When we arrived in Mt Isa last week we visited the
Tourist Info Centre and booked in for a mine tour. After a couple of days
looking around “The Isa”, we took the tour on Friday. We arrived early for our
1pm tour and watched a video presentation before “Bill” called us to get ready.
He handed out our flashy orange disposable suit that we got to keep (should
come in real handy!!). Dressed in our orange overalls, gumboots, hardhat,
battery and light we gathered at the mine entrance all keen to go underground.
(sorry don't have a photo! no camera's allowed)
(sorry don't have a photo! no camera's allowed)
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| Our uniforms & hard hats |
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| Our boots |
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| Hard Times mine |
The machinery in this mine is all outdated
equipment donated by Mt. Isa Mines but most of it still operates ok and on the
tour you get to either ride on it or use it. (insert a Tim “The Toolman” grunt here!!) Towards the end of
the 2½ hours underground, we had a
cuppa in the cribb (meal) room and told yarns like the miners would have done
up to the mid 80’s when mining changed as Bill knew it. For the workers it was a
new era for the work place with strict work place health and safety, changed working
hours, better pay and bonus structures etc.
At the end of Friday we arrived back at the van
park in time to enjoy another happy hour before watching the Broncos beat the Dragons,
28-20.
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| Happy Hour |
Saturday morning we had brekky at the “Coffee Club”
where it is clear, a lot of the locals like to spend there Saturday mornings
also. While here, and as we walked through town after, it became apparent by
signs in windows etc that work is readily available in the area.
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| Rod read just about everything there was to read here |
We then returned to the Tourist Info Centre to do
“The Outback at Isa” tour which is a museum dedicated to the history of Mt.
Isa, and easily kills a couple of hours. There was audio-visuals of bygone eras, old pieces of furniture, vehicles, petrol tins, wares, which all made for a very interesting display. Two and a half hours later we emerged.
There was also an exhibition of fossils
etc dealing with the Riversleigh site which is one of the most significant
fossil deposits in the world, however, we’re pretty well fossilled out, so,
didn’t spend too much time on this one. Besides, we needed to get back to the
van park in fear of missing happy hour.
On Sunday, we visited the markets that are held
every second weekend but could have saved ourselves the bother.
There had been a problem with the car which we put
down to dirty fuel (or water in it), so, after putting 2 bottles of Wynn’s Spitfire
in the tank, we took a drive out of town for about 20 klms and back. Gotta love
the open road! Touch wood (my head), it’s been fine since.
I’m sure you’ve worked out what we did when we
returned to the van park in the afternoon!
On Monday, Vic and I went out to the Mt Isa Irish
Club, which is the biggest club of it’s kind outside of Ireland. There is a
fully restored Melbourne tram in the café here, appropriately called The
Tramstop. We had a very nice morning tea before killing enough time, in the
pokies, to have an early lunch. We had a fabulous roast lamb and veges, for $10,
which could have only been better without the peas!! L
When
we arrived back at the van park, the mail we had been waiting for had been
delivered, so after whacking on the new rego sticker it was time for our last
happy hour with the neighbours. The group, Kath, Kerry and there 18 year old
son, Craig, who are hoping to get work in Mt Isa and stay a couple of years,
Barry and Sandra who were leaving on Tuesday as well, and heading up to Karumba
for a few months fishing (as they do each year) and ourselves had a great time
sitting in the shade and telling stories. Great bunch of people who we hope to
stay in touch with as we travel this great country of ours.
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| Camooweal, great place... to drive through...not much there! |
On
Tuesday we said our farewells and hit the road west toward Camooweal, 189kms
away. We topped up the fuel tanks here (@ $191.9/L, the dearest so far) in
preparation for the long drive to Tennant Creek, about 470 klms. Fuel is
available at Barkly Roadhouse but at $2.00/ L any saving is a good one or so I
see it. After a quick cuppa we drove the 14kms to the Northern Territory border
and took the mandatory photos.
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| and so did we! |
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| Camooweal |
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| He made it! Yeah! |
Once
over the border, the roads change almost immediately and justify the 130kph
speed limit.
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| Wide open roads of NT |
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| Waiting for the tank to cool at Barkly |
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| Barkly Homestead |
With such good roads and very little traffic of any sort, we made
good time and had lunch at the Soudan Rest Area (#2 NT Camps 5) before reaching
the Barkly Homestead about 3.45pm (Qld time).
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| Middle of nowhere |
It was so hot (39 deg) on Tuesday
that the heat build up under the van caused the vinyl floor to bubble (returned
to normal overnight) and the water tanks to heat. The
heat also made it impossible to transfer fuel from the auxiliary tank because
the fuel was vapourising. After waiting a while it cooled sufficiently enough
to transfer the fuel needed to get us to Frewena Rest Area (#6 NT Camps 5)
where we stayed the night.
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| Frewena Rest Area sunset - just magic! |
This is another good spot for a stopover with heaps
of room to get away from the road, plenty of shade, water and picnic tables. We
saw another beautiful outback sunset before a million bugs drove us inside. After
499kms, we had been hoping for a cool shower but the water in the tanks was far
too hot. We ran the larger fan for 7 hours overnight via the inverter and still
had plenty of juice in the van battery in the morning.
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| Frewena Rest Area - free camp |
After
a glorious sunrise on Wednesday we got away to an early start hoping to avoid
some of the heat and with intentions of a much shorter day than yesterday. We
transferred fuel while the system was cool and avoided the problems of the day
before.
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| I made it to the threeways... |
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| Same bums! |
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| Which way? |
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| Tenant Creek |
It
was a good run to the Three Ways where we took more photos then turned south to
Tennant Creek.
Fuel is available at the Three Ways but, like Barkly, it’s
$2.00/L. Apparently fuel subsidies apply in Tennant Creek and consequently, we
paid $169.9 here, which more than justified the 24 klms travel south.
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| Red soil, green but still in the middle of nowhere |
After
a look around, we turned north again and checked out Lake Mary Ann, Tenant
Creek’s water supply, and the old Telegraph Station, which operated from 1872 –
1935.
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| Lake Mary Ann |
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| Lake Mary Ann - very picturesque |
Back
on the Stuart Highway, it was an uneventful run to Renner Springs, with a stop
for lunch, before continuing on to Elliot. Here I was stopped outside the
Police Station for a breath test. I asked the young copper if he had anything
better to do than stand in the middle of a hot highway on a 37 deg day, doing
breath tests? His response with a smile and a chuckle was… Nup!
A
little further on, at Newcastle Waters, we stopped at the rest area on a hill
and watched fires burn across the valley we had just driven through. Along this
section of road there are virtually no free camping opportunities so we
continued on and reached Daly Waters in the late afternoon. So much for the
shorter day… 562 klms. With so little traffic and such good roads, time and
distance pass quickly.
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| View from the Newcastle Waters rest area |
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| Cheeky! |
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| Daly Waters Pub |
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| Daly Waters Servo |
As
we left Daly Waters today we visited the airfield, which has the oldest hangar
in N.T. This was actually Australia’s first international airfield and a very
important stopover for aircraft prior to WWII when it became a military
airfield. There is a conservation program to maintain the area due to it’s
historical significance, but since the initial funding and accompanied
maintenance in 1990-92, there is little evidence of any follow up maintenance. A crying shame considering its’ importance within Australia’s and Daly’s
local history.
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| Daly Waters airfield |
It
was only 180kms to Mataranka and we were here and set up, for a few days, by
11.30. The park we are staying in is only 500 metres from Bitter Springs, which
were recommended to us, as a more natural thermal experience than the springs
near the busier Mataranka Homestead. Vic and I walked down and spent a couple
of hours relaxing in the crystal clear waters and as you do, we got talking to
a couple of fellow caravanners while floating around.
In
the afternoon I went into town and bought beer. This is where it gets weird… I
got a carton of Naked Blonde for $30. It was marked down because it was out of date.
Think about it… Indigenous community… beer… on the highway…. out of date!!
Still goes down well on a hot afternoon!
That’s
it for this week… we’ve met some great people (many we hope to see again), seen some
fantastic sights, experienced things out of our comfort zone, dealt with some
issues (both technical and mechanical), ticked things off the list and added
things to it as well. At the end of week 6 we are missing our family and
friends but are very, very content.
