The City of Bunbury jumbo jet carried 5.4 million passengers and flew 82.5 million kilometres during her working life. Adrienne Costin discovered that even in retirement in the Queensland Outback, this grand old dame of the air remains most accommodating.

In this day and age of unlimited air travel the size of a Boeing 747 is no longer surprising, but when that jumbo resides in a regional airport and is exposing her inner secrets to visitors, she becomes quite special.

The City of Bunbury has been the star exhibit at the Qantas Founders Outback Museum in Longreach since she arrived there in 2002, 82 years after the first Qantas plane left this town on November 16, 1920.

She, and a neighbouring Boeing 707, are the only two such planes in the world which are open to the public and it’s a great opportunity to explore firsthand these giant machines that fly us around the world.

Check out the cockpit and sit in the captain’s chair, hand on the controls, imagining the machine is yours for the day. The tiny area of cockpit and the array of instruments is daunting to say the least, but from one who regularly drives a car, the most disconcerting thing was the fact you can’t see the nose of the plane from your seat.

Visitors taking the tour walk through the cabin and see the padding and wires behind the lining walls, right down to the cables along the roof which run from the controls in the cockpit to the tail rudder at the rear. Nowdays its all done with fibre optics, but it does make you appreciate how basic the principles of steerage are.

A short climb down a very narrow ladder and you are in the workings of the ship – the part of the plane where the engineers have to venture if something goes wrong – and right next to the cargo hold which is impressively large!

An optional extra on this tour is a wing walk. Harness firmly clipped in place, you step out of the emergency exit door onto the huge wing and make your way out from the plane. It gives an entirely different perspective of flying and the plane and there’s something quite special knowing that you are walking where few have been before.

Visitors can also take a tour of the smaller plane which stands next to the jumbo – a fully restored Boeing 707 which was the first passenger jet to be registered in Australia and Qantas’ first jet aircraft. Privately owned before her return to Longreach, the furnishings are stylish and give a great perspective on just what you can do to the interior of a jet plane.

The Museum is a modern, air-conditioned building standing next to the Longreach airport terminal and is a stylish tribute to Australia’s commercial aviation history. It is open 7 days a week, every day of the year, except Christmas Day, and a range of admission prices are available. Prices for the 747 tour start from $19 for adults ranging through to the “Ultimate Tour Package” which is $115 for admission to all parts of the museum, both jet tours and the wing walk. www.qfom.com.au.