160-162 Mt Isa (4/9 - 6/9)

Now, here's one place I didn't think I'd enjoy as much as I did. Perhaps it was the constant driving for the days previous, but I personally loved our time in "The Isa".

For me, I had a preconception that Mt Isa was a dusty, mining town in the middle of Queensland. Well, let me tell you, it's a dusty, mining town in the middle of Queensland. But it has so much more than that for a travelling family.

We managed to get a few things checked and serviced, fridge restocked and other domestic chores attended to. But on top of that we shared in a bunch of activities that we all really enjoyed immensely. A decorated history, documented well due to the turbulent and high profile nature of the mining industry, there's plenty of things to see and do.

The Information Centre at Mt Isa is one of the best we've been to, with 3 seperate museums/attractions located in the same precinct, meaning that you actually didn't have to go anywhere to start you immersion into The Isa. We bought a 2 day pass and started with the Riversleigh Fossil Centre. Here you can see Evie waiting with everyone else to go on the tour...

One thing I love about our adventure, and I may have said it before, but is the ability to travel out of synch with school holidays and weekends. This allows us the "run of the mill" when it comes to tours and this was no different. The amazing Fossil Centre focussed on the critical fossil site of Riversleigh located up the road from Mt Isa. And we had it all to ourselves. Which meant our old mine worker and passionate fossil expert Allan, could really get animated and focus on his story telling. Which was more power to us. He was enthusiatic, overly at times, energetic, and engaging. He constantly interacted with the kids, getting them to answer questions and get involved. Sometimes I think he lost them with his language getting too technical, but he made up for with his examples and story telling. Simply a brilliant bloke.

I'm not sure exactly sure what he was saying here, but it was here I was thinking he was looking a bit like a Mark "Jacko" Jackson.

And then when we thought it couldn't get cooler, due to our very small crowd, we got an (extended) tour of the fossil lab. Here Allan took us through all the different processes he and the other technicians go through analysing fossils and remnants. Here the kids were looking at how the remains were fished out of an acetic acid bath! Evie doesn't look too fascinated, but I think Sam was hooked.

Yep... hooked.

The effects of the acid, dissolving the soil away clearly visible. We saw many examples of acid baths at various stages of "processing".

The kids with raw fossil samples from out on site! Not sure if they should have been playing with them but Allan just kept throwing things at them, getting them involved. I think it was an hour tour that easily went for two, possibly two and a half.

Before leaving, James had a quick look in a sandpit in the corner. And then, he discovered a fossil!!!

Our site in Mt Isa. Spacious and all we really need. A good spot.

We took a view up to Mt Isa one night, hearing that the lookout was a good spot to watch the town "evolve" into the night shift. Whoever it was who told us, wasn't wrong.

Mt Isa is definitely a mining town. A 24hr mining town. The mine dominates the skyline during the day and illuminates the town during the night. You have no doubt understanding what makes this town tick.

After the fascination with the School of The Air in Alice Springs, B took us to the Mt Isa branch. It was interesting seeing how the different schools handle the same problem (distance education) differently. Where Alice was very tech heavy, with lessons broadcast over internet, Mt Isa tends to focus on phone lines and radio for a more robust connection. We were lucky enough to actually sit in on a lesson at one point which was really cool.

This did nothing to diminish B's fascination with this style of teaching!

We then headed back to the Information Centre to go through the Isa Experience Museum which documented the industrial history of Mt Isa. A very well presented Museum with a multitude of displays and interactions.

Here Evie and James are looking at different ore samples. We often turn museums into school lessons, making it yet another "excursion".

It was nice at one point to watch a video session on the Isa (once again, largely to ourselves). My favourite bit was the use of John Williamson's song "Back at The Isa" as use of promo material. Again lyrics I'd heard many a time, meant more now after standing in the town itself. To quote to quote the great Australian:

Big galvanised roofs and monster pipes black 
Pink and white clouds from a chimney stack 
Red dust and hawks in the wind out back 
And here I am at the Isa 

What do you do in a town like the Isa 
Retrenched at 50 become an old miser 
Drink yourself blind so you're none the wiser 
Sit at home with the race form and whinge 

Just over the hill in his own backyard 
The landscape becomes a picture postcard 
Where the colours are soft but the life is hard
On the stations here at the Isa

The Isa Experience also shares it's land with a Fish Hatchery, where we found this Barra very interested in James finger....

We decided to take a trip out to Lake Moondarra for a lunch picnic and a bit of a walk around. Like Kalgoorlie way back near the start of the adventure, we found out the key to the towns success, as with all settlements, is a reliable source of water. And it never ceases to amaze me how these massive bodies of water seem to pop up in the middle of such a dry and rough looking climate.

Here is a great example of a the effects of a dam wall on a natural landscape. I love this shot though, with the sky, the water and trees downstream all playing their part.

I'd been putting off a couple of maintenance jobs and decided that Mt Isa was the spot, should I need some parts and/or supplies. Firstly, changing the anode in the HWS. Job done no problem.

The second one was a little more fidgety... Changing a light globe on the Truck. I'd asked the Holden guys in Alice to do the job whilst it was in there for a service but they weren't unable to due to a "lack of parts". Ahh... what? I simply walked over and got a globe from Supercheap Auto... So I took matters into my own hands. Somehow in this mess, I had to get to the back of the headlight assembly. However, after talking to my brother Mark about a few little things, the job turned out to be far easier than I thought. Headlight changed and opinion of Holden Alice Springs lowered even more so...

School work... make your own collage of nature and/or our life using on natural materials from around the caravan park. A task Evie could really get into...

Sam loved it too as well!

The results below I think are brilliant and we proudly left them displayed in the camp kitchen at the park. Not sure if the tradition will be passed to other kids in the park, but you never know. We didn't have the heart to throw them out!

On our final night we ventured over to the Miners Kitchen, which was onsite as the park offered accommodation to a range of mining staff. It was an old school Sizzler style deal, with all you can eat for a flat rate, and damn... did we eat. Multiple mains, desserts, drinks. We certainly got our share. Also, as you can see, we jagged it in between shifts!

I think we all really enjoyed our time at Mt Isa. Whilst I'm not in any rush to try and find work there, it's a fascinating, hard working and honest place with really good people from all walks of life. The amount of guard dogs we met on our evening walks, as well as a police patrol through the caravan park reminded us that it has it's rough side, but never did we feel unsafe.

I won't hesitate to calling through Mt Isa in the future to further learn more about an integral part of the Australia industrial landscape.