GREY NOMAD AWARDS

The Wellshot Hotel - near to Longreach, a world away, and central to everything the outback offers. Only 20 minutes from Longreach on the Matilda Way, the Wellshot provides grey nomads with an opportunity to stay in a pre-1890 outback pub with a boutique collection of powered and unpowered sites, access to quaint amenities and potable water all available immediately adjacent to the pub’s themed beer garden.

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Location: Matilda Way, also known as the Landsborough Highway at this point, Ilfracombe - just 20 minutes east of Longreach

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Facilities:  Everything you need for an outback RV stay in comfort, with a small number of sites with water, power and amenity access. Pet friendly. Breakfast, lunch and dinner available. Licensed. Good mobile and TV reception. The hotel operates other accommodation for those not in an RV or others who wish to have a break from their RV. To reinforce the outback location, the Wellshot Hotel has:

• A themed bar

• Quirky bar stools that social media fans love

• Delicious outback-style meals

• Young station animals

• A street-side breakfast and coffee nook

• A ceiling smattered with guests’ dollar notes that are donated to charity.

 

EXPERIENCES

 

Ilfracombe is home to the Machine Mile – a seriously impressive outdoor free machine museum that runs along the highway directly opposite the hotel, as well as the Wellshot Centre, a place where you can learn about Ilfracombe’s evolution and Wellshot Station, once one of the largest private land holdings in the world.

 

Trundle down the road just 30 kilometres to experience all the attractions of Longreach:

• Delve into the lives of Australian explorers, stockmen and local Aboriginal people at the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame.

• The QANTAS Founders Museum – fly back in time at this cultural display of the airline’s beginnings. Tackle the spirit of Australia by exploring genuine QANTAS planes and artefacts.

• Outback Pioneers’ stagecoach tours are a doozy – ride on a restored coach that rockets along the original Longreach-Windorah mail route thanks to five sturdy stock horses.

• Join one of the biggest classrooms in the world when you do a behind-the-scenes tour of the Longreach School of Distance Education.

• Cool down on the Thomson River late afternoon on one of the cruises that guarantee stunning sunsets.

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Judges said:  In addition to the sprucing up of the hotel with a new paint job and the impressive front extension, we love that the Wellshot Hotel embraces the quirky side of outback Queensland. In 2022 that included some unique events, such as a ram sale in the beer garden and line dancing classes, plus some unique services, like the barbers who also set up in the beer garden. These additional elements provide an extra incentive for visitors to stay and play at this deserving Hall of Fame recipient.

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