Underground hospital

Its amazing what can be discovered by talking to people. When we were in the pool in Darwin, chatting to another couple, who had come up through Mt Isa and they mentioned the underground hospital. It sounded interesting so we wanted to check it out.

When Darwin was being bombed in WW11, it was decided that there was a need to have a hospital that was safe for the possible causalities. Thankfully it was never needed and also never used at all although they did run regular drills once or twice a week to go from the usual hospital to the underground one.It wasnt very far and now there is a good concrete path but trying to move patients quickly over rough ground would have been a nightmare.

This was a car and caravan in the car park and the hospital is in the hill behind it.

The miners worked for fifteen weeks in their spare time to cut with pick and ax to make the tunnels and shore it up so that it could be used. There was three tunnels and after the war it was closed up and left until the 1990s when it was decided to restore it. Now there is one tunnel left to show how bad it was when they started.

Hard Hat Mine

 We went down this mine yesterday. Yes, we needed to wear hard hats but it was actually named after a horse!

Mt isa Mines or MIM as is seen around the town a lot used to offer trips down the mine for tourists until some one broke their leg and OH & S gor involved and so it was closed to visitors.

A few years ago the Mayor thought that it would be good to have a mock up mine so that people could see what it is like to work down a mine and so they prepared a mock up. It cost several million and some time to prep.

We had to sign a waiver of liability, that's always a worry. Light clothes to be worn as overalls had to be worn over the top, rubber boots and a hard hat with a torch on it. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed.

We were fitted out for our Uniforms and boots, there was a mixture of throwaways or proper overalls, all orange and steel capped rubber boots, they were heavy.

Our guide Earl talked the long time, he was incredible telling personal stories about men who had been involved in the mine. All guides had either worked or still worked underground in the mines.

We went down in a cage and it was explained that although we were only going down 20 metres, the real mine cgae took them down 1680 metres or a mile and then for some there were tunnels to walk down to their particular work station.

The visitors mine had 1.6 kms of tunnels and several off shots will different things to learn about, every one could have a turn of the drill and we saw several huge pieces of machinery and one, Earl started up and drove up the tunnel near us, we had been given ear plugs and had been placed behind a barrier but it was still very loud and there was not much room on either side of the machine.

At the end we had Cornish pasties and corn beef sandwiches in the crib room and then were taken back to the surface by a light truck. It was a mild day probably about 20 degrees but pretty warm down there, miners make a lot of money but they do work for it. The mine used to employ 5000 men now its down to 3000 and on twelve hour shifts.  

Vehicles on the road

June and July are the months that many people head to the north following the sun and warmth. We saw so many caravans that we decided to count them.

What we included were caravans, motor homes and trailers that looked like they were tenting. We left at 8 am and it was around nine that we started to notice the vans heading north.

For the next four hours from 9 am til 1 pm we kept a tally and it was 200 in those four hours, thats a lot of people on the road.

As well as vans moving north these were going south.

This was the first one that we came across and yes they were only doing 80 kmh or less.

As can be seen they had the full air conditioning on (all windows open)

I think all up we would have passed about a dozen of them and then we saw some pulled over for fuel and lunch apparently they were travelling from Newcastle north of Sydney to Darwin retracing the wheels from long ago.

First of June/first of winter.

We were at Three Ways and had to find a cardigan as it was a little cool. Three ways is not even a town or a hamlet just a huge roadhouse in the corner of three roads. One way goes south to Alice Springs, north to Darwin and East to Mount Isa.

As well as it being a roadhouse with fuel and meals, it has a caravan park and cabins out the back. By nighfall there was at least fifty vans in and there was a group of Army staying as well. A very peaceful night spent in the middle of nowhere.

Had to find the heater in the ute the next morning, it works.

Mataranka and Bitter Springs Thermal pools

Our aim was to make Mataranka and check out the pools. I have been hearing about these pools for years and Warren did visit there many years ago.

There are three caravan parks Bitter Springs Mataranka Homestead and the Territory manor, someone had recommended the Manor to us so we went there. It was pretty good and at $30 a night far better price than we had been paying.

A nice walk to the entrance

Bitter Springs is a natural pond with very clear water (although  the bottom was very mucky), I should have taken a noodle. The water slowly takes one down to the next part and there are steps to get out a d walk back about 100 metres.

After being here we then went to the other thermal pool which has been concreted and had seats to sit on in the water, it was about 12 kms through town.

I found it a bit hot to stay in too long at a time, and preferred sitting on the seats with just waist down in the water, very shaded, we were here about 5 pm.

  

Silver Screen at Katherine

It was nice to leave Darwin yesterday and get going south. New vehicle seemed to tow well and Warren quickly got used to changing gears.

Had a quick stop at Victoria River (I think) about two hours down the road and the Army pulled up

We have been seeing them for the two days that we have been on the road.They had sniffer dogs with them for mines and drugs.

Lunch was at Katherine which we were familar with as we had had four nights there before Darwin. We knew that we had to park in the back streets with the van. Our options was Maccas on one side and the mall on the other. We decided on the mall and walking there we went past Silver Screen cafe and yes it was open and doing quite a bit of business. We had no idea that Katherine had a cinema.

The cafe is at the front on the road side and it has the use of the toilets. The cinema only screens at nights, cafe also has drinks and sweets for the movies. I thought it was a brilliant idea.

Geo caching

An interesting past time. Following GPS signals to find something that is hidden from view. I went out with Sheridan a couple of weeks ago and between us we found 28 in one day. I must admit that I only found a couple but I was looking, honest!

We had also got a few finds with Sheri back in Kununarra but this morning was the first time on our own.

I checked some out last night and made a list on my tablet but of course needed our phones for the maps and GPS.

One was just down the road called A bakers dozen, great we followed the directions to the Darwin bakery, then read the rest of the info only to discover it was one of thirteen and there were prior conditions that had to be met before hand so we didnt go on with that one.

Next one was 500 metres away and the "you are here" moment was outside a concrete wall with dirt in between the concrete. It was an nano, which is very small something like the size of a stubby pencil so pretty difficult to find. Well, we went up and down that wall in a radius of 4 metres and couldnt find anything.

There was another not tlo far away and it was on a road in an industrial area but as it was Sunday it was  deserted. I saw an electrical pole and as we had found some up in the pole, I went over to give it more attention, Warren had to move the ute and when he got there, I asked him to look up inside it. He was on the other side and said "Is this it?" It was, a green mints box with a flip top, we signed the log inside and feeling pretty chuffed, we set off for the next one.

This one was at or near the Darwin Sailing Club and following the phone GPS, we wandered through the sailing boats yard to get to the sweet spot which can be 2 or 3 metres either  way. I think we got close but had to log a "did not find". There were a few others who had not found it either, although it had been found only two weeks ago.

There had been a smattering of rain which made it steamy so we went to find a cafe that was open and we did another cache before coming back but that also was a did not find. Maybe we will have better luck further down south.

Packing up to leave tonight (leaving for down south in the morning)and its different this time as we have been here so long,  three and a half weeks and we can not just put any excess stuff into the back of the car as we dont have a back seat, will take some getting used to. Our stay here has cost $45 a night but we got our membership discount for the first week and then they did give us one night free. I heard tonight at the pool that fees are going up to $50 a night from Wed, 1 Jun as that is the start of the high season. Seems strange to me that they are expecting more people but will increase the prices.