Lovely longreach

We woke to another cold, windy day but this time it’s very overcast and looks like rain. We haven’t had so much as a drop so far so we’ll just wait and see. Feeling a bit better today, the head not spinning so much so we decided that the Stockman’s Hall of Fame was the place to be. When we arrived we chose to do the museum and outback show package. Luckily we were there in plenty of time as the huge signs say “Show 11am daily”. Apparently though daily means “sorry not on Monday” come back tomorrow. Rats, we’ll be gone tomorrow. Oh well just the museum then. The museum is chocka block full of information that needs to be read. Wall after wall after wall of it. For me it’s just a little too much. The first three levels are about the history of the area from aboriginal time through the different explorers that touched the Australian coastline from Western Australia, Tasmania (Van Dieman’s Land) and the East Coast. Australia really could have been settled by the Dutch, French or Portuguese way before the English. There were interactive displays where you could listen in to real events eg Royal Flying Doctor Service phone calls between outback stations and the doctors helping them or watch short videos on different stock routes, mustering techniques or station life. It was all very comprehensive. The bottom level had larger displays like bullock drays, an old hawker caravan that used to travel between stations selling all kinds of bits and pieces, Furphy water carriers – isn’t there one of those everywhere – and wool presses. It was a very good museum but we really couldn’t find a lot specifically to the stockman. Lots of heritage paraphernalia though.

 We did manage to spend a good 4 hours or so there and then decided it was time to ‘do town’.  It certainly had a different feel than on the weekend, it was now alive and bustling. Headed through the shops and could have bought many things. The RM Williams shop was full of goodies, nice shirts and skirts, as was other shops in town. I could have bought a few pairs of shoes from one of the shops here. Why is it that country towns have great shoe shops? To Brian’s delight, I refrained this time.

Brian was yawning and decided a rest was in order as he had had an early morning and a 5km walk before I got out of bed so we headed back to the van. We rested up before the park entertainment that was due at 4.30. Bush poetry, damper and billy tea was on the agenda. Well, the entertainment was a gentleman that was just alive, the billy tea was so thick it jumped into the cup by itself, the damper was a no show and it was blowing a gale. We lasted about 15 minutes and headed back to the warm van for a glass of wine and nibblies.