We had booked into the AAOK Moondarra Caravan Park as things are getting busy in Northern Queensland due to the annual Grey Nomad Migration. This was an unfortunate choice as was probably the worst caravan park so far. Our first experience was that we had problems finding the place as there weren't proper signs at the entry. Mount Isa is obviously a mining town and 95% of this caravan park was allocated to permanent residents employed in the mining industry. There were about 10 sites available for general public use of which maybe half were accessible and somewhat suitable for a medium-large caravan. We managed to get abused by one of the permanent residents while we were trying to figure out how we would get our van on one of the sites with a bit of shade. We eventually got ourselves on a very uneven site with a small amount of shade. Our nerves were stretched and we all regretted our (my turn on reservations unfortunately) choice of caravan parks.
Once we had lunch we ventured downtown to the Visitor Centre. Here all of us but Sandra booked in for the Hard Times Mine Tour for Saturday. Sandra took a pass as thought it would be too claustrophobic for her. We did some shopping at Coles and Woolies before venturing up to the lookout. The mine is huge and adjoins the town so is visible from just about anywhere in the City. Beautiful surroundings with red hills and lots of green. Unfortunately, you could only refer to Mount Isa as a typical mining town. Service in most businesses was below standard as it would appear most good employees are hired by the mining industry. To top off our disappointment with the caravan park it was a very noisy night filled with parties and arguments from a number of the permanent residents. We complained the following morning.
Saturday morning Carol, Stephen, and I headed off for our Mine Tour at 8:30AM. The tour was fantastic as our guide, Ian Brown, was someone that had actually worked in the mines for 50 years and knew how everything had been done particularly in the older days. Our first stop was to get geared up with boots, overalls, and mining hard hats. The mine itself is actually a replica built on site at the Outback at Isa Visitor Centre. The equipment is all donated from the mines from what they are done using. You go down the shaft in a cage elevator before taking a train to the crib room. From there we toured a number of different horizontal mine shafts. We operated a mining drill (under supervision), saw how the explosives were set, and viewed a number of pieces of working equipment used to remove the exploded ore. Everything was very loud and if you turned off the lamps on your hard hat; completely black. The work would have been back breaking, especially in the old days as the equipment is all very heavy and the work often overhead and repetitious. The tour took about 2.5 hours and was well worth the money. No cameras or pictures were allowed but we had one taken by our guide.
We returned to the caravans for lunch and to pickup Sandra for our afternoon touring. We returned to the Outback at Isa Centre to do two museums located there. The first was about Riversleigh which is an area near Mount Isa where a huge amount of fossils have been discovered. A number of strange creatures which are the predecessors of many of today's Australian wildlife. A carnivorous kangaroo and a huge marsupial the size of a hippo were two of the discoveries. Very interesting short film started it off before viewing some re-creations of these creatures in their natural environment (at least how the scientists perceive it). The final display was of a number of the actual bones and fossils discovered in the area.
The second museum was about Mount Isa and its history. A number of good displays on mining and the development of Mount Isa. Also watched a 30 minute film about the history of Mount Isa. Both museums were well laid out and very good. I would advise doing the film before the Mount Isa museum tour as it describes many of the displays you see. The Outback at Isa Centre is very nice and a credit to the community. Don't miss it and/or the mine tour when passing through.
We spent the late afternoon and early evening, preparing and enjoying a beautiful baked chicken dinner. Yum!
Sunday morning we discovered that the supermarkets are closed in Mount Isa. We had planned on doing our big shop today before heading North for our few weeks in Karumba. Bad luck but we will just do our shopping early on Monday morning before heading off.
We took a drive with the Ransleys out to Lake Moondarra where we had a picnic lunch. This is quite a large lake just North of Mount Isa that is a wonderful recreation area as well as one of the local water supplies. Nice large lake with lots of boats enjoying a lovely sunny day. Would be one of the few redeeming features of Mount Isa in our opinion. Enjoyed a beautiful couple of hours touring and relaxing around the lake and its parks.
The afternoon had us preparing for the next leg of our trip before watching NSW City-Country Rugby League game. I must say; my confidence in NSW Origin hopes was severely diminished by the display. I think Queensland was the only winner of this error filled contest. We had an easy dinner before the girls and I enjoyed watching "The Voice" again. Sandra and I ( well at least partly for me) also watched "Beaconsfield" which we thought was very good. Glad I hadn't watched before my underground tour at the Hard Times Mine.
We have decided to drive through to Normanton tomorrow as we can't picture spending another night in Mount Isa or Cloncurry. We have a couple of extra days up our sleeve before Karumba so will commemorate Anzac Day in Normanton.
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