Day Forty Nine - August 24th, 2013
Mt Isa

We slept like logs, and let ourselves lie in past 7am for the first time in a while, before gobbling up eggs and mushrooms.

Without an agenda, we decided to explore the town a little and pick up a few necessities. I bought a new chair and towel (after breaking and being stolen respectively) and we grabbed some supplies for lunch. We drove along Rodeo Drive (VERY different from the Beverly Hills version) and popped into a saddlery. Elly salivated over cowboy hats, and I mooned about wishing I had a horse to buy tack for. Unfortunately we have missed the Mt Isa Rodeo (the largest in the Southern Hemisphere) by a few days. We had a look at the show ground which would have been very impressive full of horses and bulls.

Back at the campsite, we met our rather unsavoury new neighbours (real bogans) and decided to retreat to the pool. After a few hours, we took the short drive up to the lookout to have a better view of the city. It is quite expansive, and the mines are huge. Tomorrow we will come at sunset.

Elly settled in to watch the rugby (Wallabies v All Blacks) with Alan (the neighbours on the other side - the Frazers, really lovely lovely people), while I chatted with his wife Ron about careers etc. She gave me some really solid advice about teaching, having been one herself for 35 years.

We had leftovers for supper and chatted until the only lights on the horizon were those illuminating the never ending mines.