Mt Isa
We arrived Mt Isa on probably the hottest day of the year,(Monday 23rd March) everything was melting, and that means us as well. The park is very nice and there are some BIG motorhomes here, two to mention are, a semi trailer set up, built in the US and bought out here, its pulled by a BIG kenworth. The trailer is called “toy house” and the truck is called the “toy hauler” a really nice set up. They are staying in Isa for about 6 months.
The other set up is a fully rebuilt Denning bus, with a trailer, which is a workshop, and also a garage for a Suzuki Sierra. With respect to the Denning Bus, this couple sold everything to buy this unit, and unfortunately they are doing it really tough, with the present turn down of the economy, their bus is their home.
Mt Isa is really quite remarkable, the mining complex is virtually in the middle of the city and everything revolves around this mine, copper, lead, zinc and silver had obviously help the town to be very prosperous before today.
The trucks, ( road trains) pulling the product out of town are four trailers long with, I think, six ingots of lead on each trailer, each ingot weighs in at 4 tonne, and they drive through the center of town, through four sets of traffic lights, and the road is up hill, you wouldn’t want a red light or 2..
( Tuesday)
Unfortunately, your author has developed a back problem, seems a bit like sciatica, and it’s a real pain, pein, pane, it even hurts
Yesterday, (Wednesday) saw us off into town, we decided to splurge out, lunch out, and tea at the Irish Club, very nice not having to wash and wipe up. Once again, it’s a small world. Loz had been texting her niece Sharon, in Cairns, explaining what we was up too, and Sharon came back and explained that she had a girl friend in Mt Isa who was in the Police force, and that we should get in touch with her. Well as explained, we had lunch at the Golden Arches and in front of Loz was this Police woman, guess who, yep, Sharon’s friend, talk about a small world.
The mining companies had an expo running, showing off all their fancy gear, big pumps, big tractors, big everything, Aggs even tagged along, we didn’t buy anything
Thursday saw yours truly off to a muscle specialist, to get that sciatic nerve pulled out of its painful position. Trinity, she’s the muscle expert was great, explained everything, worked on my back for an hour or more, and then showed Loz how to do follow up procedures. The remainder of the afternoon was spent around the van, relaxing
Saturday, we spent talking to our next door neighbours, they have just become grandparents, both are over the moon, and then they showed us recommended camp sites to go to, and also places of interest. Just before 12, we took off and bought the camping book they had shown us, it shows all the ‘free sites,’ really worth it. We then did the tourist tyhing again, drove out to the power station and then up to the look out to see all of Mt Isa, tis truly remarkable
Mt Isa is feeling the downturn, from chats we have had with locals, twelve months ago, nearly all retailers were asking ‘vanners’would they come and work for them, Woolies was trying to put on fifty people, industry was screaming for trades and labourers, Mt Isa was bustlingly. Today, the Isa looks tired, people are standing around, there is no advertisements for workers, of any ilk, one wonders how long it will last
Tomorrow we are leaving Mt Isa, its been a nice rest, sore back and all, we are off to Camooweal, Three way, Tennant Creek and a few points south
