Thurs, 25th August - Mt Isa

We were a bit reluctant but eventually decided to leave our lovely spot on the river at Camooweal.  There is a 48 hour limit on staying because it is such a popular spot.  We figured it would get a bit busy too by the weekend as the town was hosting the Drovers' Festival.

We drove 190kms into head winds again to Mt Isa.  Much earlier in our trip we were using about 13.8 litres per 100kms.  We had now increased our usage to 15.1 litres per 100kms with these wretched winds.  We checked into a Top Tourist caravan park and did our washing and shopped for groceries.  After lunch we went for a drive into the Visitors' Centre.    The exterior of the building looked a lot better than the inside.

We had been told that you could camp in the car park of the RSL club in Mt Isa for a gold coin donation.  As the caravan park we were in wasn't much to rave about, we thought we would spend one night there and then move to the RSL Club for a night.  We called in to the RSL to have a look and ran into a couple who had been parked next to us on the river at Camooweal.  We were talking to them when two official looking guys approached us.  It turned out they were from the Council and were telling all the caravanners that they would have to move on.  Council were happy for the car park to be used as an overflow during the recent Rodeo, but now that the crowds had gone they wanted the car park cleared of campers.  We decided then that we would have a quick look around the next morning and leave Mt Isa and head to Cloncurry.

The exterior of the Mt Isa Visitors' Centre

A larger than life reptile inside the Visitors' Centre

Nothing like a bit of smog ... Mt Isa Mine