Up the mountains

 After a late night , we didn't surface till 8am . After breakfast we packed up and hitched up , before saying our goodbyes to Arthur & Alison who were also on their way - they were off to Winton as part of their trip home . We all enjoyed our evening , it was great to catch up with them .
 The water watch in the ute was playing up again , so I rang the guys at AJ Auto's for some advice - before long we were talking to the manufacturer , who is sending a new sensor unit to us .
 We headed off about 10am , finally !! As we got out of town the landscape started to hit us , there were hills , as we drove further there were more hills , then mountains . Every time we came over a rise in the road , the vista in front of us changed , you looked to the side and you could see mountains in the distance , they seemed to overlap each other into the distance - we're not talking high mountains , but mountains all the same . The rocks were all different colours - orange , cream , dark brown & red . This was one of the best drives we've done - the scenery was totally unexpected ( we really didn't know what to expect ) .

 The road took us past Mary Kathleen , now a deserted uranium mine - the township was packed up and moved away when the mine was shut down . The scenery here was also amazing - steep rocky hills /mountains , without a lot of vegetation .

 The country we were driving through was generally uphill , but undulating with sweeping bends & turns . Two power lines followed us most of the way , going up & over the hills or through the gaps between them . The valleys seemed to close up a little with the hills starting to close in , the closer we got to Mt Isa .

 Before much longer , we found our first views of Mt Isa .

 The first things we saw , were the chimney stacks , then the stockpiles of ore . We weren't aware of how much this dominates Mt Isa - when you drive in , its like you've driven into a mine site , and all of a sudden there is a town spreading out in front of the mine .

 We drove around to the Top Tourist Park , to find they were full - they had one powered site for one night only , the non powered sites were all full as well - we rang another park that is situated on the Leichhardt River , and that could accommodate us . We have a site with river frontage !! Pity someone told the river not to show up , it is a dry river bed with much grass & trees growing in it . So our water views are only available when doing the washing up or showering !!!

 Todays map link :-https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.k06UNIsUQg1c&usp=sharing