Day 5 Mt Isa

Day 5 Mt Isa (in arrears)

This was our first two night stopover, so it was a relief to be able to get up and have a leisurely breakfast rather than madly pack up and get on the road. Since we'd set up camp properly, including the annexe and walls, we could also take the time to re-arrange things and get better organised. (John says HAH!  Two days later I still couldn't find the coke I'd stowed so sensibly). Barb took a load of washing to the laundry and soon it was flapping from the outside clothesline in the stiff breeze. At first we thought Great! It'll be dry soon .... then we noticed that the wind was causing mini whirlwinds of dust to blow straight towards the clothes. Perhaps they wouldn't be cleaner after washing. Oh well .... we tried.

The view from the shopping centre in town

John was keen to re-visit the Outback Isa mining museum that he'd visited early this year. We spent some time here looking at all the displays and learning about the history of mining in Mt Isa. It's a hard life, and I don't think I could cope with the conditions here (in the town, not just the mines). In summer it has been known to have temperatures in the high forties. Yikes! It's not a particularly pretty town with the giant smoke stacks dominating the skyline, but I guess the locals love it and seem fiercely proud of their town. Well John liked Mount Isa, just not to the extent of wanting to live there.  Be reasonable!

Barb at the Mining museum

 

John inspects museum exhibits

 

more mining exhibits

 

We went grocery shopping in the local shopping centre, which looks rather new and slick. The prices were surprisingly reasonable too: $6 for 3 punnets of lovely juicy strawberries. We went home to camp and made pancakes to go with them. Oh yum! Er ... swell done John for running up such wonderful pancakes under camp conditions!

John also started cooking up some meals to put in the camp freezer for when we are over-nighting. So far everything is working rather well. We even got the TV to work on John's computer so we didn't miss the news or fav shows.

Barb managed to slice a big (50 cent size) slice of skin off her upper foot on something sharp in the tent. Major haemorrhage (according to Barb)! It bled a bit (according to John). We had to use the first aid kit to apply a comfeel and bandage to staunch the flow. John has split skin on his thumbs and Barb broke TWO nails, so the first aid kit is getting a workout. (Grrr. She's forgetting my gashed toe that predates her gashed foot.  I suffered before she did. Hah).

John polishes his shoes....only to find they're dusty again as soon as he wears them

 

Dive bombed by noisy birds in our camp