Spring has sprung

Well Mt Isa was a pleasant place to stay for a few days, apart from its remoteness it is certainly the kind of town which would be very easy to live in, has everything you need and only a ten minute drive in any direction and you are back in the bush again. I stayed at a very pleasant caravan park in town, and had the unique experience where every powered site had its own ensuite shower and toilet rather than the usual fare of communal ones.

Now the Isa (as its known locally) is famous for its mines which are also the towns biggest employer with approximately 4000 people. There are 3 large mines and when I say large they are very large where they mine zinc, copper and lead silver. To give you some sort of scale the mines cover an area of approximately 32,000 hectares (80,000 acres), are up to 2 kilometres deep and stretch roughly 52kms North to South. So yes large.

After restocking with groceries and water it was back on the road and back towards Cloncurry to the free camp location I had passed on the way in. This was called Clem Watson Park which was only about 70kms away so a quick trip for the dogs. The free camping area was centred around a large dam with a decreasing water line do to the lack of rain, but with plenty still in it. Now if the Queensland government ever want to know where all the tourists and travellers are well I can certainly tell them, a good proportion of them were here. I would say, probably conservatively, that there were 100 vans and motorhomes of all types here. Some obviously set up for a long stay. Thankfully it was a very large area so there was plenty of room to be by yourself or if you prefer and crave to be near others, which some people seem to like, you can almost be semi-detached. On the way to this stop over I passed a sign for Mary Kathleen township and mine without really telling you anymore about what was there and due to the lack of internet or phone I wasnt able to call on Mr Google for any answers. So we took a drive out there one day to have a look and a nosey and it was very strange. The town has long gone but the roads are still there so are the driveways and the concrete slabs on which the houses sat and even the odd mail box at the end of some driveways. Apparently up to 1000 people lived and worked here before it all petered out in the 1950’s. The mine which was about 4kms further on from the town along a very rough dusty and potholed road was an opencast mine of which you could still see some workings but its rapidly being reclaimed by nature.

After staying at Clem Watson Park for a week I had to go back to Mt Isa as my low oil warning light on the truck came on so that needed taking care of. Stayed at a different caravan park this time no ensuite but overall probably having the edge on the previous one. I also had to purchase a new fold away table for the van as the one Vicky very kindly gave me finally said enough is enough when I put my foot stool on it while sweeping the floor and with a creak and a groan promptly collapsed. I did try and salvage it but alas it had truly expired.

From my second stay in the Isa I was in a bit of a quandary on the next direction to take. My options were to go further West to Camooweal and then cross into Northern Territory or to go South towards Boulia. I was sorely tempted to go the Western route but nagging the back of my mind was the concern of what happens if they completely close off the borders again. Apart from Darwin, Alice Springs and Uluru there isn’t much else to keep one occupied in the NT. All three are on my to do list with Uluru being a long awaited return trip, but it will have to wait until travelling and life in general is much easier. I was going to say back to normal but I think that could be even further down the line if ever.

So with the truck oiled and decision made South it was with my first stop being at Dajarra Dam about 20kms prior to the Dajarra itself. It was the usual scenario here, no phone internet or radio reception, I really do need to get a better portable radio and also in this case not a great deal of water in the dam. Its hard to say how big the dam would be if it was full but judging by the banks around most of it I would say that it was less than 20% full. At present it is no more than a decent watering hole for the 200/300 head of cattle which were mooching about the area. On the far side of the water there was a small copse of about 30 or so trees and the same again on the side I was parked up at. Now the trees on the far bank was home to a large group (probably a 100 or so) cockatoos, and the trees nearest me seemed to full of Galahs. It was almost like two gangs staring each other down over the divide but never mixing. Very West Side Story. As previously mentioned this was also home to some cattle who in the first couple of days I was there would come and have a look at what was what and have a bit of sniff around. I think though that they quickly learnt that the van was protected by a highly trained and vicious guard dog called Whisper, who wouldn’t hesitate to give them a good barking to if they came a bit too close, admittedly all while vigorously wagging her tail. I think she was having flashbacks to her much younger days.

After spending a week here it was onwards to Boulia and where I am currently parked up. I did read an interesting fact at the Information Centre. Bouliashire covers an area of 62,000sq kms (24,000sq miles) with at the last census (2016) 437 residents, or roughly 55sq miles per person. Here on this blog we do the maths for you, all part of the service.

Well I guess that’s the lot for this episode, as usual a few pics for those who prefer looking at pictures rather than reading