20150515 Qld Mt Isa

20150515  The trip along the way was smooth sailing with the wind pushing us all the way and all the roads are good with little road works.

Road kill after leaving Barcaldine it's just horrific and everyone we meet comments on it.

Here's one for you Bec, I'd like to see you drag this one into someones office.

Fountain Spring Rest Area minus the spring, 61 ks from Mt Isa, I can't believe we made it and the van didn't miss a beat.

16-05-2015  After some bacon and eggs we head to Mt Isa and I gotta tell you I'm a bit excited, after all that is where Jac and Shaz from M.K.R come from.

We made it to the Mining Capital

 Driving into the Mt Isa and the huge chimneys sitting in the distance certainly dominate the town.

We always go shopping once we hit the town and it's not as though we are short on food but we like to stock up when theirs a Woollies or Cole's so off we trot.  All stocked up now to find Telstra to get this bloody bill sorted once again, every month this multi billion dollar company stuffs our bill up, I am so over it but unfortunately I need to change my phone to Telstra so lets see what sort of a stuff up they can do with this one.  After lunch we head to Lake Moondarra to camp the night only to find out "No Camping" shit now what do we do so I asked a couple of locals who steered us in the right direction.

 We found a great spot off the road over looking the Lake with not a sole in site except the cows munching on the grass in the water.  I was a bit hesitant as it was Saturday night and this is a blacks town but we got our chairs and BBQ out did some washing the relaxed with a nice cold Ale.

We meet a lovely guy (Steven) and his family who turned up for some fishing and told us it's pretty safe, you can catch yabbies in here and with in no time Des bated his pot and through then in, but be aware of the fresh water crocks theirs heaps. After a long chat Des offered him a beer and he was keen to come back only his partner wouldn't have a bar of it, Bitch, get a baby sitter I said, no chance then he offered to take us fishing the next day, that she also didn't like but he said he would return at 2 pm, cool.  

Here was Des and I taking in the serenity enjoying a few drinks when a car pulled up and you wouldn't believe it, a heap of Aborigines hop out the car, shit what to do.

We were thinking about staying until the driver left and returned with another car load so we promptly packed up, pulled the pots and although Des had a few drinks we left and parked in a truck stop up the road, not happy Jan and we missed out on our fishing trip.

17-05-2015 We would have left only we had to go back to Telstra on Monday to sort out our bill so we did some house work topped up our water then headed to the information centre for some ideas on what we could do,showers for $2 that us. then to the look out to check out the view.

 The old Hard Times Mine Shafts is now operated for guided tourist about the history of mining in Mt Isa

Des is always dreaming of that pot of gold.

We drove to the the Mt Isa look out, made lunch then it was time for my nanny nap, until a heap of noisy kids woke me up, tell those kids to piss off Des.
We decided to camp the night, even though it said No Camping, tough.

I was reading where the city is a green oasis with lovely gardens and parks and yet below is the show grounds/ race course and although it's massive the ground is dry with bull duct.

The mine just on sun set, John Campbell Miles sent a sample of dark colored stone to Cloncurry for testing in 1923 and it was found to have 78 per cent lead-silver, and on the 19th Jan 1924 Mt Isa Mine LTD was established.

The sign shows the distance from this point to all country's around the world, Brisbane being 1576 km.

The view of the mine from the lookout at night is by far the most impressive of all of Mt Isa.

Underground Hospital

18-05-2015  Built in 1942 following the Bombing of Darwin when Mt Isa thought they were a potential target should the Japanese push for more inland raids, precautions were taken to protect the Hospital.  The hospital was constructed by off duty miners and approximately 100 mt of tunnel were excavated forming an 'E' shaped plan, a vertical rise to the hillside helped with ventilation and equipped with a ladder for an emergency exit.  There were male,female and maternity/children's wards, a surgical theatre and a delivery room.

Des managed a photo of me at the entrance of the under ground hospital, check out the size of that door.

 The men's ward lined the solid rock wall.

The original shoulder cape and uniform worn by the nurses in 1942, and standing next to the emergence exit ladder.

The nursery, check out the lovely old bassinets.

Now this brings back memories, who remembers these bloody things, although in my day they were a bit more modern but the theory worked the same.

 This might sound a bit gross but these were the bed pans and once used were tipped into a 44 gal drum to be disposed of.

 The sterilizers worked by heating up  kerosene which sat under the unit.

Cupboards were build to store their equipment and a dinner set which is still the original 'Made in Australia' brand along with sheet sets and many empty bottles for storing medical items.  We were even told there are still full bottles of unopened ether and other medical items which were stored here in 1942.










Tent House: Is a term given to a form of housing used in the development of Mt Isa in the 1930's, canvas was a popular material for temporary housing. This is the last surviving tent house constructed in 1937  to accommodate the mining workers.

Old artifacts taking you back in time, I'm really showing my age now because I can still remember my mum using the old cloths wringer and copper boiler and I'm sure we had the old Ice box fridge but we did have an electric stove while my grandma had the wood stove.  I would have loved to tuck the old Jug and Bowl under my arms only it would have looked a bit sus.

If my memory serves me correctly (dealt) our Mum, who didn't iron often would fill this with kerosene to iron our cloths, but I think she nearly burnt the house down a few times.