Spirit of the Outback.
On a lovely sunny day in January my friend Keith arrived from England for another Australian holiday. On his last visit here I had wanted to take him to the outback town of Longreach, which is inland from Rockhampton in Queensland. My plans were to go in by train, a distance of about 1,200 klms. and 22 hours, but at that time I was waiting for a hip replacement operation and was not really able to take the long journey. Now of course my health is back on track after the amazing transformation from pain to painless.
I booked the train; spending three nights in Longreach, then fly to Brisbane for two further days of exploring this great city. Keith had left near zero degrees in England, had a few days in Malaysia on the way and arrived here to an average of 30 degs. C. which is a huge change of climate for anyone.
After a few days of local sightseeing, we left the Sunshine Coast with it’s lovely beaches and bronzed beauties and caught the “Spirit of the Outback” train from Nambour, our nearest railway station at 8 p.m. on a Saturday night, enjoyed a few drinks in the Club car to help pass a few hours before settling into our sitting chair for the long night of darkness. We travelled north with stops at all the major stations, starting with Gympie and Maryborough, then on to Bundaberg, a city I got to know real well when sister Nancy lived there, it was dark but views of the town centre brought back pleasant memories. The train travelled on to Gladstone and finally we arrived at Rockhampton. Here we turned west and as a new day was dawning it was more interesting to view much cattle country, the town of Emerald where there is still mining for precious gems. The landscape changed to cotton country and surprisingly some hills. The next major stop was Barcaldine, deep in history, being the birthplace of the Labour Party, it also has an interesting historical museum and outside the railway station stands “the Tree of Knowledge, a ghost Gum, it is said to be 170 years old.
The train finally arrived at it’s destination, Longreach at 6 p.m on Sunday evening with only six passengers left to disembark, a little sad to see all of the ten carriages deserted, even the sleepers. The staff had been bored all day through lack of customers. Keith and I took a taxi to our Motel, about 2 kilometres away and soon had our first encounter with the outback hospitality, our lady driver told us all about what’s on in the town, where to go and where not to. We checked into our nice roomy unit, showered and changed and were soon on our way into town, it was good to stretch our legs after the long journey. One of the six hotels in the town was recommended to us, there was a barby on the menu, which was the first introduction to the huge outback steaks, plus the beer was cold and very welcome after the long journey.
Qantas had it’s beginning in Longreach and is now a very interesting part of the history of the airline. Planning the day, we joined a tour of the Qantas 747 Jumbo an added attraction of the museum, seeing inside a fully equipped Boeing jet, the cockpit, black box, cargo hold and what is behind the interior panels, even got to sit in first class. The Jumbo commenced service in 1979 and was retired and delivered to Longreach in 2002, now a very impressive sight at the airport and can be seen from quite a distance in this flat area of the outback. A new $9 million construction of the museum resembles an aircraft hanger, contrast perfectly with the original Qantas hanger built in 1922.
The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame was next on the list, full of history and pays tribute to the men and women of the outback, a $5.8 million upgrade recently has added many new exhibits, there are five galleries telling the story of outback life, Discovery, Pioneers, Outback properties, Life of the Outback and Stock workers, there are also very good video presentations. I found it educational and deep in history, and a place where one can get personally involved in part of Australia’s past.
It was Keith’s 50th birthday so I guess this meant an early start to celebrate his half century so we found a nice friendly pub and were joined by Ron & Tish, a Canadian couple we befriended on the train, the locals soon found out about the celebration and soon we were plied with many shouts of the fine cold beverage and followed by a huge meal, I had ordered a half steak, just as well, it covered my plate and was cooked to my special liking.
Next day my plans for some more sightseeing was soon changed as the river cruises and package tours of campfire dinners and outback entertainment were all cancelled through lack of tourists this time of the year, which was a shame. The township only took a short while to explore but I took a count of six pubs and three clubs to service the locals and visitors. I decided that the pool back at the Motel was more sensible in this heat, it sure was refreshing, I tried to read my book beside the pool but the local clinging flies changed my mind, Keith went for a walk to try and find the river but decided it was far too hot to be out in the heat so I guess one does what the locals do, check out a few more pubs as we were flying to Brisbane next morning.
Catching the Qantas-Link plane, which carried 25 passengers we soon left the sunny skies and entered heavy cloud all the way to Brisbane, a two-hour journey at 28 thousand feet and was quite a bumpy approach, we caught the monorail into the city and were soon booking into the Ibis Hotel, which is quite close to the main shopping mall. It was Australian day and the city was crowded with folk enjoying themselves, unfortunately there were quite a few showers which cancelled most of the celebrations, we did watch the fireworks display over the river, then settled on a nice Irish pub which served a very nice beef stew cooked in beer.
Next morning it was still unsettled so we took refuge around the mall hoping for a change which came late morning so a river cruise on the fast cat was a great way to see the city, it took 1 ½ hours to do the whole trip, the weather got nasty again so our planned stop at South bank had to be cancelled.
I was wearing my Puhoi tee shirt which is always good for starting a conversation, It has a photo of the famous Puhoi Hotel which is just north of Auckland, N.Z. the town I was born to, people stop me in the streets and have remarks of “ I’ve been there” or “ have I been there”. There was an ex. Kiwi from Perth on the boat and he remarked about it, his friend was from South Africa and talked exactly like a South African friend in N.Z., after mentioning his name he said he new the family in his home of Durban by that name, small world.
Back on a train next morning completes the circle of another wonderful experience exploring more of this huge country, the local trip stopped at most stations on it’s way to Landsborough where we caught the link bus for our journey’s end at Mooloolaba. Being Friday I decided we go to my local Bowling club for a nice roast meal and a chance in winning a meat pack, well, my luck at last changed, my number came up, I collected it and was asked to press the button for the next winner, guess what, it was me again, two packs of juicy tee bone steaks.
The last few days of Keith’s visit gave him a chance to enjoy our lovely beaches and I fitted in a hinterland trip to Montville, a lovely craft town, then on to a nice luncheon at the country Queenslander Hotel at Mapleton, which overlooks the Sunshine coast in the distance. Still time we paid a visit to Noosa and returned by the scenic route along the wonderful coastline passing many seaside settlements. A morning at our famous Eumundi markets just a half hour north of here, then still enough time for Keith to enjoy the beaches for the last time before boarding the plane to Sydney next morning.
This year is going to be a busy one for me, my next guests are arriving in March, my dear friends Robbie & Alvina from California, then John & Elaine from Hamilton, N.Z. will be here in April. I am making a short trip home to New Zealand on 29th June to help my friends there celebrate their birthdays, Elaine will be turning 70 and Alan 80, most of my long time friends have reached the magic age of 70 over the past year so time is short now and so much more to see and do. At the moment there are only one more group of visitors, Fay, Bob and Alan will be here again this September, we plan a trip to Cairns, maybe fly there, see the sights, get a rental car and drive back south to Mooloolaba, this surely will be a great trip, full of adventure and laughs.
Till my next venture, take care and my advice is get out and enjoy this wonderful twighlight time of life and good health is with you.
Cheers
JIM
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