At the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach we are able to tour the outside of a retired Qantas 747 Jumbo jet and then climb on board for a fascinating sticky beak at the cargo hold, black box (which is, in fact, orange), passenger cabins (Economy, Business and First Class) and cock pit. It is a tour that undeniably raises the bar for all future museum experiences. It's also a tour that presents its own unique challenge when - after entering the cockpit first and before the rest of the tour participants - one young Bihary (who shall remain anonymous) lets slip a "silent but deadly". Obviously after months of travelling in a tin can, we're unfazed and can can still snap our photos, beaming broadly. Not sure whether the same can be said for those innocent folk who entered after us.
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| Biharys waiting to board. |
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| Beneath the belly of the beast. |
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| Inside the $10 million engine, blades safely behind perspex. |
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| Caution! Children in Cockpit. |
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| Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain, Darren Bihary, speaking... |
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| Right after we enter the toxic cockpit. Kids are engaged and non-plussed whilst dad pulls on an oxygen mask and struggles for air. |
