Longreach Stagecoach Ride - 4-8-2023

On Friday our tour started at 8.30AM and we were there on time, looking forward to the experience. I was really keen to sit outside and not inside the carriage (boring) and felt like a little child asking every person who looked like they would be making that decision if I could please sit outside. I was told that everybody (12 people) should have the same chance of having the choice to sit outside and I should make sure my hand goes up faster than anybody else’s. So, I was glued to the coachman speaking (sitting in the first row right in front of him) and as soon he asked who wants to sit on the back outside, my hand went up. To my surprise, not many other hands did go up, so, besides two other ladies, I got a seat outside on the back of the coach.

The three of us were the first ones to climb onto the carriage and a ladder was put against the coach. I was surprised about the lack of Health & Safety instructions, and it was refreshing being treated like an adult instead of like a child as they would in NZ. The only instructions we got was ‘Please don’t stand up during the ride’. I think in NZ they would have installed seat belts into these beautiful old carriages or tied you up in some other way to make sure you stay seated.

Anyway, the boring people all went inside the coach (besides the guy sitting next to the coachman) and we took off. As Longreach only exists of one main road it only took us 5 minutes to get out into the countryside and off we went. The coachman told us lots of history during the ride, but I was so involved in the experience of sitting up high on that coach and wobbling over the gravel that I didn’t hear a

thing. The best part was when the horses started cantering and the coach was moving a bit faster. I would have loved them to go even faster but I guess they can’t do this as otherwise the boring people inside might have got scared.

The other part of the 4-hour experience was watching an old Western movie (very cute), some Devonshire Tea (very yummy) and an outdoor show (very funny). Ah, yes, and not to forget, 30 minutes ‘free time’ in between the Tea and the show where we could browse their shop! Very clever – but we didn’t buy anything!

Bulla didn’t like how commercialised Longreach is when all he wanted was to experience the outback and not be paying for entertainment. So, the day after our tour we took off and went further west.