In town, but about to go bush again

We’re in Mount Isa, having stocked up on supplies for our next foray into the bush, and poked around the town to see the sights. Best of all, it’s wonderfully warm, and for the first time since leaving home, I am wearing sandals.

After we left Boulia we turned east at Dajarra onto dirt road and headed for Cloncurry, via Duchess.



The pub at Duchess

Everyone had assured us the road was good, but with our stiff suspension, the corrugations were a bit bone-shattering. I’m glad a tooth filling that my dentist said had ‘metal fatigue’ was replaced before we left home, as I may have gritted it so much on that Duchess road that it would have totally collapsed.

So into Duchess we rolled: Population 3, the publican, his wife and her brother, plus a French backpacker serving in the bar.

That is something new for the Outback. We found that Boulia was running on the work of backpackers, with a young Irish chap in the hardware store, an American in the supermarket, and others working in the roadhouse and cafe as well as being teacher’s aides in the school.

We parked behind the pub and had a great country night there, with T-bone steaks to die for, plus all the trimmings. The publican was a colourful character who had done all kinds of stuff, ranging from running sheep stations to sawmills in PNG.

He probably does quite well in his little pub as he has the contract to supply alcohol to the Phosphate Hill Mine (worth $1.5 million a year, he says), plus accommodation in dongers behind the pub for mine and railway workers.



Near Cloncurry.

We had learned from our relatives and friends at Boulia that locals could travel free on the company jet from the Osborne mine, north of Boulia, on its back trips to Townsville. Apparently the same is true for the Phosphate Hill mine.



The whole region is just full of mines, and the landscape is just stunning, with great rocky hills making any geologist slaver over his little picks.

Cloncurry was interesting, giving us our first taste of traffic for about a week, and after a day there (the Royal Flying Doctor museum was a must), we trundled on through spectacular landscape to Mount Isa where we were booked into a lovely shady caravan park.

At this time of the year, the roads are full of caravans and motorhomes, as well as road trains, and we’ve found we have to book to ensure a place. We called Adel’s Grove just outside Lawn Hill National Park and managed to get a place for four days, but only if we get there by Saturday, so tomorrow (Friday) will head off, do some bush camping, and arrive there on Saturday.



The underground hospital, just as it
was set up in 1942.

Last night we had dinner with John’s son-in-law’s sister (another written test soon, folks, on these family relationships!) and had a great time with her and her partner, her 2 daughters, his four kids, and the two dogs.

Apart from our shopping expeditions today, a highlight was the underground hospital, built to protect patients in the event of Mount Isa being bombed in WWII, but closed up and forgotten until the 1970s when an excavator uncovered it on the hill behind the hospital. It was considered unsafe so closed up again, but with the help of Mount Isa Mines and some miners’ volunteer labour, it was fixed up and re-opened in 2001. Fascinating!

And of course, the huge bulk of the mines, the smelters and the mine structures dominate the town. The annual show starts tomorrow, plus rodeo events, and the town will shut for a public holiday just as we cruise west and north towards Lawn Hill.