We woke to the sounds of birds , all sorts , then I spotted these 2 - Harlequin Bronzewings . Never seen them before today , so there's a first for us !
Continuing on we passed through McKinlay , the home to Walkabout Creek Hotel from Crocodile Dundee fame - we were too early for it to be open !
Stopping at Cloncurry to check emails and messages and all the other stuff that comes after a week absent from phone signals . We then headed further toward Mt Isa . The scenery has certainly changed .
Calling in at Burke & Wills Monument and Corella Creek for a break from the road . The creek is nice and clean for a change !
Mud swallows are clever engineers forming their nests from mud - their choice of homesite will also come with a lot of road noise , they're under the bridge !
Onward to Mary Kathleen and the old township . Back in the day Rio Tinto built the town in just over 1 year at the rate of 1 house per day . It was built prior to any uranium being mined , and catered for singles , couple & families . There was a hospital , that delivered 200 babies during it's time . There were also shops , a school , cricket/ footy oval , a 50m swimming pool and a couple of churches . A market garden also supplied some fresh produce , water came from nearby Corella Dam ( a 9klm drive)
We had some interesting cloud formations as well - that's all we got while everyone to the south got some rain & winds .
Not sure how long we were going to stay at the beginning , we unhitched and headed up to the mine site . it's been 7 years since we were here last ! The colours in all the mined material / spoil still show interesting colours .
It's a rugged landscape out here and would have taken some getting used to for all the workers & families .
The pit is still as colourful as it was before , all the colours in the walls .
Blue sky and turquoise water in the pit , then the wall .
A new addition this time , some aerial views .
This one shows the town square and the concrete pads from the shops , behind it is the oval and just behind that is the swimming pool - all filled in of course .
We were where the single mens residences were - and it was a bit quieter there - only about max 9 vans over the days we were there . As you can see from the other photo there's plenty there - at least 70-80 vans every night !!
Corella Dam is 9klms away , so we went down for a look . There had been reports of fish dying there and washing up , making the place smell a bit - we couldn't find any problems , it's another popular campsite with over 40 vans there , next time we'll stay there .
This is the dam wall & spillway .
We ended up staying for 3 nights , for a break from the road . Manged to do some riding of the bikes - nice quiet roads around here 😉
Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1leG0aOTIcfXCJPfB37cIktxSFiisKzw&usp=sharing
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