Longreach has been on my bucket list for ages. Particularly so since Qantas had opened the Founders Museum. Landing at Longreach gives you a great view of the Founders Museum, because the airpark is right beside the GA apron. So, if you’ve ever wanted to park with a 747, a 707, a DC3 and a Super Constellation this is probably your best chance. I’d arrived late in the day, after closing time. So, next morning, I was up bright and early and arrived for breakfast. That’s right, the Founders Museum serves a damn good breakfast – and lunch, snacks etc. at McGinness’ restaurant – named after one of the Qantas Founders. Suitably fed, I joined the 10am tour. Don’t even think about going here without doing a tour or you’re missing the best bit. We moved over to the airpark part of the museum. The day before I had been on Horn Island in a pleasant 28 degrees. Now it was 4 degrees. Brrr. Our tour guide told us a lot of interesting things about the aircraft as we got to look inside the nooks and crannies. Ever wondered where the black box (actually orange) sits? Now I know. The 707 is a former VIP jet which was used by the likes of Michael Jackson. The Museum collection houses a huge collection of Qantas paraphernalia from years gone by, but surely the best part is outside, where you walk to the original Qantas hangar, set up like it was the 1920s again with a couple of Gypsy powered De Havilland aircraft you can climb right in to and see just how bloody awful flying must have been back then. Don’t miss the Qantas store to stock up on Qantas tea towels and retro posters.
A walk down the main street of Longreach is worthwhile. Start at the charming Federation Railway Station and work your way down to Kinnon & Co, which has the biggest collection of rural type stuff I’ve seen in a long time. If you’ve got a leather fetish, you’ll be in heaven. It’s a good street for a coffee and to stock up on supplies, and if you’ve got any time left, there’s the popular Stockman’s Hall of Fame. Again, you really need to take a tour to get the best out of it. For those who like horses and both kinds of music, it’s a must see. 24 hours is only enough time to scratch the surface in Longreach. I could have filled in a few days easily.
After Longreach I was homeward bound at last! The weather decided it didn’t like this and I was looking at a 20+ knot headwind that would get progressively worse all the way home. On the day I was planning to fly the longest leg of the trip. Thanks for that. Luckily fuel was at record prices too. Oh well, nothing for it but to set off. The first stop would be Hay, then home to Geelong (YLED). At least that was the plan. As it turned out, the headwind kept growing and while I would have a reserve at Hay, I like a lot of reserve when the weather is worsening and it’s a long leg. So, I replanned and dropped in to my old friend Cobar for a quick refuel and a chat to some of the locals… and another visit to the little pilots’ room.
Just as well I did, because the head wind just kept building and the scattered cloud became more like broken. That headwind just built and built. As I passed over Ballarat it peaked at over 50 knots. I was compensating by running at my “power” setting – 160kts TAS, 34 litres per hour. Still, forward progress was slow and there had been a real possibility of running out of light – hence the decision to push it a little harder. I was pretty damned pleased to find a nice big open section of cloud south of Ballarat to descend through, putting me right on my 10nm out call and almost home. That headwind dropped steadily as I got closer to the ground, but the turbulence increased. Heading down final I opted for just half flap. The breeze favoured runway 28, but I still had a healthy crosswind to play with. Just what I needed to finish off. The final landing of the tour was – in complete contrast to the weather – like butter. I greased it on. It wasn’t ‘til I taxied to the front of the hangar and went to get out that I realised the wind was so strong it was pushing the plane along. With no park brake, I had to leap out, grab the chocks and put them in before opening the hangar and putting the trusty RV away. 36 hours of flying and over 4000 nautical miles later, I had completed the run up north. Of course, I wouldn’t really have completed the journey until I went all the way south… On the drive home I was wondering what the easternmost and westernmost airports in Australia are. It’s addictive.
