RICHMOND - MOUNT ISA

As we neared Cloncurry, the grass plains gave way to open woodland then the rugged Selwyn mountain range.  Again, the bush was in bloom with mainly wattles and white flowered eucalypts in flower.

On the way through Cloncurry we passed the caravan park we'd stayed at previously and were startled to see the ground carpeted with green grass!  When we were last there, it was red dirt with nary a blade of grass to be seen.  That reminds me that the tour guide / cockie back at Lark Quarry, a bloke well into his 60s who'd lived all his life in the area, said that he'd never seen the countryside looking so good.  This is definitely a good time to be seeing the outback.

Got to the Burke & Wills monument outside Cloncurry in time for lunch.

Burke & Wills were at this spot on the 22nd January, 1861.  Can't imagine trudging through this terrain in January, during a drought too, I think it was!!!  It is (was) also the territory of the Kalkadoon, quite a fierce tribe of warriors.

Mount Isa is dominated by the mine - a huge, ugly thing - with the town sprawling below.

I remember hearing a year or so ago about the number of Mount Isa children being affected by lead poisoning, but haven't heard anything recently.

Across the road from us is a group of dongas where 195 fly-in fly-out miners are housed.  We're going over to their 'restaurant' for dinner tonight, even though alcohol is not allowed.  (Don't know how Eric will manage, but there's a first time for everything.)  We're told that the miners are breath-tested before they get on the bus to work each morning.

The weather's warming up - 28 today and 30 forecast for tomorrow, so it's into shorts (well, three-quarter trousers) and t-shirts.  Next step will be the thongs.  Sorry to mention this to all the shivering Melburnians.

Tomorrow will be a relatively short hop to Camooweal on the Queensland side of the border with the Northern Territory.  Then there'll be three fairly solid days of travel to get to Katherine on Monday, 18th.