Karumba

This township is 70 kms away from Normanton and we took a drive there to see the sea and also try the barramundi. Normanton is the barramundi capital of Australia apparently but the best place to get it cooked is Ashe's at Karumba.

This was the sea and although not showing here, there were a lot of boats out, we watched a few being pulled in.

Our Barra and wedges. A piece of barra was $9, it was worth it, even the batter was good, pretty fine and light. The cafe only served their meals in wrapped paper, saves a lot of work for them and they were really busy. After we had to walk on the beach to walk off lunch. It was very shelly, crushed shells in the sand.

Driving back we saw a mob of horses running along the road.

They were strung out along the road but were not being driven, there had been a ute in front of them and a helicopter in the air, we assumed that they knew where they were going. There was a set of stockyards in town with a heap of cattle and some horses and stockmen. Only four in the photo but there was about fourteen altogether. We also saw lots of brolgas but too far away to get pics.

To Normanton

Yesterday we took off for Normanton and it was surprising the wildlife that we saw, not what I expected.

A camel, large as life and then I saw a mob? of them about fifteen, I know kangaroos are a mob but I dont know what is a group of camels, ha, looked it up and it is a herd of camels.

Many large eagles on the road or nearby, they were getting the road kill and there was a quite a bit of that.

A few of these around while most were camped under trees in the shade so nothing to worry about.

Hundreds of termite mounds but not very high, these were no more than a metre but just heaps of them. Many that we have seen have had shirts or jackets put on them. One place back in NT there was a stretch of several kilometres and red T shirts were dotted here and there over them, probably a couple of hundred red shirts.

Stopping at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse for lunch fuel and a break, parking was at a premuim as it is THE place to stop around the half way mark. two hundred from Normanton and three hundred from the Isa, this is the only fuel place after Cloncurry.

Warren got fuel while I ordered lunch and then he had to park about two hundred metres away. Very busy little place and only a couple working it.

Further up the road we/I started seeing kangaroos on the side of the road, which was odd as it was warm outside and about 2 pm. The first two Warren didnt see but that was fine as they were on the side but the third one decided to hop across the road, while I am yelling ROO! ROO! ROO! he is going down through the gears and braking, missing the roo by two or three metres in the end. The roos that we saw, altogether we saw eight, all on their own in a space of half an hour, were quite small and light coloured, the colour of the dry grass, standing in shade, they were hard to see. East though to see why there was so much roadkill as there were lots of roadtrains. 

Lake Moondarra

This is where we went today, it was the perfect day, not a cloud in the sky.

The lake is approx 20 kms outside of Mt Isa and is well set up for bbq's on the foreshore.

Of course the men did the cooking on the bbq and then there was french cricket afterwards.

A few peacocks decided to wander by, they only stayed a few minutes and then went back to the bush across the road.

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.