Mt.Isa

Some famous people from Mt.Isa.

When you first drive into Mt.Isa, you can't help but notice the mine. It is huge, and dominates one side of the highway, the town is on the other, and of course there is the 270 metre high smoke stack for the lead smelter, that towers over everything. For some reason, the locals refer to there home as "The Isa", preferring not to use the "Mount". It is home to 23,000 people, almost all of whom work at, or as a result of, the mine. The town sits in a valley, and is surprisingly green, with lots of trees, and the prevailing winds take most of the pollution away from town. It is a real town with three supermarkets and lots of specialty shops, not to mention a lot of pubs. It is spread out over quite an area, and we find the people friendly and open. Whilst there is an obvious aboriginal community, it is not as large as in other towns we've recently stayed at.


Our caravan park home for the next week is The Sunset Top Tourist Park, about 2.5 kilometres from the centre of town. It is a nice outback park, with lots of trees, and it is extremely busy. I'm glad we booked ahead, as the house full sign is up every night. Our neighbours at the caravan park are John & Val, a lovely couple from Port Arlington in Victoria. We spent a lot of time sharing stories with them. They are on their way to Darwin.

The town of Mt.Isa.

It was in 1923, that a guy named John Campbell Miles, went looking for a horse that had wandered away from camp and up onto a ridge. On that ridge, he found some ore that proved to be very rich in lead. He staked his claim and was soon followed by many more. The horse's name was Hard Times, but there were no more hard times for John Miles! He called the place Mt.Isa, after Mt.Ida in Western Australia, a place he had seen in his travels. In 1924 Mount Isa Mines Limited was formed, and by 1925 they had acquired all of those leases, and the legend that is Mount Isa Mines, was born. Today the lease and the mine is owned and operated by the mining giant Exstrata, and vast quantities of lead, copper, and zinc, as well as other precious metals, continue to be mined and refined, with no end in sight. There is a rail link to the east and the City of Townsville, where there is also a lead and a copper refinery, and a port to export the minerals all around the world.

In the centre of town is the attraction known as Outback at Isa. It also serves as the Visitor Information Centre, a cafe, a gallery and museum. It is the focal point for tourism in the Isa. It is set up as a mine, and actually offers an underground simulated mine tour, using older mining techniques and equipment from the actual mine. They no longer run underground tours of the actual mine, which disappointed Carolyn, who had done an underground tour in her visit way back in 1975. OH&S has seen an end to all of that. However they do a surface tour by bus, which we decided to do. All the tours were well patronised, and booked out a few days ahead. We got onto a tour on Friday, and It turned out to be a highlight.

The Super Pit at Mt.Isa

Working the Super Pit.

We all piled onto the bus. Our guide was a Welshman, who had come to Mt.Isa in the 1960's and worked at the mine ever since. I think that he might have spent a bit too long underground!! Either that, or he was the greatest comedian of all time. We headed off with the door of the coach wide open, and when told, he said he thought it was an automatic door!! Driving through town, we were all peering out the windows with puzzled looks, until we realised that he was meaning left when he said right, and vice versa. We made it onto the mine site, and soon realised the magnitude of the mine. Parked on the road beside the Super Pit, you can't help but feel small. Everything is big. The size of the hole in the ground, the trucks, the road trains, the excavators, the buildings, the work shops, the scrap yards, and that imposing smoke stack. We were all getting quite good at picking out the points of interest being described by our guide. Usually he would start with "over there", but with no hint of a direction, so we would all scan the horizon and eventually some one would pick it out, and the word would spread throughout the bus with much laughter. He did get us one time though, when none of us could pick out the point of discussion. There were many puzzled looks, followed by raucous laughter, when he explained that the thing he was describing was on the other side of the hill!!! Still we get a lot of interesting facts and figures on the mine, and some great stories from his working days and life in Mt.Isa. 

Lake Moondarra at Mt.Isa.

Just sixteen kilometres outside Mt.Isa is Lake Moondarra. This dam was built by Mt.Isa Mines, to secure a permanent water supply for the town and the mine. It is a shock to find such a large body of water in the outback. The area is beautiful, and a playground for the locals where they can picnic, swim, water ski, fish and generally relax. There is an abundance of bird life, and the lake is stocked with fish. In October they hold the Lake Moondarra Fishing Classic, with lots of action, both on the water and around it.


The other major event in town is the annual rodeo, the largest in the southern hemisphere. It is held at Buchanan Park, an impressive venue in town. The main street in town is Rodeo Drive, but unlike its Hollywood copy, it is devoted to real cowboys!! No designer shops here. There are brass plaques along the length of the street, honoring the heroes of the sport of rodeo.


The lookout in the centre of town is a popular spot. You get an amazing 360 degree view of the town. We went up both by day and night. The night time view was spectacular, with the lights of the mine creating a wonderful light show.

Free show at Sunset Caravan Park.

Friday night at the caravan park was a bit of a surprise. The sounds of country music filled the air from 5.30 to around 7.00pm. Everyone was bringing down their chairs to listen to the free show, arranged by the managers, Julie & Steve. The band was very good, singing a lot of fun bush songs and making jokes about everything, including some of the patrons! A large, old, bull dog walked up to the makeshift stage, and one of the wags in the band declared "good of the mother-in-law to come to the show!!"


Our weather has been excellent. We can't remember the last time we saw rain clouds. It is quite bizarre really, as the weather forecast is all doom and gloom, but each morning dawns clear and bright. When it finally looks like we will get a storm, it fizzles out into a few drops. What is doubly strange is that lots of people are arriving at the caravan park with cars and vans caked in red mud, telling stories of how the heavens opened and the rivers came to life, and the roads became impassable. All this just 100 kilometres from Mt.Isa. In this part of the country, a lot of people "free camp" out in the bush along the rivers and roads that cross the area. There are a lot of established camping areas, some of which have toilet and water facilities, but the whole fun seems to be in taking what you need with you. We have yet to embrace this lifestyle, but we are well set up for it, and believe it will only be a matter of time before we take the plunge.

The Underground Hospital at Mt.Isa.

Last stop of interest for us to visit, was the Underground Hospital, situated just behind the current hospital. This place was built by the miners during WW11, following the bombing of Darwin, and fears that Mt.Isa could follow. It was never used, other than for exercises, to ensure it worked. It stayed buried for many years, but has now been fully restored. It is a fascinating self guided tour. It was built in the shape of a letter E, with three entrances and a number of ventilation shafts. It took just two weeks for the volunteer miners to complete. There are thousands of exhibits from all sections of the hospital, together with some gruesome reminders of how medicine used to be practiced. Skeletons lying in beds, and plenty of funny signs. A lot of fun.


Now by this stage, most of you will be shocked at the lack of mention of coffee and cake, and food in general. Well the answer is simple, we didn't find much! There is a very good Coffee Club Franchise in town, and this proved to be our safe haven! On the last night we tried a take away from the Happy Box Noodle Shop, that proved pretty good, but apart from that, it was pubs or the Bluffs Club, and none of them grabbed us. We put it down to the fact that the majority of customers are miners, who crave humongous plates of food rather than fine dining. All the pub menus are the same, Mega Steaks and Monster Schnitzels. We've done our share! The menu at Chateau Relaxeau is far superior!!!