30 June 2014

Well as I said yesterday, ummmmm....... Interesting!

That still stands I am afraid, it is less than interesting. I am not really sure what it is about the place but it really just isn't working for me at all. I am not sure if it is the fact that I don't feel comfortable about just taking random pictures anywhere because I don't want to upset or make anyone angry and there are just people hanging about all over the place, like there is rarely a building that you'd want to take a picture of that doesn't have groups of people just there hanging about, maybe there is not a lot of jobs here and there is a lot of unemployment, I just don't know and lets be honest I am not really motivated to find out.

I started the morning heading out to the visitor information centre and Battery Hill Mining Centre, where you're supposed to be able to experience the gold rush era and even do and underground mine tour. There were lots of things to buy and it seemed like a big place though I was the only person there, there wasn't much in the way of local tourist attractions (probably because there aren't many), so basically I bought a badge and left. I am not certain what it is about the town but there's a bunch of old rusting machinery lying around on the sides of the roads. I wasn't till I got to the Visitor Centre that I realised, from their "inspired" gardens that these rusting hunks of old machine are supposed to be artistic/historical installations, placed there deliberately, rather than junk that someone has dumped so they didn't have to get rid of it.

Hmmm I am being rather harsh on the place I does have some features that are good, it is a nice, quite, tidy place and the people all seem very laid back and relaxed and there is a great Cafe/Deli on the main street that I had a hamburger at that would have to have been the best I have had in years, so that is pretty good I think! Additionally so is the Telegraph station, they have put a lot of effort into looking after that, though it is just a bunch of empty buildings, interesting none the less.

Then after driving back to town, the Telegraph Station is actually about 7 kilometres back to the north of town I was able to stop at the tourist information board that was at the edge of town and locate the lookout that is mentioned on the town and region guide though not identified on the map on it. So I drove up to the lookout and this is basically the view and landscape of the area.

That is the town over there

Then it was back to town to have a walk and look around, though I tried to take really general photos of the place cause as I didn't want to be taking pictures of people and there were groups of people everywhere. I have never been comfortable taking pictures when there are large groups of people about, I even have the problem in Melbourne sometimes and it is easier there as people generally don't even notice you cause they are too wrapped up in their own business, but I guess being one of the only people walking about with a camera and driving a Morris Minor sort of make me a lot more obvious and so people are watching what I am doing and I just get stressed and uncomfortable, silly really. Look at most of my pictures though and you'll notice I rarely like to take pictures with people in them, I think people just get in the way of the interesting stuff haha.

 Paterson Street (Stuart Highway) looking south

 Paterson Street looking north

 Same street further along looking south

 again but north again

 One of the murals about town

Alice Springs (Mparntwe, pronounced m'barn-twa, in the language of the local Arrernte, pronounced arrunda, people) tomorrow...

29 June 2014

Well today is going to be a brief one really as it was not much other than just driving along a straight line, ok there were a few bends but mot much else really. The landscape changes just out of Mt Isa to flat plains and there really isn't much difference from there through over the border and on into the Northern Territory, it's dry all the way and there is next to no water in any of the creeks and rivers, I think they are breeding cattle that can eat dirt and rocks here, there isn't anything else out there on the Queensland side..

I made a few stops along the way, a couple to take pictures, mostly just to stretch though as it gets a bit uncomfortable over very long distances. It was at one of these stops I noticed a van painted to look a Wicked Camper, it wasn't but it was a cheap tourist van. On my way out of the parking area they flagged me down and asked for a lift to the Barkly Roadhouse to get help as they had killed it. I told them I could give one a lift so they debated and decided that they would wait for someone else to come along. Anyway I got about 5 kilometres up the road towards the Barkly and thought I just couldn't leave them there so went back and rearranged everything so they could get in and the Mighty Count came to the rescue, well we left them at the roadhouse to whatever fate came along.

Ok Pictures and that is it really:

 They sure put a camber on the roads in Queensland

 Seriously this is the biggest windmill I have ever seen, the diameter is bigger than the length of the Count!

 Very outback scene, big windmill, brown grass, big sky, grafitti, actually no there isn't that much graffiti anywhere, it seems to be the large cities that have all that 

 Queensland side, again I ask who thought it was a good location for a cattle farm?

 Camooweal main street (the highway), looking back to QLD

 Camooweal looking towards NT

Finally crossing into a new State/Territory, the Count has never been into NT, WA or SA before.

Notice the difference between the QLD photos above and the NT photos, brown grass instead of just dirt

Day in Tennant Creek tomorrow

28 June 2014

Today it was up and off to the "Outback at Isa" centre for a morning tour of the Hard Luck Mine, which is not actually a mine at all but a recreation of one. Basically they made a mine that had never been a mine and turned it into a tourist attraction. It is actually really well done and unless they told you it wasn't ever used as a real mine you probably wouldn't figure it out. Some great stories told about the working in the mines and the conditions they worked under and some sad tales of men that had accidents and were killed. Over all an interesting experience and worth the time if your able to actually book on a tour, surprised I managed it really, but was lucky. Unfortunately there are no pictures as they don't permit cameras, as some stupid tourist lady has once dropped her camera and could not find it in the mud and thus had a stand up argument with the manager trying to get them to give her the money for it, so they just said no more. It only takes one doesn't it, and there is an idiot in every group that wrecks it for everyone else. Mind they now do take a picture of you before going into the mine with all the overalls and hard hat and light on so you can buy it at the gift shop on the way out, so that may have something to do with it as well.

Anyway then it was just a walk around the town centre, Quite a big town centre for a city with a population of about 24000 I think, but that is probably because it is spaced out over several streets not like other smaller towns in a single strip. The thing that is almost inescapable though is the mine, you can see it from everywhere, it is huge.

 Town Clock, Mine Stack

 The mine on the horizon

 Mt Isa Hotel is a huge one isn't it 

 Told you, and that's not the half of it

 Looking up Rodeo Drive

 Looking away from the mine

 Town Council Offices, Mine Stack

 It's everywhere

Literally everywhere!

I also went to the Underground Hospital and the Tent House this afternoon after the mine, it was about 1200 getting out of the mine tour and so, after lunch, back underground again. The hospital was built as a agreement between the hospital and the Mount Isa Mine and they dug a tunnel into the hill behind the hospital and kitted it out to be a fully functional hospital in the event that Mt Isa ever came under Japanese attack or bombing (Mt Isa was supplying a lot of lead to the war effort). It never eventuated and the decision was made to fill in the entrances with stone and forget about it, it was still fully kitted out, nothing had been removed before sealing it up. In the 70s  someone found mention of the underground hospital and they went looking for it, being such a fluctuating populace no one remembered it was there and when they found it and broke in an mines expert check it out determined it was too dangerous and it was sealed up again, then 20 years later they tried again and a group of men from the Mount Isa Mine gave up their free time for 4 years to restore it, everything in it now was in it when they started nothing has been added, though they had to recreate the beds.

 Hospital was basically dug out in a E shape, 1st

 Centre

 Main cross spine

Last tunnel, this is how they found it in the 70's thus why the expert decided it was too dangerous

The Tent house is basically a canvas tent and separate roof over to deflect the heat, it was three rooms (the back section on this one was added after it was moved to this site) and the lady who owned this before the National Trust bought it and moved it was still living in it not that long ago.

Off for the 8 hour drive to Tennant Creek tomorrow...

27 June 2014

Ok so today was quite a short drive of only 120 kilometres which was quite a nice change. I set out late and basically set about stopping where ever looked interesting along the way. So today it is death by landscape over load, plenty of them taken on this trip. Such amazing colours and such a huge landscape, it's amazing just how vast it is and how it changes throughout the regions as you drive through it. One question I have had in mind today though is, who first came along here and saw this and thought "why don't I just run a fence along here and farm cattle" I mean, really?

Next up was the Burke and Wills monument, it appears that they crossed this spot in 1861 on their way across the continent. Good enough for a plaque and stone monument really.

 Wonder if Burke and Wills had the same problem. Come on people it's the middle of nowhere do you really have to "TAG" it

From here it was on to Mary Kathleen, as mentioned previously it was a mine and it was closed down a couple of times before finally being closed up completely in 1984 and the entire place, all the buildings, were sold off and freighted around the country. All of the roads are slowly starting to be reclaimed by nature but there are plenty of them left, it really is quite and interesting place but the road in sure leaves a lot to be desired, though I guess it is all private property now, so why would they rebuild the road. That said though there were a number of people with caravans "free camping" on the old site, so they must have come in very slowly and carefully.

 The main "roundabout" at the start of the town

 Amazing to think that in 1984 these were still "suburban" streets

 The old swimming pools

 The main causeway into town

On again and into Mount Isa, it was a short drive and quite good really nearly no traffic and all nice and relaxed, I haven't had a really good look around yet, will do that tomorrow, so just a couple of pics to be going along with.

 First view of the town is the giant smoke stacks

 From the city lookout

Big barrel, who knew they had one and on the Irish Club too