2013 Big Adventure

Conway Beach to Flaggy Rock

Posted on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 by shorty

Today was a travel day so we were up at a reasonable hour, hitched up, and off to the Bruce Highway.

First challenge for the day was the quite steep incline just leaving Conway Beach towards Proserpine, but the Mighty Mazda BT-50 surged up the hill at a top speed of 35 kmh in second gear and conquered the task without even raising a sweat. To be fair, the speed limit both up and down that hill is 40 kph.

Then it was through Proserpine along the Bruce Highway, which means roadwork. We struck speed limits and single lane sections pretty well all day and most of it was adding more patches to the existing patches on the road. Not much fun at all. Other aspects of today’s drive included a lot more road trains, particularly heading North, including quite a few wide loads with mining trucks on board. We also noticed a lot more cattle in largish herds and a considerable volume of road kill – mainly wallabies or small kangaroos.

Overall although it is quite interesting to see the cane harvesters, driving through cane fields isn’t all that inspiring. There always seem to be mountains in the background and that makes things a bit more interesting, but in general there was nothing overly exciting about today’s drive.

Cane Harvesting outside Mackay

First stop was at Kuttabul, where we had our morning coffee and updated the blog for the last couple of days – internet reception at Conway Beach was poor. Kuttabul has a general store/roadhouse and a mechanic and not much else.

Kuttabul General Store

From Kuttabul it was a short distance to Mackay where we stopped at the visitor information centre for some research material and had lunch. Mackay is a largish town but it wasn’t on our must see list this year so we continued down the highway through Sarina where we had planned stopping at the caravan park.

Outside Mackay Visitor Info Centre & Botanical Gardens

However, at the visitor information centre we had picked up a brochure for the Flaggy Rock Exotic Fruit Garden and Icecreamery. We then found out that there was a free camp at Flaggy Rock, so our final destination for the day became Flaggy Rock – I keep referring to it as Fraggle Rock for some reason. We were unsure of our timing and the respective locations of the free camp and the ice cream shop so went to the free camp and made sure we were set up first. As it turns out there is only one other campervan here, in a huge paddock behind the local community centre. We will visit the ice cream place tomorrow morning!

Ann had a bit of a chat with the ladies in the community centre who were having a local quilting group get-together and they had some beautiful work to show. They are getting ready for a local quilt show on 23^rd & 24^th August.

It Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This

We enjoyed sitting out in the sun reading our books until it was time for me to cook steaks on the BBQ for dinner.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure, Free Camping | Tags: flaggy rock

Conway Beach – Day 2

Posted on Tuesday, August 13, 2013 by shorty

Today was an exploring day with Conway Beach as Base Camp.

First stop was Airlie Beach which was about 40 kilometres away. We had considered staying at Airlie Beach but had decided to stay somewhere quiet and out of the way like Conway Beach. We were very glad of our decision once we actually arrived at Airlie Beach.

First impression of Airlie Beach was chaos with major roadworks at the round-about entrance to the main street with detours in place and traffic at a standstill. Not a great way to welcome visitors and we simply couldn’t imagine trying to tow a caravan through the mess. It wasn’t only roadworks; there were other building and development works underway as well. There was no part of the beach front that wasn’t disrupted one way or another. To us it seemed ridiculous having all this work going on during peak season and disrupting holiday makers with road chaos, dust and noise.

Nearly at Airlie Beach

Chaos arriving at Airlie Beach

Construction work at Airlie Beach

Nice boardwalk at Airlie Beach

Nice views at Airlie Beach

Some of the accommodation at Airlie Beach

Whitsunday Airport

Once we had made our way around the detours and found a car park, we went for a great walk along the beach. We have to say that there are plenty of paths and boardwalks for pedestrian traffic around town. We found a nice café and had a delicious lunch on the promenade with chaos left and right but we had a great view of the water.

Overall, Airlie Beach probably isn’t our ideal holiday destination, but we’re glad that we’ve been there. It seems to be all apartments, bars, touristy shops and basically a base for tours to the Whitsunday Islands, fisherman with boats, and generally a younger crowd.

From Airlie Beach we drove about 10 kilometres to Shute Harbour as it was on our must see list. It wasn’t at all what we expected and was basically a transit point for Island tourists and basically a large boat ramp for pleasure boats and fishermen. We didn’t even see a coffee shop although there was a multi-storey car-park!

View at Shute Harbour

Proserpine was our next stop, and we quite liked it as a destination. It wasn’t just a tourist trap but a place where people live and work, and that is generally attractive to us as a place to stay. There were some very interesting shops including an amazing place called Colour Me Crazy which really had to be seen to be believed. We enjoyed a really good afternoon coffee with date scones at Cafe 22, and it too had some very unusual artwork displayed on the walls.

Colour Me Crazy at Proserpine

Then it was back home to the caravan at Conway Beach for a cool drink in the shade of this lush tropical garden.

Still living the dream!

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: airlie beach, Conway beach, prosperpine

Townsville to Conway Beach

Posted on Monday, August 12, 2013 by shorty

We got up bright and early this morning and got ready to hit the road. We had taken down the awning and put away the outside furniture last night so there wasn’t too much to do. After farewelling our new friends at Townsville and suggesting that we’ll possibly see them next year, we hitched up and headed for the Bruce Highway. We had been considering going further north to Mission Beach but in the end decided to head South in a vaguely homeward direction. Apparently by the start of September it starts getting really sticky up here, so heading South seemed a better option.

The condition of the Bruce Highway has been a real topic of conversation locally and has even hit the federal political arena. It wasn’t too far out of Townsville when the roadworks began and remained a feature of our travels today. For much of the way traffic was one lane only so we faced considerable delays waiting at temporary traffic lights.

Our first stop was for morning coffee at Ayr, about 90 kms from Townsville. Ayr is in sugar cane country and it is quite fascinating to see the cane being harvested and loaded onto cane trains. It seems to be something of a continuous crop as there were fields being prepared for planting of cane as well as other fields contains cane in various stages of growth. At one stage the sky was full of embers from a cane processing plant and we wondered if that in fact posed a fire risk.

Harvesting Sugar Cane

Embers in the Air

Sugar Cane Plant

Welcome to Ayr

Burdekin Bridge

Great Idea – But What Sort of Fruit Is It?

Outside Ayr all traffic came to a dead stop In both directions and banked up for kilometres. We turned on the CB radio and heard that a car and a large truck had collided and that police were in attendance. When we finally got to the crash site we could see a truck carrying sweet corn had overturned on the wrong side of the road and there was a damaged car as well. There was a mini Dingo digger moving the sweet corn off the road. These situations are really frustrating but at least by having the CB we had some idea as to what was going on. No matter how serious these situations might be the truckies’ batter is often quite hilarious.

Traffic ahead of us

Rolled Truck

Traffic behind us

We finally arrived at Bowen, where we made our way to Queens Beach near the surf lifesaving club and we had a late lunch. From our seat under what appeared to be maccadamia nut trees we had a wonderful view across the water to places further around the coast.

From Bowen it was down the highway towards Proserpine before turning off to Conway Beach. The last 20 kilometres or so were quite “interesting” with lots of curves and up and down some quite steep hills. Going back the other way might also be “interesting”. Finally we arrived at Conway Beach Tourist Park, which basically appears to be “it” at Conway Beach – the Park’s shop is the only shop in Conway Beach. This is a very brightly coloured park and appears to be somewhat reserved as a hidden treasure by a small band of regulars who come back here every year and who seem reluctant to share the location of this park with anyone else for fear of spoiling their little piece of paradise. That being said, they really are a friendly bunch of people here. We were quite surprised at the facilities that this park has for kids. There are two jumping pillows and a huge water playground with water slide and more.

After unhitching the Ute and setting up – we didn’t need the awning – we sat outside enjoying the calm and had a cup of coffee. Then it was off on a walk down to the beach to explore. The sand here isn’t white but there is plenty of it and huge potential here for long walks along the sand. Many of the other campers in the caravan park have boats and there is quite good fishing here, apparently. It certainly smelled great at dinner time!

Welcome to Conway Beach Tourist Village

Unhitched and ready for a cool drink

Colourful bar area and shop

Colourful amenities block

Colourful kids water playground

View of Conway Beach

After a light tea we will have an early night. Today we drove further in one day that we had driven in the last three and a half weeks, and it took us over an hour and a half longer to get here than we expected. There is plenty to look forward to tomorrow!

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: Conway beach, townsville

Townsville – An Overview

Posted on Sunday, August 11, 2013 by shorty

As today is our last day in Townsville, and we’ve been here for several weeks, it’s about time that we gave a bit of an overview of our impressions of Townsville and what we’ve done and seen. [Don’t forget you can click on any photo to make it bigger]

Townsville:

It goes without saying that we have loved it here in Townsville. The weather has been absolutely perfect with every day in the mid or high twenties. Nights have been a bit chilly but it’s easy to pull up a blanket. Due to its location Townsville misses out on some of the weather extremes of other nearby towns.

Townsville has a population just under 200,000 and like most regional towns it faces a range of economic and social challenges from drought, the decline in the mining boom, and so on. Still, there’s plenty happening around town. For instance, we just missed the V8 Supercars before we got here but there has been the Townsville Races, the Magnetic Island to Townsville Swim, Mini Car Club Show ‘n’ Shine (click here for photos), Townsville Running Festival, Cyclones Hot Rod and Custom Car Club Show (click here for photos), a 3 day Jazz Festival, a Seafood Festival, Sunday Markets in town, Friday Night Market on The Strand, and the Townsville Cultural Fest next week.

Architecture wise Townsville is a mix of old and new, with typically older inner suburbs and newer outer suburbs with more modern facilities. The CBD still has many heritage properties but also many high-rise apartments and newer office buildings. There are plenty of traditional “queenslanders” up on stilts, many very nicely restored and updated. Up on the rocky areas there are some spectacular houses built on nearly vertical land.

Flinders Street Townsville

Palmer Street Townsville

Water Tank in Townsville

Some spectacular buildings in Townsville

Changshu Pavilion – Sister City to Townsville

Flinders Street is basically the main street in the CBD but there are other areas to visit including the Palmer Street restaurant and port precinct and the Flinders Street East nightclub area. On Sunday mornings, Flinders Street is closed off for a farmers and artists style market with all the traders open as well. We found some very exotic fruit and vegetables there.

Sunday Market in Flinders Street

Castle Hill:

One of the features of Townsville is that it seems to be surrounded by hills and mountains, and in fact parts of the city appear to have been built into the hills. Castle Hill looms over the city and a 2.9 km drive up a very steep and twisty road rewards you with spectacular panoramic views of the city and across to the nearby islands. Motorists have to watch out for pedestrians who walk or jog up and down the hill.

View from Castle Hill Lookout

The Lakes Holiday Park:

One of the best things about our caravan park is its location. We are bounded by the Mercure Resort, the Lake, and a large Rugby complex, and we are 4 kms from town, 5 kms from The Strand and about 6 kms from the airport. It is less than a 5 minute walk to Red Rooster, Pizza Hut, Sizzler, Maccas, Subway, plus kebabs, Chinese, a convenience store, a fantastic butcher, and more. Castletown shopping complex is less that 1 km away and it has pretty much everything we need. Bunnings, BCF, Spotlight, Kathmandu, Harvey Norman, Joyce Main, Officeworks and just about any other store you need to visit is reasonably close by.

That said, each site at the caravan park has an ensuite, and has a double concrete slab with grass areas between sites, so there is plenty of room. There are even chains incorporated into the slabs so that vans can be chained into position during the wet season – how thoughtful! On weekends, there are model yacht races on the Lake behind our site.

We’ve done a full set-up with side-wall and both ends to add privacy and protection from the hot sun. Most meals are eaten outside under the awning and many are cooked on the van’s pull-out BBQ.

We have a great bunch of neighbours and have enjoyed many happy hours on the grassy area behind our vans by the Lake. There is also a Friday night BYO BBQ at the park’s swimming pool which is a great way to meet fellow travellers and assist in fund raising for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Set Up at The Lakes Holiday Park

Grassed Area to the Lake Behind our Site

Remote Controlled Yachts on the Lake

The Strand:

We have spent a lot of time at The Strand, which is a palm tree studded promenade along the main Townsville beach. It is several kms long with a nice “Rockpool” swimming pool at one end and finishes in town at the other. It’s a beautiful shady and protected place to walk, run, cycle, skate, or whatever and is very busy at weekends.

On the beach side, every several hundred metres is a kiosk selling coffee, gelato ice-cream, fish & chips, or a bistro/bar, etc. There is also a fantastic water park for the kids, plus showers, toilet facilities, exercise stations, impressive kids’ playgrounds, barbeque areas, the Tobruk Memorial Baths, and more. On the opposite side of the The Strand are apartments, motels, restaurants (we especially liked Harold’s Seafood and Gelatissimo), more gelato places, coffee shops, and so on. Best of all there is plenty of space and shade to simply sit down and relax.

The vegetation is very tropical and there are some amazing trees along The Strand, including huge fig trees with their magnificent root systems. Some of the buildings along The Strand are built on almost sheer cliff faces, and there is even a waterfall from the top houses to street level.

A bit further on from The Strand is a busy marina with a good variety of yachts and boats, Jupiters Casino, the Entertainment Centre, the port area, and departure points for ferries to the nearby islands.

Rockpool on The Strand

Patrolled Beach along The Strand

Kids’ Water Fun Park

Tobruk Memorial Baths

Views from The Strand

Views of The Strand

Harold’s Seafood

Harold’s Seafood Basket

Gelatissimo

BBQ Facilities along The Strand

Magnificent Trees Along The Strand

Waterfall by The Strand

Marina with a View to Jupiters Casino

Views of The Strand

War Memorial WW1 & WW2 on The Strand

Magnetic Island:

Magnetic Island is a simply spectacular place only 20 minutes by ferry from Townsville, and you can even take your own vehicle or hire a car on the Island. We caught the ferry – oldies’ return costs $16 – which lands at Nelly Bay and then simply caught the local bus to Horseshoe Bay – oldies’ day pass costs $3.60. At Horseshow Bay we had a good wander around town before having a light lunch at the Marlin Bay Tavern. Another walk up the beach in the opposite direction then it was back to Nan’s Tea House for dessert and coffee. By then we decided that it was time to catch the bus and then the ferry back to Townsville.

Next time we will make sure to arrive earlier and get on and off the bus at various stops and have a much better look around the island, as we only saw a small part of it. Or we might hire a Mini Moke and drive around, or we could do an island tour in a stretched jeep, or do a cruise around the Island in a boat or on a jet-ski, or catch the Red Baron biplane for a flight around the Island. Choices, choices, choices.! We will go back to Magnetic Island for sure.

Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island

Mountainous Outcrop on Magnetic Island

Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island

Marlin Bay Tavern on Magnetic Island

Our Ferry Back from Magnetic Island

Overall Conclusion:

We are so glad that after having owned the fifth wheeler for nearly four years that we have finally done a really good job of escaping Melbourne’s winter. This is more than just a holiday – this is a great lifestyle – and we love it.

We both love Townsville and we plan on coming back next winter – why wouldn’t we?

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: castle hill, magnetic island, townsville

Still Chilling in Townsville

Posted on Sunday, August 4, 2013 by shorty

We’re really taken by Townsville. The weather has been absolutely fantastic and there are still lots of things that we want to do.

Currently we have extended our stay to 12th August.

Please check back to see where we decide to go on the 12th!

Thanks for your interest.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure

Charters Towers to Townsville

Posted on Thursday, July 18, 2013 by shorty

Weather in Charters Towers this morning was fine, but a few kilometres down the highway we got spits of rain on the windscreen, and not long after we had the wipers on full speed. First time we’d seen rain for quite a while. Eventually things settled down and we only got a few light showers as we headed further east along the Flinders Highway.

Morning stop was at a Reid River Rest Area about 75 kms out of Charters Towers. Although listed in Camps 7 as a day stop only, the signs indicated that vanners could stay for 20 hours. There were toilets and several under cover areas, and space for quite a few vans.

Heading into Townsville we were struck by the low cloud over Mount Elliott, which seemed to jump out of the otherwise flat terrain.

Clouds on the Mountains

Tropical Feel in Townsville

We arrived at The Lakes Holiday Park in Townsville just before lunch. Getting into the spot was a bit of a challenge but we got there in the end. We have an ensuite site and a lakeside view and should be very comfortable here. This is the first park we have found where all sites are ensuite sites.

Arriving at The Lakes Holiday Park

Lake Views

Important Note:

This will be our last blog for a while. We will be staying in Townsville for a couple of weeks and don’t intend to inflict our blog readers with our daily adventures around Townsville unless there is something pretty special. There are a few things we need to do like get the Ute serviced and just basically take a break after some 11,000 kms travelled so far.

But, as Arnie says, “We’ll be back!” In a couple of weeks we’ll hit the road again and will restart regular blog entries.

Thanks to everyone who has shown interest in our 2013 Big Adventure to date, and especially to those who have livened up our blog with their comments.

In the meantime, if you haven’t already done so, you can subscribe to our blog via email and receive notification whenever we post a new blog entry.

We’re still living the dream! Stay tuned…..

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: charters towers, townsville

Hughenden to Charters Towers

Posted on Wednesday, July 17, 2013 by shorty

After shower and breakfast I took the Ute and topped up with diesel before hitching up. Just as well I did because I would have had some difficulty with the fiver at the local servo – no big accessible BP Roadhouse here!

Once on the highway we faced the same issues as yesterday. Initially the road conditions started out terrible but I have to concede that the road surface did improve as we travelled on. Not consistently mind you – there were still plenty of lumps and bumps and ruts – but there was an improvement. Perhaps it’s just the cynic in me but I still reckon that things are improving as we get closer to Townsville and “civilization”.

The other thing was that the flat boring grassland plains were replaced by areas of trees and we did a bit of uphill and downhill driving as well. There were some large areas of burnt landscape but it did appear that this was the result of a controlled burn-off along one side of the road. At one stage we saw a stockman droving cattle up the side of the road – the only slightly incongruous thing was his hi-vis safety vest. It makes perfect sense to us to run cattle down the “long paddock” as it not only provides feed for the cattle but reduces the fire risk at the same time.

Trees by the Road

Burnt Trees

Uphill and Down – plus Roadkill

Then there was the amount of road kill. Dead bodies every-where; and they stink! At one stage a headless kangaroo corpse was flicked up from underneath the caravan in front and bounced along the road towards us. However, with lightening fast reflexes and superb driving skills honed by many years of watching the Bathurst 1000 on TV I was able to avoid the potential disaster of having to clean blood and guts off the front of the mighty BT-50!

Our morning coffee stop was at the Pentland West Rest Area which was quite a nice set-up and one or two vans could stay overnight at a pinch, but basically it’s a day stop.

Break at Pentland West Rest Area

From that point on we were on the lookout for a free camp for the night, but after checking out and disregarding several possibilities, we ended up in Charters Towers. A couple of calls to caravan parks failed to find any powered sites available. The Aussie Outback Oasis Van Park did have plenty of unpowered sites and we were very happy to accept one. The chap here told us that the reason for a lack of vacancies was the State of Origin game tonight as the free campers had come into town so they could get TV reception. People were still coming into the unpowered area after dark.

Aussie Outback Oasis Van Park

Setting Up the Big Screen for the Rugby Tonight

Happy Camper

We have a great site with plenty of room and spent the afternoon chatting to our neighbours including a chap who has just bought a fifth-wheeler and wanted to compare notes on a few things. As darkness settled in we put up the awning and I cooked pork steaks on the fiver’s BBQ, which we had with potatoes and sour cream and peas. Delicious!

As I am writing this the rugby match is being projected onto a giant blow up screen in the camp kitchen area and plenty of vanners are sitting outside watching the game – and there is a fair bit of yelling at the screen too. There is no point us having our TV on as the volume of the game is so loud – but I guess the game will be over at some stage! It’s a great atmosphere, even if we don’t really follow the game.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: charters towers, hughenden

Julia Creek to Hughenden

Posted on Tuesday, July 16, 2013 by shorty

Nice hot showers this morning in comparison to yesterday.

Sunrise at Julia Creek

Two things struck us as we headed East along the Flinders Highway from Julia Creek:

The amount of roadkill was astronomical compared to most other places we had been. Mainly kangaroos and a wild pig or two. Unlike other places there does not seem to be any effort to remove the bodies from the roadside.
The quite despicable state of the roads – despite some positive comments yesterday today was a different matter. There were pot-holes down to the gravel; patches on patches on patches; dips, bumps and ruts; and even the newly surfaced roads were bumpy as. There does not appear to be any attempt to actually fill in pot-holes or smooth out lumps and bumps before new bitumen is poured, so it’s just up and down all the way, and extremely tiring. As a result we have to drive more slowly through boring flat country-side. The only good thing is that maybe our fuel consumption will improve.

As a matter of interest, we are driving the heavily promoted Overland Way, which goes from Tennant Creek to Townsville (or vice versa). It started off as the Barkly Highway then changed its name to Flinders Highway at Cloncurry. We’re crossing our fingers that the roads will be in better condition tomorrow as we get closer to Townsville.

Our morning coffee stop was at the Maxwelton Rest Area which was nicely set up for an overnight stop but would only fit in 10 vans or so, at a squeeze.

Decisions Decisions

Bad Roads & Neverending Train

We stopped at Richmond for lunch at Kronosaurus Korner, the local tourist information centre which features a couple of dinosaurs outside and a great dinosaur museum/display inside. We had lunch at the Moon Rock Café and Bakery at KK, bought some fresh bread, and then went for a short walk around town. A butcher had a sign claiming to have the best award winning beef sausages in Queensland so we bought some and later had them for dinner. And they were excellent!

Arriving at Richmond

Welcome to Richmond

Dinosaur at Kronosaurus Korner

Smaller Dinosaur

From Richmond we continued on to Hughenden and set up the fiver at the Allen Terry Caravan Park in plenty of time to unhitch and drive into town for a good look around.

Hughenden has something of a dinosaur theme with several dinosaur sculptures in the main street as well as an amazing tribute to Comet brand windmills.

Arriving at Hughenden

Dinosaur Sculpture

Thirsty Dinosaur at Hughenden

Windmill Feature at Hughenden

Afternoon tea was a lime spider and an iced coffee at the FJ Holden Café – and the proprietor really is Mr FJ Holden!

FJ Holden Cafe

Inside the FJ Holden Cafe

During our walk Ann found an old fashioned drapery shop which had some quilting fabrics, and she was very excited to find some fabric that she had been looking for for some time! We returned to the caravan park for a cuppa and an interesting chat to our next door neighbours. They are heading in the opposite direction to us and it is always great to swap notes with other travellers as to where they have been and where they recommend.

As it was getting dark we wished our neighbours “good night” and I cooked our beef sausages on the fiver’s BBQ for dinner.

Sunset at Allen Terry Caravan Park

Still living the dream!

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: hughenden, julia creek, richmond

Mount Isa to Julia Creek

Posted on Monday, July 15, 2013 by shorty

Cold showers this morning – not happy Jan! Even worse, in a way, was the attitude of the caravan park “Yeah, a few people mentioned that. We might look into it”. For a reasonable caravan park fee we should at least be able to expect a hot shower at 7.30 in the morning, and if we comment/complain that someone will take us seriously. We won’t be back at Mount Isa Caravan Park again.

Our first stop for morning coffee was the Fountain Springs Rest Area. This is a designated free camp area and would be quite pleasant for a day or two. I had a chat to a camper there and he said that it was busy a few days ago but after a few days at a caravan park in Mount Isa he was back here as it was better and cheaper.

Next stop was the Mary Kathleen Memorial Park and Museum at Cloncurry. We parked the fiver in a nice shady spot and had a good look around the Visitor Information Centre, the museum and the outdoor old machinery display. We also got some exercise climbing to a lookout behind the centre and got some pretty good views over Cloncurry.

To this point the roads had been pretty good as we drove around and up and down mountains. There were even overtaking lanes. After Cloncurry the landscape flattened out considerably and the scenery changed from a few trees here and there to flat grassy landscape. Unfortunately the road conditions deteriorated also and the contents of the fiver again got a good shake up.

Our final destination today was the Julia Creek Caravan Park. Julia Creek is quite a nice looking town, worth a bit of a look around. By the time we had set up the fiver with awning and end wall, it was too late and still too hot for the decent hike into town so we settled under the awning and relaxed for a while before I cooked tea on the outside BBQ.

Rocky Scenery

Mary Kathleen Memorial Park & Museum at Cloncurry

Views from Mary Kathleen Memorial Park Lookout

Flat Grassy Landscape

Main Street of Julia Creek

Then it was inside for a short TV fix before a planned early night.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: julia creek, mount isa

Mount Isa – Day 2

Posted on Sunday, July 14, 2013 by shorty

We were in no hurry to get up early today so the day got off to a leisurely start. It was another warm and sunny day with a cloudless blue sky.

Once we got going, first port of call was the supermarket. Local shopping laws mean that Coles and Woolies cannot open on Sundays, but the caravan park people directed us to a smaller independent supermarket where we could do the shopping.

After taking the shopping back to the fiver, we headed back into town for a nice, sit down coffee. We started at The Coffee Club, which is generally good quality coffee, but they were packed with people having brunch, and although we found a table the waitress told us there would be a lengthy delay. Not good enough, so we walked over the road to the Isa Hotel which was much bigger, brighter, had cheerful staff, and made a great cup of coffee.

From coffee we went for a walk around town and stopped at several other shops for various other purchases. We walked down Rodeo Drive which is so named for the plaques set into the footpath celebrating various rodeo riders. We also came across the City Clock which actually houses the ashes of John Campbell Miles, the founder of Mount Isa. We also visited Outback at Isa, which includes the Visitor Information Centres and is the base for several touristy type attractions, including a tour of the Hard Luck Mine. We picked up some brochures for the next stages of our 2013 Big Adventure.

Isa Hotel

Plaques on Rodeo Drive

Mount Isa City Clock

Outback at Isa

Tribute to Miners at Outback at Isa

By now it was lunchtime so we headed back to the Isa Hotel where we shared a delicious gourmet Moroccan pizza.

After lunch we returned to the fiver to catch up on emails, do a bit of a tidy up, and have a long chat with our next door neighbours before tea and retiring for the evening.

Interesting Facts:

John Campbell Miles found lead ore in what is now Mount Isa in 1923
Milling and smelter operations commenced in Mount Isa in 1931
In 1943 the mine halted lead mining and started mining copper to meet WW2 requirements. It switched back to lead in 1946 but changed to both lead and copper in 1953
Mount Isa Mines Ltd built Lake Moondarra in 1958 which was the largest water scheme in Australia to be financed by private enterprise
The City of Mount Isa is 44,000 square kilometres in area
Mount Isa is the birthplace of Greg Norman, Pat Rafter and Deborah Mailman

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: mount isa