Ilfracombe - Mon 19th & Tues 20th October

Ilfracombe is a very small town on the Landsborough (Matilda) Highway, 27 km east of Longreach. We have buzzed through this town on several trips to Mt Isa and have often thought to ourselves, we must come here, stay a while and see what the town has to offer. Commercial enterprises consist of, a caravan park, a hotel, a post office, a cafe come everything store and the shire offices.

The sole remaining pub in town.

The cafe and come everything general store.

There is a school, sporting facilities and a swimming pool which also includes the artesian water spa.

This warm artesian water is is working wonders, pummelling on my back muscles.

Judy was also lapping up the spa action. We had it all to ourselves for over three hours.

What is most visible in the town though is the machinery and historical museum. This museum covers the entire northern side of the highway through the town, a distance we believe is 1.6 km.

Most of the machines on display have a plaque with their description and where they were used.

This pavilion is only recently erected, officially opened September 2009.

The display just keeps going on.

More historical exhibits.

A monster tractor from a time past.

An ingenious trailer set up, the centre wheels propel each individual trailer and are driven by a drive shaft that is connected from trailer to trailer. The other two axles on each trailer are steerable and cross linked with cables so that each trailer tracks precisely in line with the towing vehicle. It is claimed that the assembled road train can travel along a fence line and then turn through a gateway.