Day Four - Longreach

It was a good night's rest and even though we were quite near the airport, the highway and the rail line, we heard none of that. It was our alarms that woke us and we fell into what has now become a familiar routine of ablutions and packing up and packing Billi Stanley before checking out of the accommodation and heading out in search of nourishment. Breakfast this morning was at another Kinnon establishment ... The Station Store. It was full of old world charm with a vintage sedan parked out the front almost on the footpath because it had a trailer on back. Luckily for them, Longreach has front to kerb angle parking. The Station Store was also harbouring a few of the folk we saw on last night's sunset river cruise.

Me and the old-fashioned!

They had a relatively short breakfast menu - the main gate being Wagon Wheels - which Sooz and I both had (they had a batch almost ready when we ordered) - which turned out to be a bacon rasher fashioned into a circle with scrambled eggs (with cheese and lightly cooked tomato) in the middle.  Yummo!  We augmented this reality with some toast and butter - both in exactly the right quantities and ratios!

  Stockman's Hall of Fame

Then, ready for the day ahead, we set out for the Stockman's Hall of Fame - which turned out to be next door to our Kinnon accommodation!  Talk about central location!  On our way there we had an unexpected brush with nature ... a group of five or so emus waiting roadside ... why did the emus cross the road? We don't know but they did - waiting for a break in the traffic before starting to cross.  They were quite close to the town centre when we saw them  .... just down from the eggabout - which performs the same function as a roundabout but is shaped like a race-course (or egg).

The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame was much bigger than I had expected.  And who knew they would have an Olly as well (although theirs is a different spelling)!  Theirs was a large steer - now 2 years old - which has been hand-reared since it was 2 months old.  He is lovely and takes up position on the lawn in front of the SHOF and has his photograph taken with people stopping in to your the centre.  He also makes an appearance in the ... but wait, I am getting ahead of myself here ... Because before we had even made it in the front door there was another friendly face ... Evie ... sitting on top of a water barrel and looking longingly at approaching folk and wagging her tail until they stopped to pay her ... and she posed for photographs as well.  Despite all appearances she is actually on staff and we saw her a bit later in the morning with Ollie ... and Henry ... and Sean!  Yes, we decided to do the live show as part of our visit to the SHOF.
It was good too ... hosted by a real honest-to-goodness stockman who has done it on the land and in the sky, on contract and on muster.  He had his dog with him, a wonderful Border Collie - of three colours, meaning pure-blood (as he explained) - highly intelligent and well-trained.  Henry sat at the window of the "hut" and watched (well, sometimes he came out but I think he had been trained to do that as well).  As well as showcasing Ollie to us, our stockman host (who also sang) demonstrated some herding techniques with the help of Evie and some sheep ... including Sean.  Our Stockman's (what was his name?) also explained about draughting - which I never knew had to do with sorting the sheep - into ages, owners and genders.  Then, and this is where Sean came into the spotlight, our stockman sheared a sheep ... let's call him Sean he said.  He managed to do it in four minutes ... which seems like a great effort, and was, until he mentioned that a real shearer (someone who does it for a living) can shear a sheep in a couple of minutes.
We stayed on after the show for a bite of lunch and then took the offer of a "come back" pass - a great idea since it's a fair bet that not everyone can get through the whole SHOF in just one day!  I'm not sure if we will get back this trip - definitely not tomorrow - but it's good to have the option.
The drive to Winton was the longest stretch so far.  It's 175km and the only town we've come across so far that is more than 100km away without some kind of town (or outpost) on the way there.  But we weren't on the road by ourselves ... any other traffic though was outnumbered by the police car - lots of them, heading back towards Longreach.
We were in Winton before sunset - something we have insisted on this trip - making sure we are settled before dusk when the wildlife comes out to play.

*  From the SHOF website:
Join our experienced Head Stockman John Hawkes for an informative insight and tribute to the skills of all stockmen past and present.
HorseKenny and Olly the Steer are but a small part of this exciting new show of horsemanship and the showcasing of traditional Australian Stockman skills that are still used today.