We had brekky whilst we watched a massive road train arrive and unload provisions for the road house. We also had company from dozens of cheeky birds that came down to feast near the camper. There were loads of them. They had spotted some rice that came out with our bucket of dish water last night. They were squabbling over it and they were an amazing sight to see. We hit the road about nine. The first section of the drive took us south down to Cloncurry where we joined the Barkly Highway west over to Mount Isa. It was proper outback scenery all the way and the road was very quiet. The weather today had started off nice and sunny but we could see black clouds looming ahead. Just before we stopped for lunch at a rest area not far from Cloncurry it had started spitting. After lunch the rain was torrential on the drive across to Mount Isa. The scenery was stunning with strange rocky formations and would have been even more so if it wasn't for the low lying cloud and the rain. These weren't the best weather conditions for arriving in 'The Isa', the biggest place we'd been to since Cairns. The skyline of the town was dominated by mines and machinery. After all the beautiful and open outback scenery this place was a bit of an eyesore (or isore). 'The Isa' as they call it locally is a big mining town and it had a rather unsettling and 'cowboy town' feel to it. We went to Coles in a shopping centre first of all to stock up on food as this was the first big supermarket we had come across for a few days. The people in there were strange, the strangest folk we have encountered since being in Tasmania. They all seemed to have a mad glare to them. I was also high on caffeine from having a coffee at lunch which seriously didn't help. I normally only have one in the morning and this second one sent me over the edge. I couldn't cope with decisions like which sugar free spread to get, steering the trolley and coping with the natives who all appeared quite scarily American in appearance with big cowboy hats on. It was becoming like a bad episode of Dallas and when we got to the checkout the belt went too fast and the mussels belonging to the lady in front flew off into the air and hit the floor. Jay went to pick them up and got her hands covered in vinegar! We eventually made it safely back to the camper. The next problem was going to be the caravan park. We had looked Mount Isa caravan parks up on Trip Advisor. None of them appeared to be any good but the best of a bad bunch was apparently the Sunset Top Tourist Park. When we got there they were full. We couldn't believe that this place was so busy. Our next choice was Discovery Holiday Parks Mount Isa. I asked Mick (our trusted and extremely talented Tom Tom) to get us there. He took us a strange route through grim and dusty industrial areas and past some scary looking houses. We wondered what on earth he was up to but he did get us to the caravan park. It looked okay from the reception and luckily we got the next to last powered spot available. Now we like quirky and normally the sites with a lot of permanent residents are okay but this place was horrible. We were put at the back of the site next to a tatty ravine and near a load of dilapidated permanent caravans.This place was worst than the caravan park in Canberra that was like a sink estate. We tried to get to sleep later on to the sounds of engine running and revving, blasts from the mine, noises that sounded like gun fire and the sound of some inconsiderate *******s from one of the dilapidated caravans having a loud conversation till almost three in the morning. We couldn't wait for morning to come and to get out of this place.


The Mayor of Mount Isa made national headlines in 2008 when he issued a call for 'beauty disadvantaged' women to consider moving to 'The Isa' to make use of the majority male population!!!