We set off from Winton Wanderers Caravan Park around 9.15am. It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky although it was chillier than we’d got used to.

Check out Tommy the Orb Weaver spider that was weaving its web in the gardens between our RV’s. Ben named it Tommy. What an amazing creature.

Our first stop in Winton was at the dump point to do the job of dumping our cassettes and then to the servo for fuel for the motorhome. We then had a stop at the Winton sign on the outskirts of town.

It was a very uneventful 180km across flat grassy plains to Longreach. We passed hundreds of RV’s of all types along the way and a few 3 trailer road trains and one very wide load with a huge tractor on board. Rich and I commented that we felt like we’d seen more motorhomes on this trip than on previous ones. Of course we saw lots of caravans and we are amazed at how many different brands there are. But we just felt that we were seeing more motorhomes than we’ve noticed on previous travels.

As we approached Longreach and crossed the wide brown Thomson River we pulled off to the left to visit the Apex Park. This is a donation camp situated right on the banks of the river. It is a very popular spot and even though it was only lunch time it was pretty full already. Across the road is the overflow section and there were quite a few already camped there too. We’ve camped there before in the overflow however I definitely wouldn’t recommend it if there has been any rain as it is black soil that sticks like glue and it is very easy to be very bogged.

After checking out the river we set off again into town and to the Longreach Tourist Park where we were booked in for 3 nights.

Rich and I were pleasantly surprised by the park and we felt that it had been upgraded since we were last here. All new cement slabs on most sites, new bollards with power, water and sullage points for each site and a lot of red gravel has been added everywhere. Between the rows is a garden bed that the new bollards are placed in. I even noticed some tomato plants in the garden beds with lots of green fruit.

The pool was sparkling blue and the amenities, whilst old, were very clean.

We had two sites next to each other and as the motorhome is our only vehicle we had plenty of room. Most sites allow for a car then the slab then the caravan. Our site only has our motorhome then the slab with our awning over it then a large space between us and Katie where a car would usually go.

The kids are old hands at setting up camp by now and it didn’t take long before we were all set up. After everyone had lunch we set off in the car to explore Longreach. Riley stayed at camp for a bit of ‘me time’ and we dropped Ben and Maddie at the skate park to burn off some of that endless energy.

Katie was surprised how small Longreach was as she expected it to be much bigger. The whole town is only 5 blocks by 8 blocks on the south side of the railway line and only a few more blocks on the north side. It has a population of approximately 3,100 people.

Did you know that all the streets in Longreach are named after birds? The streets running east-west are all named after water birds. The streets running north-south are named after land birds which can sometimes lead to laughs when actual emus walk down Emu Street!

The Tropic of Capricorn runs through the centre of town so it can get pretty hot in Longreach during summer. Like many towns in the outback ‘the season’ runs from April to October. The summer months from November to March are just too hot for tourists and many tourist venues close for the summer.

Agriculture, particularly livestock, is the main industry around Longreach and then comes tourism. These two drive the other industries such as retail and construction, even health and education are reliant on the first two.

Longreach is home to two pretty well known museums, The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founders Museum. Both see thousands of visitors each year and are a huge draw card for visitors to the area.

Longreach is also a home base for the School of the Air and you can tour the facilities and even watch a class in action. We’d done this with the kids at Broken Hill and it certainly was interesting to see and we recommend a visit if you’ve never been before.

Longreach used to be on the Cobb & Co route and that tradition is being kept alive by Outback Pioneers. You can book a stagecoach ride with them and experience it for yourselves.

Ben and Maddie had a great time at the skate park and declared it a good one. Ben rates it a 7 out of 10.

Back at camp we booked some tours and enjoyed our dinner sitting under our awning. It was my turn to cook and we had crumbed steak, potato bake, veggies and gravy. It was yummy and enjoyed by all. There was none left after some had seconds. Always an indicator of a good meal when there is none left over!

It became very chilly and everyone retired as we had to be organised for our tour at the Stockmans Hall of Fame the next morning.