We left Cloncurry after our visit to the museum and our next stop is Julia Creek. We would have stayed here a couple of days but the only attraction open is at the Information Centre - even the pub was not serving lunch! Anyway we were able to spend an hour at the very informative audio-visual displays in air-conditioned comfort. As well as the a-v displays about the area and life in Julia Creek, the areas claim to fame is that it is home to the endangered dunnart, a small insectivorous marsupial about the size of a large mouse. These nocturnal mammals look even cuter with their large eyes. There's a good free camp at Julia Creek, although the ground is a bit soft at the moment following recent rain.
Another 150km along the Flinders Highway and we're in Richmond on Australia's Dinosaur Trail. We were last here in December 2012 for just a day. This time we'll have a leisurely few days.
A visit to Kronosaurus Korner is a must-do in Richmond. The displays of marine fossils are top class. The audio tour is very informative. We saw kronosaurus, pleiosaur, plesiosaur, ichthyosaur, ammonites, turtles and many other fossils. Highlights are the almost complete plesiosaur, about 98% complete, Australia's largest fish fossil and the 7m long kronosaurus queenslandicus.
With it's 2m long head and teeth up to 30cm long, what did kronosaurus eat? - Anything it liked!
Robert was able to revisit his favourite dinosaur, minmi paravertebra.
We were able to do some fossil fossicking at the nearby quarry and found plenty of fossilised fish scales and some bones we think might be from the fin/paddle of an ichthyosaur. We're waiting for the palaeontologist to get back to us.
After our few days in Richmond we continued along the Dinosaur Trail to Hughenden. We enjoyed our few days here in 2012. We've had a visit to the museum to see the reproduction skeleton of muttaburrasaurus and some of the well presented fossils and a cooling swim at the pool.
It's Sunday, and not quite tourist season, and that means many attractions are closed. We bought a book by Gary and Wendy Baker called "Cloncurry Trails, A Guide to Off-Road Touring around Cloncurry and Mount Isa" which was recommended by our camping neighbour at Mount Isa, from the Information Centre. Beautiful photos and very informative text and maps. Armed with this resource we set off to spend the day exploring around the Cloncurry area.
First stop was Chinaman Creek Dam, a popular picnic area just a few kms west of town. This dam, built in 1994, is the primary water source for Cloncurry. Water comes from both the Cloncurry River and Chinaman Creek.
Then it was further west for about 60kms to the Mary Kathleen turnoff. The abandoned town of Mary Kathleen is just off the highway, about halfway to Mount Isa. At its peak in 1981 the town was home to about 2,000 residents. The uranium mine at Mary Kathleen was closed down for the last time in 1983 under the federal government's 3 mine policy and all of the infrastructure was sold off. The town is now on private property and visitors are welcome to drive around the vacant streets. The open cut mine site is a few kms further on. There are still some old mine building ruins in the area. The mine pit has a "lake" of blue water, the colour is probably due to dissolved minerals.
Back along the deteriorating road with the partially washed out bridge, to the highway we passed the turnoff to Sunset Mine.
Our next destination is the road to Fountain Springs a right turn not far along the highway back to Cloncurry. The 27km of unsealed road to Fountain Springs takes us past some interesting historical sites. The town of Bulonga was home workers at the nearby Rosebud Dam and Copper Smelter. There are many mines in this area. The Lady Jenny Mine Project is active and there are plenty of signs warning of trucks on the road. Ballara was originally called "Mineral" and was the place where the 3'6'' rail gauge line changed to the 2' tram line to service the Wee MacGregor mine. We saw the rail loading platform and also some of the old machinery left rusting.
Next stop Fountain Springs. If it looks familiar it's because some to the movie Crocodile Dundee was filmed here. It's a permanent water source bubbling up through the quartzite faultline. A cool oasis in the heat of the day - the flies think so too!! The scenery was rugged and photogenic. Watrfalls flow after rain, unfortunately not when we were there though.
Back to Ballara and we turned off to see the China Wall. Some 6kms down the 4WD track we came across this quartzite formation, about 400m long, up to 20m high and only 1m thick in some places
Then it was back to Cloncurry along the highway.
Before we left the following morning, we called in to John Flynn Place Museum and Gallery. It was worth waiting for. The Museum is all about the flying doctors and the flying priests. There's a great display of the technology used, including pedal radios. The Gallery has works by local artists and entries in the local competition.
From Boulia we've headed northwards into north-west Queensland's mining country. About halfway between Boulia and Mount Isa is the small town of Dajarra. It has a good camping area - powered sites for $10 per night, pay at the pub. In its heyday Dajarra was a major transport hub for the cattle industry with graziers droving cattle from as far away as Western Australia for transportation. We opted for a cool drink at the pub and a visit to the museum, $2 each in the honesty box, before making our way through some spectacular scenery.
The terrain became hilly and rocky as we made our way further north and we passed thousands of termite mounds. The dirt became redder too. It reminded us of the country around Alice Springs.
Once settled in at the Sunset Top Tourist Caravan Park, we called into the Visitor Information Centre to check out the local attractions. Unfortunately the City Tour was not running - a casualty of the "off season". It's due to start up again in April. We get very annoyed at the Outback Tourism Industry which seems to think that just because it's not peak season, attractions should just close down from November/December to March/April. We often come across tourists from Europe and North America who are here to escape their winter and who are very disappointed when things they have travelled so far to see are closed. We booked into the Hard Times Mine Tour, luckily we were staying for a few days as the tour is only run when there are at least 6 people booked in and it took 3 days for us to get onto a tour (another off-season problem). We also got tickets for the Mount Isa Experience Museum and the Riversleigh Fossil Museum. Both of these are at the Information Centre and are well worth a visit.
The Mount Isa Experience Museum covered the history and development of Mount Isa from aboriginal times to present day. The traditional people are the Kalkadoon people and they have a keeping place and cultural centre near the Information Centre. Copper, lead and zinc have been mined at Mount Isa for about 90 years; but the mines were not profitable until the 1930s. The museum explored mining development and Mount Isa lifestyles, which centre on the mining industry. Life was certainly hard as mining was all manual with pick, shovel and bucket. These days it's still hard, although done with machinery. The museum also houses the Rex Pickerd Gem Collection, a comprehensive collection of mostly Australian semi-precious gems and minerals.
This small metal boat was fashioned from an old World War II aircraft fuselage. Outside the Museum is the Outback Park with a small lake and native plants. The plants are all named and many of them are edible bush tucker.
The Riversleigh Fossil Museum is also attached to the Information Centre. There are several dioramas depicting now extinct mammals, macrofauna and other animals which inhabited the area some 15,000 years ago. Rich fossil deposits of these animals have been found in the Riversleigh area, a few hours drive from Mount Isa. Fossils include meat-eating kangaroos, birds with teeth and land dwelling crocodiles as well as diprotodons and thylacines. There is a fossil processing laboratory attached to the museum.
On our third day in Mount Isa we were at last able to get onto a tour of the Hard Times Mine, a tourist mine which has been established next to the Information Centre to give tourists a "taste" of mining. We donned orange overalls, hard hats, gum boots and helmet lights and defended about 20metres underground to get a feel of the conditions miners work under. Miners may be paid well - they certainly earn it. We experienced the noise, heat, dust, water and mud in this hands-on experience of the day to day activities of mining. We sat in a "safety capsule", used in case of fire, and had coffee in the crib room, where miners retreat to when explosives are fired. Some of our party donned ear muffs and used the air powered drills - the rest of us put our fingers in our ears to take the edge off the noise. The tour took about 2.5 hours and our guide had worked in the mines for over 50 years.
A few kms north of Mount Isa is Lake Moondarra, the city's main water supply and an aquatic playground. The lake was formed when the Leichhardt River was dammed in the 1960s. There are many picnic areas around the lake, no camping though. We spent a pleasant few hours driving around some of the roads just admiring the scenery - from the air conditioned comfort of our car!
The Mount Isa School of the Air has about 160-170 students located up to 500kms radius from Mount Isa. We've visited a few of these schools on our travels and they're all different. Classes are conducted via the internet, up to about 1 hour per day and students have a lot of interaction with their teachers. Gone are the days of pedal radios, today it's all hi-tech.
After 4 nights in Mount Isa we hitched up and drove 120km east to Cloncurry, another mining town and the 2013 Friendliest Town in Queensland winner, where we're spending a few days. About halfway, we passed the turnoff to Mary Kathleen, now a ghost town, but once a great uranium mining town. Some memories of Mary Kathleen are at the museum.
The museum at the Information Centre has comprehensive displays of all facets of Cloncurry history as well as a short movie about the town. Cloncurry was named by Burke and Wills on their fateful major expedition and was once the major town of the area. There is a memorial tree and other information commemorating the Burke and Wills expedition.
Aboriginal artefacts are on display and there is a large collection of gems and minerals.
Cloncurry is still a major transport hub for road and rail. As we're here over the weekend, some attractions are closed. We hope to see the John Flynn Museum before we leave on Monday.
