Telstra Hill, about 10kms out of Mount Isa that showcases magnificent 360 degree views of The Isa and surrounding areas. The hill is a popular exercise track for locals with morning and evenings being the busiest times.
 Approximately 180 kilometres west of Mount Isa is a small town with a population of approximately 187 people. The town was discovered by a surveyor that goes by the name of GT Weale, who apparently introduced camels to the region. We took a trip across to see the Camooweal caves and the Northern Territory Border, unfortunately the road was too muddy to the caves but the drive was spectacular. It was Australia Day (Invasion Day, Survivors Day) and the town come to life with ride on lawn mower races, telecasted by helicopter. Such a great atmosphere. 🚁🚁🚁🚜🚜🚜
 47 kilometres east of Mount Isa is a steep seven tier water fall by the name of Rigby Falls. It is quite a popular place to visit through the wet season although there wasn't much water running through at the time. The drive gets entertaining past the Mount Frosty turnoff, which Rex conquered a fair bit of with Gumby’s deadly driving skills, but we had to leave him at the top of a crazy hill, which made for a nice walk. We thought the walk at the end up to the falls was rocky and tricky in our runners, but kids in thongs and a dog proved us wrong. It was an exciting day, which left us excited for many more adventures to come in the Mount Isa region. We arrived back to Florence with all of our stuff outside drenched, we were confused until we found out that Mount Isa had it’s biggest rainfall in 3 years ⚡⚡💧💧🌈
This ghost town was once the thriving heart of a uranium mine that was discovered in 1954 by Clem Walton and Norm McConachy. The mine extracted 4,080 tonnes of uranium oxide between 1958 and 1963, after several years of being idle it produced another 4,802 tonnes from 1974 to 1982. With the mine having two lives the Town fluctuated in population from 1,000 people to 80 and then 1,200 people. The closure of the mine in 1983 meant the township of Mary Kathleen, named after Norm’s wife, went with it too. This left the remains of concrete slabs, broken tiles and rock walls, remnants of houses, a bank, post office, town hall, cinema and other municipal buildings. Walking around the town and mine is a great place to test your imagination on how life and work was in the region. Off the beaten track is Sunset mine with abandoned mine shafts. This is a good 4WD track with different coloured rocks and gems that are unique to the region 👻💎👽
 An artificial water catchment area that runs into the Leichhardt River, which provides water to the township of Mount Isa. Currently with recent heavy rain falls the lake sits at approximately 67% capacity. We spent the day exploring the surrounding mountain range and ate lunch by the lake. A beautifully relaxing yet active day, albeit for the 10,000,000 flies…
Our first road trip with Rex and Florence pulling up along the way in Townsville, Hughenden and Cloncurry. Highlights included seeing Shovel’s family and playing frisbee in the park, eating pies for breakfast in Hughenden and watching the third Test Australia vs Pakistan in Sydney at a Richmond pub. It was slow going when only travelling at 80kph, but loads of fun and feels great knowing everything we need is right there with us. Shovel never stops amazing me with his deadly hidden talents and did an amazing job reversing Florence and changing her tyre on the highway just outside of Cloncurry. We were gratefully thankful to Will (a bloke with a ‘hill billy’ sticker on his Ford Ute) that helped us out by lending us his wheel brace. That age old adage played true as you should never judge a book by it’s cover. Will was driving from Brisbane back to his home town Darwin for work, he would travel the 3000+kms through the night and was doing this to support his wife and 2year old daughter who were both back in Brisbane. His daughter has cancer and would have to remain in Brisbane for another year receiving treatment. It completely broke our hearts that this guy would stop to help us when he himself had so much going on. I tried to offer him 50 bucks to go and buy dinner, but he refused, saying he was just happy to help. I wish government money could instead be spent providing Will and people in this circumstance with flight vouchers or greater support, rather than being used to fund the Political events calendar or the unemployed with alcohol and drug money.
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November 2023
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