Hi, my name is Lisa and I am the Human Resources Manager at Langports; which means I look after the staff. In July my family and I went on a road trip to Longreach in Central Queensland to experience the real Australian outback. We drove 2400km round trip and did our journey in five days. It was amazing to see how the landscape would change every hour into our drive — from land rich with farming crops, to hundreds of kilometres of only trees and bush and then as we got closer to our destination only tumbleweeds and a few trees to highlight the landscape.
Longreach is an amazing town with lots of regional history and so much to offer tourists. If you get the opportunity to take a trip in the Australian outback and go to Longreach, these are the things that I did and would highly recommend.
As soon as we arrived in Longreach we visited the Qantas Founders Museum and did a self-tour of the museum where you can learn about the history of Australia’s oldest airline Qantas Airways through exhibits, replica aircraft and artefacts. We also took part in a jet tour of an old 747 aircraft and 707 aircraft. If you are an airline buff like myself you will love it here!
We spent the next day doing many tours arranged by a company called Kinnon and Co and these were the highlight of the trip for me. We started the morning off early with the Cobb and Co Experience which entailed traditional Australian scones with jam and cream in the courtyard of Station Store and Cafe followed by the Cobb and Co Stagecoach gallop which was a fun horse-drawn stagecoach ride through the bush following the old mail run to a billabong. The horses gallop up to speeds of 50km/hr which was very fast for us sitting in the old stagecoach! After the ride we watched an old-time Australian movie sitting on old-fashioned hammock seats followed by a live show, Harry Redford Old Time Tent Show which was a “tribute to traditional outback entertainment with animals, stockmen and unforgettable Aussie humour”!
In the late afternoon we were picked up by the Kinnon and Co coach from our accommodation and driven to the Thomson River for a sunset cruise followed by a 2 course traditional stockman’s dinners around a campfire, poems by a bush poet, the Starlight’s Spectacular Sound and Light Show by the river and finished with billy tea and traditional damper and the raising of the Australian flag. It was an unforgettable evening.
We also visited the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame which pays tribute to Australian outback heritage.
If you wish to visit Longreach you can drive (but it is a very long drive!), take the train from Brisbane on the Spirit of the Outback (overnight train) or fly with Qantas Airways from Brisbane in under 3 hours. Enjoy your trip in the Australian outback!
