Mt Isa, Qld

Big day in the saddle, 460k. Stopped at Cloncurry for lunch, which consisted of a pie at the bakery, the only shop apart from Woolies that was still open. Our plan was to try our hand at free camping at a place about 60k from the Isa, but that would have meant stopping on the side of the road at 1:30 and watching the traffic for the rest of the day. Thanks, but no. We pushed on up to the Isa itself, and even though I maintained I’d never come here again, here we are, back in the same van park just out of town.

Went in to the town and had a coffee and bought a few bits at the shops, then back to the van via the lookout. Took the same snaps as last year, just because I could!

All the news in town is that the mine will definitely close in 2019, but before then, they will shed all the fly-in, fly-out contractors and support the locals as long as possible. Might be real interesting to come back in 10 years time, it would be a ghost town by then.

Snap!

Where the hell are we?