Community
3 October, 2025
Outback stations treated to soft serve ice cream on mail run
Families on the Kynuna-McKinlay mail run were recently treated to a visit from an ice cream van.
Outback life can be hard work without too many perks, so it was no surprise that a select group of North West stations were beaming with joy when an ice cream van turned up on their doorstep.
Bec Climie has built a reputation as a postie who goes the extra mile, and last month she swapped out her regular vehicle for an ice cream van to do her rural mail run.
It worked, with smiles from all ages when they had their first taste of a soft serve cone on home soil.
“Our mail run, the Kynuna-McKinlay mail run, we do a show day every year because Julia Creek doesn’t have a show,” Bec explained.
“Our local residents don’t have the opportunity to show their craft and photography and all the same things that are at the show – cutest pets and all of that stuff.
“So, we run a mail run show day. Every year, I just try to think of something different to add to it.
“I always think that when you go to the show, you get an ice cream. So this year I added an ice cream truck to show day!”
Bec said it didn’t take too much convincing of the ice cream truck operator out of Cairns to make the trip out to Julia Creek and beyond.
“I literally just rang and said, ‘this is my idea, do you want to do it?’ And they were like, ‘yep, no worries’,” she said.
“Instead of taking my normal mail run car, I just put the mail in the ice cream van, which was a bit of a squish, but it worked.
“We managed to fit a couple of motorbike tyres in there as well, some groceries, and the normal mail.
“Essentially, we just delivered the mail in an ice cream van.
“When we pulled up to the mailboxes, they also got the opportunity to have an ice cream. It was pretty cool.”
Bec said the run took a lot longer as a result – especially as the van had to fire up the generator each time it stopped to make soft serve – but it was well worth the long day.
“They got to have anything off the menu, so thick shakes, ice creams, slushies, whatever they chose,” she said.
“It did obviously take a lot longer than the normal mail run takes because we were sort of at each mailbox for I suppose 45 minutes. I didn't walk back in the door until 8.30 that night.
“We had some people who had breakfast ice creams because they were the first cab off the rank. The last family didn't get their ice cream until just after 7.30.
“They were really keen – they have three little kids – they brought their dinner out and had dinner at the mailbox and set up a little campfire and waited for us to get there.
“I think both the kids and the adults enjoyed it just as much. There were lots of excited people to get an ice cream at their mailbox.”
The most popular choice on the menu?
“I think for the kids it was definitely the half and half. They do half sprinkles, half sherbet,” Bec said.
“A lot of the adults had a choc top with a flake. And there were quite a few sundaes taken home and put in the freezer, too, for the people that weren't able to come to the mailbox.”
As well as the ice cream van, “show day” on the mail run also includes arts and crafts competitions where the station families put in entries and then receive ribbons based on the judging.
Bec said it was just a way of having fun in the bush and connecting with the families on her mail run.
“I generally do it in the first week of the school holidays, but I brought it forward a week because of the ice cream van this year,” she said.
“They put their entries into the mailboxes and then we judge it, and then I put certificates and ribbons the following mail run to say who's won, who's come first, second etc.
“They bring their cutest pets to the mailbox.
“We have all sorts of different categories like cooking, arts and crafts, leatherwork, Lego and photography.
“I also have a category called, ‘if your thing doesn't fit a category, make a category up’.
“I basically just want everyone to have the opportunity to participate if they've got something that they would like to show other people.
“I take photos of everything during the day and then share all of that back into our message groups, so they can see each other's entries as well.”
Bec said she hoped the story of the ice cream van turning up at mailboxes would be passed on over the years.
“I guess it's just one of those days that hopefully will create memories for everyone,” she said.
“You know, in five years' time they'll be like, ‘do you remember that day we had ice cream on the mail run?’
“I'm not sure what I'm going to do next year to trump an ice cream van on mail run show day!”
