We were up bright and early to head out to our tour at Texas Longhorns. Caretakers Bill was on the job bright and early and wished us a great tour.

It only took about 15 minutes to drive out of town to the property where Texas Longhorn Tours are held.

We were all checked in by Lynda and then her husband Mick came along and gave us a little talk on why they started breeding Texas Longhorns and why they love them so much. We watched a short video of the history of the breed.

While we were watching the movie and listening to Mick Lynda had prepared a delicious morning tea with nice hot tea, homemade Anzac biscuits and a yummy butterscotch slice.

Following our yummy morning tea it was time to load onto the 4 wheelers and head out on safari. Katie was our driver. Each vehicle held 8 people. First stop on the tour was the Love Shack. This is where all the AI happens. Lynda demonstrated how that works and showed us the various bloodlines that they use to produce calves. We were shown the fantastic cattle crush designed and built by Mick to hold these amazing cattle with their very long horns.

Next stop was the cattle yards where the kids were excited to meet Dougal, a Scottish Highland steer. Dougal is so quiet you can just walk up behind him and pat him. His hair was so soft!

In the paddock near the cattle yards were the two huge grey Percheron horses that Mick and Lynda use to pull a large wagon for their wagon tours every Wednesday.

Back on the 4 wheelers and Mick led us out into the paddocks to check out the cattle. The first paddock was full of cows and calves. This is where we saw Matilda, the current Australian record holder for the widest horns.

Then we traveled into another paddock that houses the steers. We were able to stop and get off and some of the cattle were so quiet and seemed to enjoy a pat. The two American Bison were the bossiest of this group of cattle and they just barged their way through the gentler Longhorns.

Back at the homestead we visited the JR Gallery of Horns. This old stable has been turned into a memorial for old JR who once held the Guinness World Record for the widest set of horns.

We all thoroughly enjoyed our tour at Texas Longhorns and recommend it to anyone passing through the area. 5 stars!

Back at camp Rich and I borrowed the car and went out to Mitre 10 to swap and go two gas bottles then we drove around to visit Bill’s wife Bea. Bea had a fall the week before and had broken her kneecap and was waiting to have surgery. She couldn’t visit us so we went to her. We had a lovely hour chatting with Bea and it was great to catch up. We hope her knee surgery goes well and recovery is quick.

Bill joined us at our camp for a drink and a yarn after he finished his caretaking job for the day. He is so passionate about his hometown and can talk for hours about Charters Towers. It was great to listen to.