6th - 8th August 2012 Mount Isa

Described as the Oasis of the Outback - Mount Isa nestles among the ochre-red Selwyn Ranges, on the banks of the Leichhardt River.

Mount Isa's existence and its main financial base is the huge Mount Isa Mine, the world's largest single producer of copper, silver, lead and zinc. In 1923, John Campbell Miles found a silver-lead ore outcrop and sent a sample to Cloncurry to be assessed. Miles pegged two leases and soon 500 were filled. Mount Isa Mines took over operations in 1924. This rich deposit is still producing high volumes of ore and is classed as one of the world's great mines.

We stayed at Mount Isa for 3 days after last week's constant driving every day....we didn't do too much.. but we did visit Lake Moondarra  also known as Moondarra Dam. It was constructed in 1957 for the purpose of town water and industrial use.

The lake's name, Moondarra, came from a public contest held at the time. It has a surface area 2375 hectares and holds 106 000ML of water at an average depth of 6 metres when full.

The lake is used for various recreational activities such as canoeing, sailing, boating, skiing, swimming, picnics, and increasingly, fishing. The lake is also the main source of freshwater for Mount Isa and a Fresh Water Lagoon was built to allow the water to naturally filter through reeds and for particles to settle out before pumping to Mount Isa.

We also checked out the lookout over Mount Isa...

3rd - 5th August 2012

The next day we travelled on staying at a bush camp overnight at Banka Banka ... then on to Berkly Homestead the next night...travelling was uneventful... just long open roads of nothing...

The homestead was a nice place and they had a lovely restaurant in the park where John and I had dinner.. yummy food...

The next day we headed out to Camooweal where we camped at the side of the river with another 60 or so other caravans...

The bird life in this area was amazing...and the kites were huge...I captured a few of them flying above us while we were eating a pie for lunch..

 Brolga

2nd August Daly Waters

We left Mataranka  and are now heading to Mount Isa...stopping off at various camp sites on the way just overnight...

First stop was Daly Waters.... such a little place with lots of history....

In 1862 John Mcdouall Stuart successfully crossed the continent from south to north. After breaking through the Lancewood scrub after 3 previous attempts Stuart discovered fresh water. This area was given the name Daly Waters in honour of the then governor of South Australia, Sir Dominic Daly.

Fresh water was vital for droving and Daly Waters was the last watering hole before the perilous Murranji Stock Route. When the Durak brothers drove their entire herd from Queensland to the West Australian coast, Daly Waters was a landmark stop. The cattle were rested and the men quenched their thirst, today, that tradition still stands...  although caravans and backpackers have replaced the drovers and cattle

The telegraph line followed Stuart's route north, the untamed environment caused the project to fall behind schedule which resulted in the Pony Express being used between Daly Waters and Tennant Creek 400kms south of Daly Waters. An original telegraph pole dating back to approx 1878 was found out bush in 2009 and is now erected outside the pub.

Despite common belief, Daly Waters was never built on the highway.

Bill Pearce, a local tin miner,and his wife Hennrietta, in 1930, built a store to service travellers, settlers and drovers and later air passengers en route to London. The Pub was given a jug license in 1938.

Prior to the 2nd World War, Daly Waters was the site for the first International Airport in Australia and refuelled planes and passengers en route to London. The trip cost 275 pounds and took 8 days. The Pearces played Mein Hosts feeding and providing overnight accommodation for the travellers. Bill was also responsible for refuelling the planes. These days The Daly Waters aerodrome is in semi-retirement with private aircraft and Air-Med (remote area medical service) constituting the bulk of the traffic.

During World War 2 Daly Waters played a significant part in the protection of the Northern Australian coastline. The Australian and American air forces were based here along with Mitchell Bombers, Kitty Hawks and a fighter squadron.

Today, the pub is still a welcome destination for travellers. The pub is renowned for its service, hospitality, great food and cold,cold beer. Memorabilia adorns the walls from Irish football jerseys to bras. Wherever you look there is something interesting to read or ponder its origin.

After settling in we checked out the pub ( John of course checked out the beer )

We had dinner at the pub .. Their famous Beef & Barra cooked on the BBQ...

26th - 1st August 2012 Mataranka

We left Darwin on the 25th and headed towards Mataranka staying overnight at a bush camp at Bridge Creek.... Michael and Lois stopped off at Katherine for a few days as Maria was leaving them there and catching a coach to Broome...We decided to carry on and travel on to Mataranka and wait for them there...

The small township of Mataranka sits on the upper reaches of the Roper River, an hour’s drive south-east of Katherine.

This tropical wayside stop is on the Explorer’s Way tourism drive, the main artery that connects Adelaide and Darwin, and is renowned for its thermal pool – a sandy-bottomed lagoon fringed by palm forest and a rejuvenating swimming spot.

Although the township itself is small, with a population of about 250, it services outlying cattle stations and Aboriginal communities. There’s a good range of camping grounds, accommodation and a supermarket.

The area was made famous by Jeannie Gunn’s 1908 novel 'We of the Never Never' – a book she wrote about nearby Elsey Station that is now part of Australian folklore. The Elsey Cemetery, 21 kilometres south of the township, marks the final resting place of many of the book’s characters.

Attractions around town include the Stockyard Gallery that exhibits local Aboriginal art, barramundi hand-feeding tours and the Never Never Museum that displays the local Aboriginal history.

Elsey National Park, eight kms from Mataranka, is another of the region’s natural attractions. The massive Roper river slices through this 140 square-kilometre expanse, flowing through large waterholes then tumbling over rocks and tufa dams.

It was a nice easy drive only 100kms... when we arrived at the Homestead we were greeted by a rather large kangaroo sunning himself in the middle of the road and he had no intentions of moving...until a fellow traveler made him move on :)

After settling in we checked out the "Hot Springs" in the park...a short walk through bushland..the water was awesome about 32 degrees...

The park has plenty of wildlife lots of kangaroos and peacocks roaming around..

27th July
Today we went for about a 2 km walk to Stevie's Hole through the bush...it's supposed to be safe to swim in but we were not prepared to risk it !!!!!! Once again along the track plenty of wild life...the wallabies are very active in the day time around these areas

28th July

We caught up with Terry and Lorraine again, they arrived for an overnight stay on their way back south...we enjoyed an afternoon at the hot springs, and later after happy hour we went out to the restaurant and had a nice meal...

30th July

Lois & Michael arrived and we had a nice time catching up again.. we are staying here for another 3 days before we move onto Mt Isa with a few bush camps in between..
At Happy Hour our little friends came around to join us again...

31 July

We went to the restaurant for dinner tonight and they had a good country and western singer on.. we also had the P.O.Ps staying at the camp..which stands for "Pelicans On Posties"

A group of guys got together to ride genuine postie bikes from Ballina NSW to Darwin in time for the Darwin Cup ..on the way raising money for Biala Special School in Ballina. The Royal Flying Doctor Service also benefit by receiving 20% of funds raised..

The guys run a few raffles and auctioned a t'shirt signed by them all...

We sat around the fire with them and chatted ... a good bunch of guys

On the way back to our campsite...the van next to us was having a get together with a group of wallabies..they were all enjoying the open fire...they are so tame...amazing...

Our last day at camp at happy hour we had a few visitors of our own... one randy peacock trying to get the attention of the female peacocks...