Day 160 - Tuesday 6 June - Checking out Mount Isa

Day 160

Tuesday

6 June 2017

Mount Isa – Lake Moondarra

When we booked in to the caravan park yesterday, we were told to ensure our vehicles were locked over night, it is pretty standard fair and I really didn’t take much notice of it, however in the middle of the night I heard people running down the road outside our van and dogs going off because someone was whistling and then a car did a drive-by loop of the inner park road, so I was a little rattled and woke feeling a little unrested.

We read for a while, before Paul needed to get out and eat breakfast. I was heading for a shower afterwards, but the cleaners were already in, so we opted to go for a walk of the block and checkout what was in the industrial area.  By the time we returned the showers were free, so I ducked in there before we gathered our things and made our way into the city centre.

We parked at the coles/k-mart centre and the proceeded to walk across the road to the office of the ‘honourable’ (the title always makes me raise my eyebrows) Bob Katter. I had Paul stand outside the office in his cowboy hat to take a picture showing we were truly in crazy country. 

We then walked to a point where I could get a decent photo of the water tank plastered with the slogan “Mount Isa Rodeo Capital of Australia”. We walked through the inner suburb and passed decrepit looking homes, many with dogs that would happily take a bite of you for walking passed their home. One was a very large blue heeler and he hit the metal fence so hard he almost came through it! That sure did make me jump.

We walked the hill to the city lookout. At the top of the hill was a great platform where you could see over the centre and the Mount Isa mine. The mine is really ugly, a black scar dragged across the landscape and large smokestacks puffing out god knows what for us to breathe in.

We made our way back to the shopping centre, did a walk through the mall and then back to the car to navigate to our next stop, Lake Moondarra. The lake is about 20km north of the town

and is stocked with barramundi for an annual fishing comp, so obviously Paul was hoping to catch himself a good one.

We finally arrived at the recreational park and decided to follow the scenic drive to get an idea of the landscape. We eventually stopped at the dam wall lookout and proceeded to do a walk along the top. It was a quite an expanse of water and is used to provide water to Mount Isa.

After checking this end out, we drove in the opposite direction so Paul could look for decent fishing spots. Unfortunately any accessible areas close to the shore were clogged with weed, so we returned to the main picnic area instead. Paul set himself up, while I took off to photograph the large number of peacocks calling the place home. They weren’t too perturbed by me getting nice and close either.

When I had finished I joined Paul in a chair by the water reading my book. It was so peaceful by the lake and enjoying the warmth of the midday sun. Shadows of whistling kites darted across the ground in front of us. There were plenty of these birds around too.

Nothing was really happening on the fishing front. Paul had a few bites and reeled in a turtle but that was it and by 1pm he was ready to pack it in.

We returned all the gear to the car and then found a picnic table to eat our rolls at, peacocks scrounging for scraps.

We made our way back into town, hearing a radio ad about lead safety and washing your hands, we were glad we were moving on tomorrow, it doesn't sound like the safest of places to spend a lot of time, not that you would want to it is quite literally a hole. 

We stopped in at Coles for groceries and filled the car with fuel, before coming home. Thankfully the wifi that I had paid $5 for 24hr access was back on board, so I began adding more bits, however it didn’t last and dropped out again.

We returned to town so Paul could buy more beers and check out BCF. He spoke to Damon while we wandering the streets, getting an update on things back there and then we returned to the park yet again.

The net was still out, grr, so I used my phone data to add some small bits. Paul started dinner and then we ate. The net returned, so I added a heap more, but as seems to be the way it dropped out before I finished up.

I sat listening to the Ipod and completing the blog for the day. Paul was already resting, knowing we have a heavy day of driving tomorrow to get to Karumba. It wasn’t long though before I also joined him to read my book before saying goodnight.