Mount Isa

19 June
After leaving The Pebbles we spent most of the day in the car aimed at Mt Isa. Having arrived we stocked up at the local supermarket and then found a caravan park where we could set up and relax. Over the last 3.5 days we have travelled about 1800kms and we thought that Mt Isa should be the place where we stop for a couple of nights and find out a bit about this mining town.

20 June
The next morning we went out to the Information Centre to book a mining tour. We had also found out from our neighbours last night that there is a fossil and mining exhibition run from there as well. We went to the Riversleigh fossil exhibition first, a place which I had never heard of. Riversleigh is a place in north-western Queensland that has the paleontologists in a spin. Apparently most of the fossils found in the world are those of animals that either inhabit the water or live very close to it. At Riversleigh the conditions were ideal to capture fossils from animals that were land based and that happened hardly anywhere on Earth. Riversleigh, it seems, is renowned worldwide for its fossil specimens. The exhibit was very informative and more importantly interactive for the kids.

Tom & Declan in mining gear but without miners lamp

Following this we went and saw the mining exhibition which gave an insight into the way in which Mt Isa was formed and the conditions that the miners had to deal with. The Hard Work Mine Tour was at 1:00pm which meant we had time to duck out for lunch before returning to the Information Centre to find our tour was with just one other person. After being fitted out with a pair of orange overalls, some boots and a miners lamp complete with a battery attached to a belt (Declan had to wear a backpack as they did not have belts small enough) we went outside where Steve (our guide) showed us some of the mining machinery. From there it was into a lift and down into the shaft where we took a ride on a small electric carriage to the mine area. The whole tour was great and Steve shared a lot of knowledge gained from 40 years experience as a miner coupled with a great brand of humour.