Slept a lot better last night. Although I woke up at 4:52am and had some trouble getting back to sleep. I dreamt that straight after this trip I got off a plane in Sydney, then met Fran and we we had to rush to the next plane to go to America! Made it just in time. Had seats down the back of the plane. I thought they were aisle and middle seats, but the plane tapered right in at the back so I was near a window. I said I hadn't done any research for a trip to America so it was all going to have to be planned when we got there. Weird :)
Breakfast was pretty average this morning.
We spent the morning at the Hard Times mine, a tourist mine they've built in the middle of town. It's a bit disappointing that you can't see a "real" mine in Mount Isa, but for this one they've brought in a lot of actual equipment (older stuff of course) and some of the machinery still works and makes a lot of noise when they run it! Also, it means all the bits and pieces are quite close together so you don't have to walk too far to see everything. So it was a pretty cool tour.
Outback at Isa
Me and Mum dressed up to go into the Hard Times Mine
Afterwards we had a bit of a wander through the museum there, and the Riversleigh museum made me all nostalgic for uni after watching a video of Mike Archer's work there. I realised tonight that I probably only recently threw out all my first year biology notes, including lecture timetables where I could have told you the first time I heard him talk.
BUK drill rig (approximately 60 years old)
Refined copper products
Riversleigh laboratory setup
Palorchestes large marsupial
Thylacine jaw bones
Platypus skulls
Fossils at Riversleigh Fossil Centre
20 million year old turtle shell fossil
Flightless bird bone fossils from D site at Riversleigh
Had some lunch (Subway platters, although no proper pizza subs) in the botanical park out the back.
Pond at the back of Outback at Isa where we had lunch
Pond at the back of Outback at Isa where we had lunch
Photo by Mum
Pandanas tree trunks at Outback at Isa
Waterfall in the pond at Outback at Isa
Mulla mulla flowers aka pussy cat tail
After lunch we got taken up to the lookout again.
City direction and distance signpost
Mt Isa from the lookout
Hard Times Mine from the lookout
Mines of Mt Isa from the lookout
Kite over Mt Isa
Then drove through the site of the main mine, and out to the power station that one of the guys on the tour had a part in building? Or working on in some capacity? Something like that.
Chimney stack at Mt Isa Mines
Truck wetting down the road at Mt Isa Mines
Pit and mines at Mount Isa Mines
Pit at Mount Isa Mines
Mineshaft head at Mount Isa Mines
Dug out cliffs at Mount Isa Mines
Chimney stack at Mt Isa Mines
Pit and mines at Mount Isa Mines
Processing equipment at Mount Isa Mines
Mica Creek Power Station
Diamantina Power Station
Mineshaft head at Mount Isa Mines
And finally up to Moondarra Dam (which is *very* low at the moment).
Lake Moondarra
Lake Moondarra
Lake Moondarra
Moondarra Dam
Lake Moondarra
Photo by Mum
Lake Moondarra
Moondarra Dam
Moondarra Dam
Came back and after a quick wander (nothing is open on a Sunday here except a couple of things like Coffee Club and the bottle-o) we came back to the hotel. We were going to go for another wander but the museum we wanted to see was by appointment only and I was feeling pretty worn out, so I just stayed here and did computer stuff.
Went downstairs for dinner again. I had some "shrimp" for entrée, which were quite tasty, veal for mains, which was beautiful and tender, and chocolate mousse for dinner, which was lovely as well.
Then back up to use up the remainder of the wifi time limit.
Oh, we heard both the 8am and 8pm blasts today too.
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