Covespot 4 - Wallaby 3

Sunset on the Thomson River. A short video of the Paddle Wheeler cruise. We arrived at Longreach right on lunchtime. Checked into the Longreach Tourist Park for two nights, set up and had lunch. After lunch we went into Longreach and enquired about the Outback Pioneers Tours to be told they were booked out for the two nights we had booked into Longreach for. So, we phoned the park to see if we could extend for a night which was OK. So we now have two tickets for the Captain Starlight’s Paddle Wheeler dinner cruise on the Saturday evening and are now spending 3 nights in Longreach. Back to the van for washing and dinner prep. On the Friday morning we headed out to the Qantas Founders Museum and took a double ticket allowing us to visit the Stockmans Hall of Fame as well. Both were really great to visit and realise the spirit this great country is built on. The photos will tell the story hopefully. Both sites are well worth the visit. On Saturday we attended the Longreach ...

The Combo Billabong where the poet Banjo Paterson was inspired to pen Waltzing Matilda  Off to Winton in the morning . On departing Kynuna we made for the Combo Billabong waterhole, 10 ks south on the road to Winton and 8 ks inland from the Matilda Highway. It is a lot closer to Kyuna than it is to Winton. The Kynuna pub also has a lot of Banjo Paterson and Waltzing Matilda memorrabillia. It was a beautiful 2.6 km return walk out to the Billabong with many birds and the original creek and river crossings made o local stone enabling the likes of Cobb and Co coaches to negotiate the way over the rivers and creeks. Once at the Billabong it is easy to slip into the theme of the “Waltzing Matilda” ballad and you can hear the ghost of the jolly swagman around the Billabong. There should be more made of this site as it is the site of the peoples National Anthem despite the referendum outcomes. Once this visit was over it was off to Winton and the Waltzing Matilda Centre . Th...