The Isa

Absolutely nothing between Cammoweal and Mt Isa, luckily we were only travelling 190 kms today and Isa was the destination. It’s amazing the difference in the scenery. Yesterday we were travelling along a dead straight flat road when we pulled in for the night but today not far down the road, it became more windy, more hilly and with much more flora. About 50 kms from Isa, mountains started rearing their heads and it wasn’t long before we could see the scars from the mining and the open cut mines themselves. We even spied one of those huge trucks driving down the mine road. Coming into Mt Isa itself was a bit of an eye opener. Not exactly what I was expecting. Does this sound familiar! I was expecting a fairly prosperous busy little town, but to tell the truth, it looks exactly what it is, a mining town. We tried to find a café for lunch but the two we went to were both closed up, as are a lot of businesses in town. Eventually we had to go to the thinly disguised information centre, where they had a small café, that is really the one tourist attraction in town. It’s here that you find the underground mine tour (which Brian is doing in the morning), fossil centre and Discover Isa exhibition. We headed up to the town lookout which gives a panoramic view of the mines and surrounding hills. Heaven knows if the hills are safe from future mining as I couldn’t see the difference from the ones that are being mined and the ones not.

We did find a gem though, about 16 kms from town there is  man made Lake Moondarra. It was formed when they dammed the Leichhardt River for the supply of water to the town. Lovely green grassed picnic spots line the foreshore and just down the road a huge park with BBQ facilities. It is definitely the redeeming factor for the town.

Snap of the day