Day 3 Monday 4 September 2006 Blackall to Cloncurry

An early start (8.30 - this is a holiday) with the plan of having breakfast at the Stockmen’s Hall of Fame at Longreach 220km north. However the cafe was basic Queensland fare, and the Hall of Fame fairly interesting but probably not worth a 1000km drive from anywhere. Lots of stuff about the early pastoralists and settler’s life in the bush. We watched the outdoor demonstration of stockman’s skills and life in the 1930s, with some clever dogs.
Directly opposite the Hall of Fame, a contemporary arched corrugated iron structure much loved and overused by Australian vernacular architects was incongruously a Boeing 747 sitting in a paddock by the side of the road, marking the site of the first Qantas operations. Time didn’t allow anything more than a photo opportunity and anyway we figured we knew pretty much what a QF 747 was like on the inside, before we sped on to the evening’s destination of Cloncurry.
Scenery changed approaching Cloncurry from flat featureless scrub and grassland to rugged hills.

Weather 24, cloudy
Distance today 741km
Distance from start 2275km
X5s today 0
X5s from start 3
Creme brulees today 0
Creme brulees from start 0