boeing 747-200 and a Boeing 707.

The 747 was flown into Longreach, Qld in 2002 and almost didn’t make it after only successfully landing on the 3rd attempt. It can never leave as the runway is not long enough.

The plane (other than some air conditioning) is as it was when it landed.

If your 747 is going down I recommend sitting in the left hand rear toilet below the Black (Orange) box as they are regularly found.

We went up to the roof bump section that started out as a bar and was eventually changed to some business class seating. It was actually quite small on the 200 series.

With over 3000 switches it was a busy place for the pilots and flight engineer.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to look over the Super Constellation it does look like an interesting plane.

The 707 was originally a QANTAS aircraft but then had a life in the US where it even flew the Jackson 5. Used as a charter plane this has been retained in its current status.