Tuesday 24th June

After a wonderful night at Kynuna, we set off for our day’s destination by way of McKinlay, Cloncurry and finally arriving in Mt. Isa. Our plan changed when we decided to have the night in Kynuna, so we decided to have 3 nights in Mt. Isa.

Not too long after we left Kynuna, we came to the village of McKinlay. It was the pub location for “Crocodile Dundee”. There is not too much else in the village. A few houses, service station and Police Station are what make up the village. Nothing much was open so we could not even have a beer in the pub as it was a little early.

We moved on to Cloncurry and as we moved the scenery changed from flat plains to hilly areas. Cloncurry is not really big but is a well known centre in Queensland. We had our morning coffee in the town and had a bit of a walk around.

After we left Cloncurry, we travelled a short way to the Mary Kathleen uranium mine ruins. We drove in to the area and proceed down the road for some kilometres until the obvious mine sites disappeared. We took a few photos and walked about the area. Then we back tracked on a rough gravel road to the old township where quite a few campers had established themselves on the old house sites. The whole area was extremely dry with not any sign of water anywhere at all. They have had very little rain in this area for some time.

Leaving Mary Kathleen, we rejoined the highway and proceed to Mt. Isa. The scenery changes every moment and even being so dry it creates amazing colours on the hills. As Prue remarked, “The sky is like a pale Sicilian blue”. It is a very different colour and at night the stars are so clear a vivid.

Eventually, we arrived in Mt. Isa and found our Sunset Caravan Park easily in the town and it is really just after the 3^rd set of traffic lights. All the caravan parks are heavily booked. Thankfully, we booked ahead yesterday. When we opened the Karavan, we found we had not secured the fridge door, so almost everything had fallen out. No damage except one broken egg. This was the result of our visit to Mary Kathleen’s great road! We have learnt a little lesson. Check the fridge is secure.

Soon after we were set up and everything was working correctly, I went for a 1 hour ride around the town. I climbed up the lookout hill in my lowest gear as it was really steep. That was really worth the effort. Spoke to a couple from Tweed Heads while I was there.

Tomorrow, after some washing clothes and service on the Bravo and Karavan, we will start our look around Mt. Isa. A little grease for the Karavan suspension and a check over all nuts and bolts.