Qld Outback Tour - Barcaldine/Ilfracombe/Longreach

Barcaldine to Longreach, 108kms, 10L/100kms

The Wellshot Hotel

A really fun day.

We left Barcaldine about 8:30 for the short drive to Longreach but decided to stop at Ilfracombe and what a good decision that turned out to be. After a cuppa at the General Store, a very tidy and hospitable establishment, we wandered up along a fence made entirely of vertical gidgee posts. In the process we passed the site of the former Railway Hotel, which had been in the hands of only three people. The death of the original owner saw the licence pass to his daughter. Our research fails us and we remember her only as "Sis" but remarkably, she remained the licensee of the hotel for 60 years from 1910. The new owners took over the licence in 1970 and lost the pub three years later when it went the way of many a Qld pub, burning down in 1973.

Hats at the Wellshot

Beside it is the infamous Wellshot Hotel, a place with so much character that its no wonder it has been named Qld's best pub often. Today, we met Chloe, a French Canadian native of Quebec currently in Australia to travel but who has been in Ilfracrome for the past three months. What a delightful person she was. The bar is full of the unexpected, from the cartoon murals painted high on one wall about events which have happened in and around town, to the big colourful mural at one end of the bar, to the collection of stockmen's hats which are on all the walls. There is even a pair of boots.

What strikes you most is the money on the ceiling: five, ten, twenty and even fifty dollar notes, hanging seemingly by magic from a ceiling of wooden boards; each note a donation to the local museum and in the dining room, a similar strange collection on the ceiling for Angelflight.

Money on the ceiling

It works this way.

You donate your note and Chloe puts a long shanked drawing pin through its centre. Behind the head she places a $2 coin and then she screws the note into a tight twist behind the coin. The parcel is then placed between your forefinger and index finger, sharp end and palm up. You propel the note to the ceiling where if successful, you may then wait for the note to unravel and the $2 to drop. If you catch it, you win a free beer.

I landed it and waited. When the coined dropped I was in the right spot, outside the line of the drop, let it fall into my palm and then just like Herschelle Gibbs, dropped my chance for legendary status. Only three have ever caught the falling coin.

Chloe

Great fun place and Chloe was a good sport. How she remains unattached was answered upon Sue's direct enquiry. She is waiting to marry a businessman. She'll wait a while in Ilfracombe.

Onto Longreach and we booked in to our park.

In the afternoon, we went in search of a new pair of boots. My old Redbacks died a few days into the trip and we had been told that T-Bone was the place to go. There we met our second impressive young laddy for the day, Jamie, who did an excellent job of getting me into a pair that suited me best. In the course of three quarters of an hour conversation she revealed her love of writing and desire to be published. What a wonderfully confident and articulate female to find in a place which for all of its history has been swamped in a dominant male culture. She was an exciting person to talk to and yet another example that books often have totally misleading covers. I hope she realises her writing dreams.

We managed to fit in a cuppa - again no decaf coffee - at The Secret Garden. A bit over one cup of Earl Gray from a tea bag cost $5 each. Missing Cafe 2340 and other cafes in Tamworth.

Click here for today's photos

This evening we had a few beers in the premises at the caravan park and listen to a local fellow sing some tunes. He was only average but had an interesting set list and had a lot of fun with his audience. Things don't have to always be all shine and sparkle or top quality if they are sincere.

Three nights here.