Longreach to Barkley Homestead

 Our aim was to get to Mt Isa by mid afternoon.We had an early start from Longreach in clear skies after spending a couple of nights with Bill and Libby Suffren who saved us after the torrential rain. I had coached their daughters rowing when I was at St Margaret's so it was great to catch up with them again after 10 years.

Unfortunately the clear skies were not to last for long and the rain set in again as we arrived in Winton (Matilda and dinosaur country). We had hoped to get out to the Lark Quarry to see the dinosaur area yet unfortunately the wet whether put pay to that. I was not keen to cover the car and trailer again in clay and black mud so we passed this opportunity up.

A couple of hours down the road from Winton, the rain finally stopped and we arrived at McKinlay- home of the Walkabout Creek of Crocodile Dundee fame. We had lunch outside the pub before pressing on towards Mt Isa.

The landscape is forever changing and between Cloncurry and Mt Isa there were often rocky out crops that appeared out of nowhere.

Our resident Mt Isa expert - Warwick Fraser suggested that we should call in and see the ghost town of Mary Kathleen. Quite bizarre to see concrete curbing and the old roads where the mining town once was. This was the site of the uranium mine which was mined in the 50's and 60's from memory. Needless to say there are a number of signs saying beware of radiation etc, yet we came away without glowing!! On the way in we did come across our first herd of camels much to the excitement of the girls.

Finally we made Mt Isa at about 4pm and set up camp at the Argylla Caravan Park in sunshine!! Mt Isa is an interesting town. There is the mine side and town side split by the Leichhardt River. Our native brethren are predominant and it is sad to see so many young children walking the streets at all hours of the night. Annabel's comment was "Mum - they really should have an grown up with them!" A little hard to explain why this is not the case, yet the girls seem to understand now.

Mt Isa by day and night from the town lookout. This is the view across the Leichhardt River to the Xstrata Mine. The open cut mine is huge and dominates the landscape.

During the day we visited the Hard Times Mine and the Mt Isa Museum. We all headed down the shaft to the underground mine which used to be mined for lead, zinc, copper and silver. Today it is used for tours and also for mine training.

It was a very informative tour and well worth the visit. I have to say that I do not think underground mining is a profession that I would be rushing to take part in!

Today we packed up from Mt Isa and have made our way to Barkley Homestead. We stopped for lunch at at Billabong just outside Cammoweal. There was an abundance of bird life and it would have been a great place to camp for the night if we had not already booked into the Barkley Homestead.

A little further down the road we crossed the border into the Northern Territory.

Almost straight away the country side changed again to big open plains. The vastness of this space is incredible and unique.

We made the Barkley Homestead in good time and had an early dinner which in hindsight was fortunate. At 7pm tonight it poured with rain yet again and it seems that the rain is following us where ever we go. As I write, the skies are clear and the stars are out so hopefully that is the end of the rain for now!

Tomorrow we head to Mataranka and will spend the night there before heading up to Katherine Gorge on Sunday.