Mt. Isa to Tennant Creek

June 8 to June 16

Clem Walton Park at the Corella Dam was very relaxing, and we spent Wednesday and Thursday nights here. 60km from both Mt Isa and Cloncurry and well off the highway. There were plenty of walks around the lake, and supposedly red claw crayfish in the dam. I found this out on the second day (I have yabbie pots in the motorhome), although no one seemed to be catching any. Apparently the turtles are prolific and tear your pots apart. I didn’t sacrifice my pots on that advice.

Friday morning we left for Mt Isa. It was interesting to see the landscape change from the red/black clay plains to rocky hills as we approached Mt Isa. I spent two years living in Mt Isa around the 3-5 year old mark, but don’t have any strong memories. I have also been back since then on Nalco mining business, but that was 20 years ago. We decided to stop for three nights (Fri, Sat, Sun) as we had plenty of domestic chores to do as well as being tourists. The lookout was a good place to start for morning coffee, before deciding on a caravan park about 1.5km from town.

On Saturday we did a guided (bus) surface tour of the mine and greater Mt Isa. This gave us a good look at the scale of the mine site and informative background on the operations and the town itself. We also did a tour of the underground hospital. Built during WW2 but neglected after, the hospital has recently been restored by a dedicated group of volunteers. They have an impressive collection of war era medical equipment and memorabilia, and also a typical “tent house” restored and on display. The Tent House was a popular house design when Mt Isa began growing due to its minimal construction material and cooling features in summer.

Another Picturesque Coffee Stop, Lake Moondarra

Sunday was surprisingly cold, about 22⁰C but much colder with wind chill! We did some walks around Mt Isa and more chores (it’s amazing how much paperwork and computer work still needs to be done) so we would be ready for departing Monday morning.

We packed up fairly early Monday and stocked up on groceries and fuel before heading to Lake Moondarra (about 20km out of Mt Isa). Planning on just having morning coffee there, we ended up staying for lunch as well, as there were interesting walks and things to see. Monday afternoon we stopped at the WW2 Airfield rest area about 130km before Camooweal. There was a lot of infrastructure build in the area (roads, airfields) to support the Second World War effort, and this overnight rest area has a commemorative display detailing some of the work done.

Lake Moondarra

We stopped here overnight then headed to Camooweal Tuesday morning. It’s interesting that Camooweal is still in the Mt Isa City Council region, therefore Camooweal is a suburb of Mt Isa, and the Barkly Highway is deemed the world’s longest Main Street at 188 kilometres long!

We are back to red dirt plains with plenty of termite mounds, and nothing else until Camooweal. I don’t think I have mentioned the road trains yet, these 53 metre long (half a football field long, pulling three or four trailers) road transport behemoths. You hear bad stories of near misses and threatening driving, but I have to say we haven’t come across any misbehaving yet, all have been courteous and travelling at or below the speed limit.

Camooweal Drovers Camp Museum

Camooweal is a small town of 300 people, and it was the drovers’ capital of Queensland in the past. Every year they hold the Drovers Reunion in August. We visited the Drovers Camp Museum, where locals are trying to collect and display memorabilia of a bygone era to keep the legends alive. The guide was a dinky di drover, I’d love any international visitor try to understand his fast and rambling Australiana speech. A truly fascinating insight into the hardships endured and grit displayed by the early drovers.

Another Typical Overnight Stop

We stayed Tuesday night on the Georgina River in a free camp just outside of Camooweal. Wednesday morning it was into the Northern Territory, driving our own Route 66 (no, seriously, that’s what it’s called from Camooweal to the Stuart Highway). We thought it was isolated through outback QLD! 260km and we come to the Barkly Homestead, the only fuel/food/toilet stop for another 200km before you reach the Stuart Highway. We only travelled another 130km and stopped at the 41 Mile Bore (no longer a bore) for the night. It reached 31⁰C and was still mid 20’s overnight.

Thursday morning we drove the last 100km into Tennant Creek.