Mount Isa

Restock.
It has been some weeks since we had a choice of produce in a supermarket. Most of us live in a very luck country. There are however some significant discrepancies. Not just getting access to mounds of cheap, fresh fruit & veg, but also reasonably priced fuel. $1.80 per L. (I know / it will get worse as our travels continue) is a bit steep. There are cattle farms here that store millions of litres. The vehicles used in mining have 3,000 litre tanks. It’s not like the supply lines are inadequate. Then there is the non existent internet connectivity - governments and telco corporates need to have a hard look at themselves. Cultural stimulation comes in many different flavours out here as well.

I’ve been surprised by first impressions. I was expecting an affluent: prosperous town. I am sure there are obscene amounts of money being made here, but it is not widely/evenly distributed. We have seen a number of boarded up businesses, and there are the ugly scars left by mining that come right into town. There are also some scared individuals , and I fear the indigenous folk are over represented in that count.

We will pamper the car while we are here, new tyres, service, fit a snorkel. Might go as far as a wash. Perhaps a hair cut or a spa visit for us as well. We will also get out on our bikes to explore the town and let Mount Isa delight us. Hopefully there will be some nice pics.

Geographically we are on the Leichhardt River. We camped on the falls of the same name to the north while we were still on the Savanna Way. Wow, that was about 800k’s ago. Unsurprisingly here in Mount Isa during the Dry the river is completely empty of water.

We will credit the next 3 posts to the Mount Isa experience. You will see that it was not a waste of time.Read more