Our journey from Barcaldine to Longreach was only about an hour and a quarter to the west. However just 27 kms shy of Longreach is a little town that is definitely punching above its weight for caravaners or travellers. As we drove into town it was just about morning tea time so we pulled in for a short ten minute break or so we thought. Clearly the pub was an option as they offered hot and cold drinks.

However across the road we noticed an old large green Marshall tractor.

Just along the grass strip was another piece of machinery. On closer inspection of the sign next to it we discovered it was a dam excavator.

At this point I noticed a flood warning sign so I thought I’d check which roads were open. Fortunately the only one with a Caution sign wasn’t where we were headed.

That sorted I headed back along the row of machinery. Next was a railway crane. It had been added to this collection by the town of nearby Morella.

By now we could see more machinery up ahead so we continued our walk. There on a sign was the answer to our question, what was all this machinery here for? Apparently it had been assembled over time and the Machinery Mile was now quite a tourist attraction for the town.

So given we weren’t in a rush to drive the remaining 27 kms to Longreach we continued our walk and checked out this fascinating collection.

This colourful tractor is a 1924 Fordson.

As we reached what appeared to be a break in the machinery a large truck pulled in carrying a load of cotton.

Some more trucks were heading our way now so we decided to make a move ourselves much as taking a close look at the rest of the machinery mile collection was tempting. On the way back we passed this mini bus parked opposite the pub with an offer of another temptation but as it wasn’t quite lunchtime we jumped in the Hilux and headed off along the last stretch of road to Longreach.