Longreach Tourist Park is the target for today, as well as a stop off at Miners Heritage.
So todays plan, pack up camper trailer, head to Miners Heritage for the morning, and then drive to Longreach for setup at the Longreach Tourist Park late in the afternoon.
The alarm was set for 7am, we had breakfast, packed the car, and then packed up the Jayco.
It had rained through the night on and off, lucky for me though it had cleared by the morning so the awning covers weren’t too wet when we rolled them up back into their bags.
So we said goodbye to Rubyvale Caravan Park and headed off to Miners Heritage for the morning.
There is plenty of room at Miners Heritage, so if you have to take your camper trailer or caravan there because you have booked out of your caravan park, you can park easily.
Miners Heritage has Australia’s largest walk in underground sapphire mine.
The difference we found out between this mine and a few others around the place is this mine was used for mining until quite recently, and you also get to walk a section that was dug out in 1906.
We started off with a bit of fossicking for sapphires before heading inside to do the underground mine tour.
You buy a bucket of wash to fossick through to try and find your fortune.
The people from Miners Heritage help you at first so you know what you are looking for as well.
And you better hope there is a little ray of sunshine coming your way while you are fossicking, this makes the gems easier to spot.
You pour a little of the wash into the pan, head over to the water and give the wash a good rinse to get the mud off the stones, then tip the wash onto the sorting tables.
Then it is business time looking for gems.
We had done about half a bucket full of wash when it was time to head back inside and head down into the mine.
The underground mine tour is well worth it, as you can see from the photos the tunnels are quite wide and high.
There is plenty to look at through the mine, and also the mine has a great story behind it too.
I won’t tell you all of it as it will ruin the experience for you if you get there one day.
The guide we had for the underground mine tour was very knowledgeable about the history and also the mining process, so every question was answered.
At the end of the Underground Mine Tour there is the Heritage Museum, this has newspaper clippings, things to see and read all relating to the mine and also the surrounding area.
Very interesting indeed.
You can pick your nose, but please do not pick at the walls
After the Underground Mine Tour we headed back to the fossicking at Fossicking Park to finish off the rest of our bucket of wash.
Once you have fossicked through your bucket of wash you can take all the stones you have found into the shop area and let the ladies run their eyes over them to makes sure you have fossicked the right ones.
After this you can get a little bottle to keep them all in and display them in as a reminder of your trip to Rubyvale and The Gemfields.
At Miners Heritage, as I have just mentioned, there is a shop in the area you pay for the fossicking and the Underground Mine Tour.
So you get to see the all the different gems set in rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, as well as loose stones, and more, as well as the more touristy stuff for you to buy as well.
We left Rubyvale around 12.30pm and set off on the drive to Longreach for the next part of our trip.
The road to Longreach is long and straight at times and it feels like you can see the curvature of the earth.
The vastness of the Queensland outback is breathtaking.
They have had a fair bit of rain in the last month or so and so it was fairly green and the creeks were still quite high and overlapping the their banks in areas.
We stopped off at Alpha for something to eat on the way.
There is a Bakery called Snows Bakery which has been mentioned to the wife as a place to stop and have something to eat.
The line up at Snows was about five people deep when we arrived, with more people coming in, so the word must be out on this bakery that they make good food and bread.
There also was a driver reviver at Alpha too, with the lovely Nola manning it.
Nola is getting up there in age and runs the driver reviver everyday.
If you have a bit of time you can have a chin wag to Nola too as she has a lot of knowledge about the local area as well as coffee, tea, lollies, and biscuits.
Alpha is the perfect place to stop to eat and have a toilet break on the way through to Longreach.
There is plenty of parking on the main road, there are public toilets right there too, and also a Service Station as you enter into town if you need to fill up with diesel or petrol.
Next town we passed throughway was Jericho, and we stopped for petrol at Barcaldine after that as well.
Barcaldine was our last stop before the final part of the drive to Longreach.
We finally got to Longreach Tourist Park at 5.30pm which gave me just enough time to set the Camper Trailer up and also the annexe this time.
You can park your camper trailer or caravan out on the road if it is a larger type and just walk into the office to check in, you don’t have to drive fully into the reception / office area.
The caravan park entry is just down the road so you have to drive a little way to get into the park anyway after checking in.
It was pretty effortless to book a spot at Longreach Tourist Park, and also to check in as well.
The Longreach Tourist Park is quite a big caravan park, they have over 300 camp sites, and many, many villas / cabins, and ensuite sites too.
So you can have a bit of fun looking at all of the different size caravans, tent trailers, motorhomes, and whatever else turns up or you walk by.
There certainly is some caravan envy going on at times.
Longreach Tourist Park has four laundries, heated spas, lots of gas barbecues, and an onsite restaurant and bar too.
The restaurant at Longreach Tourist Park is called The Woolshed, and from what I could tell and with the walking traffic going past our camper trailer it was pretty popular.
It was too cold for the kids to go for a dip in the swimming pool while we were here.
But I’m sure it will get a working over during the spring and summer months.
Below is the spa pools for you to see.
One of the spa pools is out of action when we were there, and the one that wasn’t working also backs onto a cave where you can hide out if it is raining.
We went for the campsite with ensuite for our stay, makes sense with the kids for late night toilet runs and the ease of giving them showers.
I thought I would write about the Longreach Tourist Park now rather than in the coming days as the days are so jam packed with things to do it would be a waste to not put more photos up of them.
We had spaghetti bolognese for dinner tonight cooked on the camper trailer stove and then it was time for showers and sleep.
The cool air had certainly arrived in Longreach as the sun went down and we were expecting about 6 degrees or less in the morning.
Liked reading this?
Head to Day 3 here, Outback Queensland Road Trip Day 3.
Or head back to the start of our trip here, Outback Queensland Road Trip.
What did we do or see today?
We visited Miners Heritage this morning in Rubyvale.
Miners Heritage
97 Heritage Rd
Rubyvale, The Gemfields QLD 4702
P 07 4985 4444
Then we drove from Rubyvale to Longreach, we went through Jericho, Alpha, and Barcaldine.
We stopped at Alpha and Barcaldine on the way.
Then it was camper trailer setup at the Longreach
Where did we stay in Longreach? Longreach Tourist Park
Longreach Tourist Park
12 Thrush Road
Longreach Qld 4730
P 07 4658 0034
Want to Book? You can here, Longreach Caravan Park.
What distance did we drive today?
Rubyvale to Longreach
Total distance travelled = 389 km
Tally of roadkills spotted for Outback Queensland Road Trip = 32
Liked reading this?
Head to Day 3 here, Outback Queensland Road Trip Day 3.
Or head back to the start of our trip here, Outback Queensland Road Trip.
