Storms in Isa

Well, we are still here.  Suncorp gave us the go ahead for repairs yesterday so now just waiting on the window to arrive from Melbourne, other parts are already here.  I suppose now we will have to wait for the weather to clear before the window can be fitted, yes the weather to clear.  We had a storm come through the other night, another spectacular light show with it, there were a few tree branches down in the park but not too much damage to anyones property, thankfully.  It was followed by another lightening show Tuesday followed with a cool change, ( it only got to 35) and today even cooler with an expected top of 34.
Les had an interview yesterday with an employment agency and has come back with the possibility of a placement but doesn't know which way to jump, stay in Isa for longer or leave and continue the trip ASAP. ?? Will keep you informed.

 

We spent last weekend at Shelly's, trying to assist Jessica and herself unpack and make the house a home, but not too much unpacking was done:)

Still in Isa

Yes, still here, we expect to be based here for a couple of weeks at least, so making the most of it and taking in a lot of local sights, there is so much to see and do in this region.
We took a drive out to the site of the old township of Mary Kathleen, it was surprising how large a community it would have been. Closing in 1984, all the buildings were auctioned off and only the concrete slabs remain, it is rather large with a dozen or more streets still visible even though rather deteriorated, the town centre has the remians of a large water feature and the old stone walls.
We found the road out to the open cut mine and although unable to access the decline we were still able to see the benching and the pit full of mineralised water.
Jessica got a turn driving, and she did a fantastic job, time to move on to a manual, so did Grace although she was only steering.  All on private property of course.

On our way back to camp we found an access road to a communications tower east of Mt Isa.
Elevation 520m, it seemed higher.

 

 

A Day in the Isa

The Girls and I spent some time at the Mt Isa Water Park today,

Its another hot day, the thermometer is reading 37 degrees inside the van,

we have had the airconditioner on but with only the patch over the window even that is struggling and since there is a wind blowing we thought we'd give it a rest today.

Les is watching cricket and made the most of the peace and quiet without us here.

 

 

 

Willy Willy Window

Thursday, and we drive into Cloncurry to stock up on a few food items, and restock cold drinks, after all we're not camels. I think even camels would struggle in this heat.
Cloncurry is beautiful, we found a shady park at the Mary Kathleen Museum to have lunch. It was nice to have a look at all the machinery and some old buildings rescued and restored from the Mary Kathleen Township ( an old Uranium mine shut down 40 odd years ago), the old police station dates back to the 1890s, and now houses one of Australias best mineral displays, but it was just too hot to appreciate it.

 

 

We have seen in our Camps 6 book (campers Bible) that there is camping by the Corella Dam about 60km this side of Mt Isa and planned to go in there for at least one night maybe 2.  The gates to the Dam were closed but not locked so we entered with a bit of a feeling of trepidation, leave gates as you find them so we chained it closed behind us, we followed a dirt track for a km or so and it brought us into sight of the body of water, the dam level was considerably low but the banks were green and spotted with shady trees, we set up camp near a clump of trees in a valley hoping to catch a gully wind to cool us off, anything in this heat.

Did I say anything? Oops. We didn't just get a gully wind we got a God almighty cyclonic gust, everything outside was caught in it, unfortunately this also meant our open windows on the van, one gusty burst of wind and our windows on the van went crack and one ripped entirely off. It only lasted a minute, if that but it was enough to shake the entire van, a wreak havoc on our little camp.

After a few choice words from you know who, we picked ourselves up and collected all the items strewn over the countryside, we found the cover to the generator 100m up a hill. We were lucky no one was outside at the time it struck, the hole in the side of the van can be repaired, we hope.
And as for the name Willy Willy Window, that was Jessica's suggestion, they name cyclones so why not this?

So come Friday, we taped some cardboard over the hole in the wall so we could tow the van safely into Mt Isa, The cardbaoard didn't hold up too well and poor Jessicas bed has worn the brunt of the road grit and dust blowing into the van.  We have called the Insurance company to make a claim, but we have an issue with the fact that Trakmaster who can supply the exact parts don't reopen until 14th Jan.

Thanks to Lyall we have a contact in Mt Isa who can do the repairs, but just require a supplier for the parts. We will know more on monday when mst businesses reopen, until then we have a cardboard window, and a powered site in a Mt Isa caravan park.

Welcome 2013

It is Friday 4th January and we have arrived in Mt Isa, maybe not on the terms we would have preferred but arrived safely never the less, more on that later.

I should also mention here we said farewell to acquaintances made over the past week, in particular a lovely couple, Lyall and Trish, their Spinifex Caravan is something to be seen.  They have plenty of experience with caravanning and this is abundantly clear when you see what they have been able to build in the design  of the their Spinifex. Have a look at  their blogsite www.lyallandtrish.blogspot.com


We left Karumba New Year's Eve to spend New Years in the bush. We drove out on the Burke and Wills Developmental Road and found a place to pull off the road a few kms before the Burke and Wills Roadhouse, we drove about 200 - 300m off the road far enough not to be seen by any traffic ( as if -I think we may have heard 1 vehicle), found a very nice shady spot, beautiful. Mother Nature put on a wonderful fireworks show for us with a spectacular electrical storm to the North, pity I can't work the camera properly to capture it, just lots of nothingness.
Here we saw in 2013, playing charades around the camp fire and Blockus of which Jessica still remains the champion. We must also note that when Les points to me in Charades it is his description of day (not parent, mother, you, taller, old, elder- you had to be there) .

Lightning doesn't strike the same spot twice, we thought we would be safe camping by this struck tree.

As with the rest of Australia at the current time, we too are in the middle of a heat wave  with most days being over 40.  We choose to drive through the worst of it and hopefully find some sort of breeze when camping. The idea of camping beside water is always appealing even more so when the temperature is this high, with this in mind we headed down to the Gregory River, after a cold drink at the Gregory Pub we found a camp site beside Fiery creek just East of Gregory, the only neighbours the mooing cows to woo us to sleep. Not much water in the creek but a bit of breeze.

Continuing down the Developmental Road the next day we just pulled over in an overnight roadside stop, The Terry Smith Lookout, named after the local postie and transporter of this area since the 1950's, and what a beautiful sunset over the surrounding ranges, but what a hot, still and unbearably uncomfortable night.

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