Thompson River Walk [Longreach]

Once we completed Captain Starlight’s Lookout, we headed back to Longreach for lunch. After dropping most of our crew at the QANTAS Museum, one of my girl friends and I headed out for another walk I found on the internet – A walk up the Thompson River. It took us a few goes to find the right track but once we found it, it turned out to be a nice walk along the river.

During my hiking research, I saw a couple of sites talking about a walk up the Thompson River; however it was not clear at all how to find the track. Initially, I wasn’t sure if we’d find it at all! I figured the best place to start looking was Apex Park. To get to Apex park (if you don’t have a GPS or Google Maps), head along the A2 (Landsborough Highway) towards Winton and take the first right turn (there should be a sign post either for the park or indicating a camping/rest area. Turn left at the intersection and (if it’s anything like when we went) you’ll find a rest area with heaps of caravans! We parked up under a tree next to the river so we could cross the bridge there on foot.

Now, the walk itself is not signposted so it took us 4 goes to find the track… We went:

• Across the bridge and turned right – walked 500m and found a private property sign so we turned around (there was also a paddle boat up there which was pretty cool)
• Went back to the car and headed in the same direction as before, but on the other side of the river – found someone’s back yard and a beware of the dog sign.. turned around pretty quickly!
• Still on the Apex park side of the river, went past the big shed and tried to find a track on the left side – fenced off and no clear path.

Finally, we crossed the bridge and turned LEFT. Ah ha! We found a path! See the terrible drawing below:

Follow the red arrow!

The track itself is quite clear and well walked but keep an eye out for motorbikes. It’s not a particularly exciting walk but it’s a nice way to see the river – it would be a nice walk for a picnic or if you wanted to see the sunset/rise over the river. The track is approximately 4-4.5km return and not particularly hard.