Cloncurry and Mt Isa 08.06.2016 – 13.06.2016

We drove down from Normanton to Burke and Wills roadhouse where we stopped for a small bite to eat.  Burke and Wills were two explorers who were tasked with finding a path to the north from South Australia.  

The article below tells a little more on their journey and the difficulties that they were faced with.

In 1860–61, Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills led an expedition of 19 men with the intention of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south, to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres (approximately 2,000 miles).  At that time most of the inland of Australia had not been explored by non-indigenous people and was completely unknown to the European settlers.

The expedition left Melbourne in winter. Bad weather, poor roads and broken-down wagons meant they made slow progress at first. After dividing the party at Menindee on the Darling River Burke made good progress, reaching Cooper Creek at the beginning of summer. The expedition established a depot camp at the Cooper, and Burke, Wills and two other men pushed on to the north coast (although swampland stopped them from reaching the northern coastline).

The return journey was plagued by delays and monsoon rains, and when they reached the depot at Cooper Creek, they found it had been abandoned just hours earlier. Burke and Wills died on or about 30 June 1861. Several relief expeditions were sent out, all contributing new geographical findings. All together, seven men lost their lives, and only one man, the Irish soldier John King, crossed the continent with the expedition and returned alive to Melbourne.

We drove a fair distance down to Cloncurry where we stayed for two nights before heading off to Mt Isa.  

Cloncurry is a small mining town and unfortunately we did not get much time to visit some of the attractions.  Shirley had her mind set on cleaning the caravan and to catch up with the laundry.  We were rather fortunate as we had booked into the Discovery caravan park which had industrial washing machines and dryers. They also provide the residents with free washing powder as this park is also a miner’s camp and that is where they would have their laundry done.  Needless to say Shirley washed every bit of clothing, bedding and curtain in the caravan.  

We had done some damage to the caravan when we drove to Cobbold Gorge, with some of the cupboards and microwave having dislodged due to the corrugation in the road, I was saddled with the task of repairing the said.  This little episode took us the whole day but by the end of the day we were both exhausted and nothing that a cold beer and a glass of wine would not fix.  It was a great feeling knowing that the caravan which looked like a dust bowl had been thoroughly spring cleaned.

We drove roughly 120km the following day to Mt Isa and settled down to visit the mining town.  Both Shirley and I took a dislike to this town.  We had the opportunity to meet up with our friends Margie & Julie who we had met previously at Ravenshoe, Mt Surprise and Normanton and done some sightseeing together in Mt Isa.  We found the town to be untidy and generally a rough mining town. The highlight of the town was the visit to the Irish club which we found to be above standard and the visit to the lookout overlooking the town of Mt Isa  

Below are some views from the top of the lookout overlooking Mt Isa

The following photos are of the Irish pub, with the tram where we had lunch in one corner with Julie and Margie the two ladies that we had met in Ravenshoe and fortunate enough to meet up with along the way.

Nothing like a cold beer to make my day

 

Having lunch in one of the carriages

 

Prior to our lunch we visited an underground hospital that was constructed during the Second World War, which was recently reopened to the public.

Here are some photos of what was a most interesting visit.

Margie comforting her patient

 

The 3 Stooges

The hospital was built on the side of a hill next to the present day hospital and would have been crammed and noisy if it ever came to be used.

Imagine giving birth in this environment, more pictures of the bunking arrangement below

The view above is of the exit from the underground hospital

We took a few photos of the town and surround to show the conditions that some of the residents live in.

I had always thought that Port Hedland was a dump, but now that I have visited Mt Isa I think that this town takes the trophy.

Map of our travels for this trip.

The next travel adventure will see us crossing  the border to the Northern territory