Day 208 / 2014 - Mataranka to Mt Isa

 We can feel the cold now especially in the mornings lie in's are now becomming frequent. We are in Mt Isa some 1000km South and 600 Km east of Darwin. Travelling along the Stuart Highway untill Threeways roadhouse then turn left and head along the Barkley Highway through Camooweal. 

Leaving Mataranka we once again headed south down the Stuart Highway towards Elliot which was our next refuel stop. About 25 Km north we pulled into a rest area called Newcastle Waters stopping for the night. It was a small but very popular area as there are very little overnight rest areas between Mataranka and Tennant Creek so they fill up with other vanners early. We had stayed here on the way to Darwin which was just as packed then. We managed to secure a spot and still leave enough space for another caravan. Unfortunatly we had a wizz banger move right in next door parking about 2 feet away from the side of our van oh joy. In fairness they were nice people and although the door went quite a few times throughout the evening they did settle down early for the night.

They also had a friend who parked next to them in his car and caravan. This guy decided he wanted a camp fire and proceeded to set one up next to the long dry grass of the surounding bush behind our van. I did express my concerns that he really should use the BBQ areas which is provided for fires but he wasn't going to budge at least he did take my suggestion of putting rocks around the fire and moving it a little further away from the dry grass.

Leaving Necastle Waters the next day we continued to Elliot and filled up with fuel. There is not much in Elliot and is mainly a centre for local government with a population of around 600 people. We really hadn't decided where to camp next and just felt see how far we can go. We made 3 Ways roadhouse about lunchtime which is the junction for the Stuart and Barkley Highway we also caught up with Mike, Carley and Blake here. We stopped for lunch and refuelled. 

After lunch we turned east both of us excited as this was a new ground having not travelled this way before. We stopped at Barkley station for extra fuel in case of strong headwinds we had been forwarned about putting in about 15 litres as the price was $2.09 per litre. Barkley is a nice spot with a caravan park, Bar, Resturaunt and small shop for those wanting to stop here. 

We travelled on a bit further where Carley had located a nice camp spot using wikicamps just below a disused Telstra Microwave tower about 500 metres off the main road. There was no one else there and just enough room for a couple of caravans. The tower was about 100 Metres high and Mike spying the ladder up tried to get someone to climb but there were no takers. A couple making the trek from Darwin to Sydney on push bike also pulled in to camp. There were from Germany and were quite happy for the company. The night was cool but crystal clear and we could clearly make out the cloud of stars forming part of our milkyway galaxy it was as you could almost reach up and touch them.

Leaving the next morning we headed once again east towards Camooweal about 210 kms further on from our camp spot. About 12 Km west of Camooweal we crossed the border into Queensland stopping for a photo and setting our clock another half an hour ahead this now makes us 2 hours in front of Western Australia.

Camooweal is a small town just inside the Queensland border which supports the local cattle stations which surround it. There are some historical buildings you can look at such as the old town hall. After having a look we fuelled up and headed east towards Mt Isa. About 90Km from Camooweal we found a large rest area where we could camp for the night. We had the place to ourselves so we claimed a nice spot right up the back away from the main road. The only other vehicle that came in was a truck who pulled up for the night. I'll have to admit it was the best night's sleep I had had in a while not really sure why I just assumed there was no noise like you get in other camp areas when other campers are around.

Next morning we travelled the rest of the 99km into Mt Isa where we booked into the Big 4 Caravan park located on the east entrance to Isa. The caravan park was not to bad it did have grass but had a dusty road right past us. In a caravan park there always seem to be a number of drivers who don't think the 5 or 10 km hour speed limit applies to them and this park was no different which kicked up a fair bit of dust especially just as they past the main washing lines.

Mt Isa is a mining town mainly copper now but they did mine Lead and Zinc durring the early years. There is an open cut mine but this is no longer in use and mining is now only done underground which at current level is almost 2 Km's down. Mt Isa has all the main services such as a good shopping centre, hospital and government offices. There are a number of tourist sites but we chose only two the underground hospital and underground mine tours.

The underground hospital was built from an old abandoned mine after Darwin was bombed durring WW2 as they thought Mt Isa would be next. It was fitted out in less than 15 weeks by the local mine and hospital staff. Fortunately the underground hospital was never needed which was a good job as it was not the most sterile environment. It was mainly used by the nursing staff to escape from the heat during summer durring there rest breaks.

The underground mine tour is in the same grounds as the tourist centre. It seems a lot of the old mines ran directlly under the town. The tour runs for 2.5 hours and is proberbly as close you will get to being in a real underground mine if you are not a miner. There is a lift that takes you to the lower levels where you a given a talk about mining in the old days with a number of practical demonstrations such as getting the opportunity to operate a percusion drill, watch and underground loader operating, have a tea break in the crib room and listening to the blasting as the miners would have. The tour was well worth the $50.00 a head