Getting up to date....a day in Mt. Isa

The towns we travelled through between Winton and Mt. Isa included Kyuna, McKinlay and Cloncurry. Cloncurry was named by Burke during his ill fated journey home.

McKinlay is famous (or was famous) for the Walkabout Creek pub. Parts of Crocodile Dundee were filmed here and the pub appeared in the movie. The kids had no idea what movie we were talking about. Might have to hire the movie for them  one day.

We arrived in Mt. Isa at about 5pm and the temperature was still 32 degrees!! The Copper City Caravan park on the Leichardt River was our new home for (2) nights.

The information Centre in Mt. Isa

Mt. Isa is one of the biggest cities in the world with an area of 41, 0000 square kilometres. It has a population of around 20,000. It is a well resourced city with Coles, Woolworths, BCF, Bunnings......It's all here!!

Mt. Isa Mines provides the backdrop for the city. Copper, Lead, and Zinc are mined here. Some amazing engineering skills at use in there!!!

Mt. Isa mines from the lookout

1576 kilometres from home.....

We visited the Underground Hospital. Carole, a lovely volunteer, showed us around. The temperature underground was 10 degrees less than above ground. You could notice it as soon as you walked in, just lovely!

The Underground hospital was constructed in 1942. It was constructed as a back up hospital in case Mt. Isa was bombed in World War II  (Darwin had been bombed at this stage). The hospital was constructed by the mine workers, they donated both the materials and their own time!! 

The war came to an end and this air raid shelter was never needed.

For some years after the war the Nurses slept down here when they were on Night shift and it was also used as a storeroom for the main hospital.

Adult beds

Old medicine bottles and ampoules

Old Pans and urinals

Storage of all the original artifacts

Some old hospital crockery

The Maternity section of the Underground hospital

It was a very interesting little museum, the kids were quite fascinated by it!

They were even quite taken by some more recent medical artifacts...

 Man or Woman?

We visited Lake Moondarra for an afternoon outing. This is a local man-made dam which appears to be well used and loved by local fisherman and water skiers.

Dinner tonight was a real treat: a lovely 'Steer' roast sirloin cooked on the camp oven. We bought it from a gorgeous butcher in Longreach and it was delicious!!

Thanks Frank, makes for an easy dinner!!

Frank's Stats:  

(for those who are interested)

Peter??

Outlined below are the mileage and fuel stats for the first week. Note the numbers include up to the last fuel stop at Camooweal and include a small amount of pre-trip travel in Brisbane:

Total Fuel Expense:  $837

Total Fuel Consumption:  578 lts

Distance travelled: 2595 kms

Average lts per 100 kms: 22.27 lts / 100kms

Average kms per litre:  4.49 lts

Average cost per litre: $1.50 / lt

We have averaged about 90km/hr at approx 2000rpm. The on road weight of car plus van is approximately 5 tonne.

Thanks for that Frank!! How interesting......Yep Fuel consumption is important to some. We all have our interests don't we??