Alan & Lyn's Huge Adventure: A Glow in the dark

Awake at 7am , before the sun again , we got up at 7:30 , had breakfast and discussed the plans for today . Still waiting for some mail to arrive , I went down and paid for another 3 nights , as I got back to the RV , I received a message on the phone - You have a parcel to pick up at the Post Office - ARGHHHH !!! Anyway , that's it , we've paid till Monday , so we'll stay till Monday morning before heading northwest .
We packed some lunch and went to the post office and got the parcel , and a few other things , before heading off down the highway back toward Cloncurry .
The water watch on the ute was beeping away still , fortunately the replacement probe was now in our possession , so we pulled up out of town and popped the bonnet , then changed it over . We primed the fuel filter and started the ute again - bliss - it had stopped beeping at us !!! It must have been faulty !!!
Cruising down the highway , we took a few mobile photos as we went , the traffic was light , although there seemed to be a lot of road trains - must have been travelling at our speed !!

Before long we had arrived at todays destination - Mary Kathleen - a curious place - there are bitumen roads running all over the place , concrete slabs seemed to litter the place , and it felt a little strange .
Mary Kathleen was a mining lease that was staked in 1954 , there was a good supply of Uranium , then began the mining operation . It lasted 30 years and closed in 1984 , then they sold the land and all the houses & buildings , which were moved to other towns . The owner of the land lets people come in and have a look , you can even free camp here , as long as you take everything you bring in with you when you leave . There were about 30 vans & motorhomes spread around the old township - a lot had parked on the old concrete slabs of the houses .
We followed the road in for quite a way toward the old mine , and found the old treatment plant - not much more than some concrete bunkers with some steel work down below - till we climbed the hill behind and you could see where two tanks had been positioned on the concrete bunkers - must have been where they put the yellowcake into drums / containers . The square holes in the middle of the tanks were well worn , with the large aggregate used in the concrete , highly polished .
The treatment plant was located in a vast wide flat valley , surrounded by hills & mountains .

Back in the ute , we drove around and up to the mine where the uranium ore was dug out of the ground . Parking , we got out and walked up the side of the mine , it was amazing - multiple layers of rock wide enough to drive on , but you could only walk , all different colours in the rock and a pool of green water in the bottom , blue sky above .

We walked half way around the mine , before coming back - what an amazing place !!! Now the fun bit , there was a sign saying - Don't swim in or drink the water , there is a radiation hazard and falling rocks & cliff edges - awesome , we might just glow in the dark tonight !!! Wouldn't have missed it though , well worth the drive !!

We drove back out , and found a shady spot under a tree , thought we might have lunch at the bowling club , but the bistro was closed !! the greens had seen better days as well - what a way to run a club !!!! Had to settle for lunch beside the ute in the shade .

The landscape is barren , tufts of spinifex grass , small appearing dead trees that had some live branches still , wattle trees/shrubs and small gum trees , and lots and lots of rocks .

Back to the Isa and back to the RV , cheese & bickies & beer .

Early tea , and off to the lookout to check out the sunset and the mine lights - quite a spectacle !!