Sunday, 13 October 2024
Last night we spent some time on the verandah watching mother nature’s light show. The lightning was lighting up the whole sky lavender which was impressive and there was quite a bit of fork lightning too. We suspect that last night’s rodeo was probably abandoned due to the weather. It was OK watching from the safety of the verandah but would not want to have been out in it!
It rained off and on overnight but just regular rainfall, nothing monsoonal. By this morning it had stopped raining, but the sky was cloudy rather than the brilliant, clear blue that we have been seeing day after day. Before we left our room, I said I thought is sounded like there was still thunder but Bernie tried to convince me that it was the housekeeping trolley rumbling along the verandah. Ahem, when we left our room it became clear that there WAS still thunder rolling over the city.
Optimistically we drove in towards Isa Square planning to check out the monthly community market that is held on the second Sunday of every month. We arrived on Simpson Street near the Post Office but … there was nothing going on. A quick internet search directed us to their FB page where it was announced three hours ago that the market had been cancelled due to the rain. Too much rain, even for potatoes the local market weather reporter had declared. Boo!
With an hour to fill in until our Hard Times Mine Tour we set off to find Captain James Cook Park since I am a little obsessed with the idea of finding Captain Cook references wherever they may be. Mount Isa is certainly a long way from the sea for a park named for the great navigator and cartographer, Captain Cook. We found a lovely rectangular playing field with a sign on the corner depicting a silhouette of a three masted bark and naming the field Captain James Cook Park.
We were still very early for our mine tour but decided to head to Outback at Isa anyway. As it turned out we were able to go into the Isa Experience Heritage Display Museum while we waited for 10.00am to roll around. The museum has extensive displays ranging from indigenous artifacts and cultural interpretation, tributes to all those who participate in rodeos, mining, of course, together with stories about the people who came to the outback to bring the wealth out of the ground.
Mount Isa Mines commenced operation in 1924 and remains one of Australia’s largest industrial complexes, operating two separate mining and processing streams, copper and zinc-lead-silver. Between 2003 and 2013 Xstrata plc operated the mine with Glencore, one of the world’s largest diversified natural resource companies, taking over in 2013. The mine employs more than 3,200 employees and contractors has invested more than $35 million into the regional community since 2004 and spent more than $500 million on the environment in the last 20 years.
At 10.00am we gathered in the foyer where we were told that the guide had not turned up BUT another guide had been contacted to fill in and he would arrive soon. If the timing was going to be a problem for us, we were offered refunds, but everyone was able to stay to commence the tour a bit late and … finish a bit late.
Eventually our fill-in guide, Ian, arrived and our tour was able to start. We started in the museum where Ian provided us with much more information about the mining exhibits than what was on the interpretative boards. It’s always much more informative to be told the history by someone who has been involved in the history.
Around the corner it was time for us to be kitted out for the underground part of the tour. Lovely orange overalls and matching orange hard hats. After going into the Ladies or the Gents to don our delightful overalls we met Ian at the boot rack to choose rubber boots in our size. All of us looking like we were born to mine we followed Ian out into the yard. In the winder shed we were issued with headlights for our helmets and our ID tags were handed out. The first name called was Tracey and two of us put our hand up. The tag was given to the other Tracy who promptly announced that this was not her tag because Tracey wasn’t spelled correctly. Ha, ha, that tag was mine and of course it was spelled just the way it should be!
Ian walked us across to the head shaft and took everyone’s photograph in front of the lift doors before splitting the group in half to ferry us down into the mine. The mine that we were taken into is a huge mock-up. In 2001 the mining company stopped taking tourists on tours of the actual mine. Recognising the loss that this was to tourism the mayor at the time set in train a project to recreate a section of mine specifically for tourists to visit.
From the lift we rode the 1960s Gemco Electric Mule to the Crib Room. From the Crib Room Ian walked us around several tunnels to talk about different work areas i.e. drilling to extract ore and drilling to create access infrastructure and ventilation. Ear plugs were handed out and we each had a turn at ‘operating’ a pneumatic drill. Just hanging onto it with Ian as we inserted it into a pre-drilled hole was enough for me. Cannot imaging doing that for a whole shift! Ian also demonstrated a little front-end loader that was used for mucking out.
The whole tour was very interesting, especially when you know that it has been purpose built to give tourists a realistic mining experience. It’s a real testament to former mayor, Ron McCullogh’s vision, the generosity of the mining company making donations of machinery and infrastructure and the countless hours of voluntary labour invested in digging out nearly two kilometres of ‘mine’ for tourists.
Back in the Crib Room we enjoyed a snack of locally made vegetable pastries and tea and coffee for those who wanted it. Ian talked us through a few more mineral samples and then it was time to blast the workfaces. A simulation of course so the sound recording might have been authentic, but we missed out on the percussive impact that simultaneous blasting across several levels would actually create. Oh, and the dust, we missed out on the dust thank goodness.
To return to the surface we rode in the back of a Landcruiser ute. Hmmn, Cathy, Steve and I were seated troop carrier style in the tray, Bernie scored a seat in the cab and two brave members of our group rode on the back step. As I write this, I am questioning the OH&S aspects of letting tourists ride on the back step. Bernie tells me that one of them is a firey so quite sure that he is used to riding around on the running board of trucks! Anyway, everyone made it back topside without any accidents.
On our way out we collected our photo which was included in the price of the tour. Better than Dreamworld where your ride photo costs extra! The Outback at Isa Café was still open at 1.15pm so we thought it best to eat there again rather than try to find another café that might be open on a Sunday. I’m not sure that we ‘needed’ lunch after our snack underground but with it still a long time until dinner we all had second lunch??!
With the weather remaining fine we drove out to Lake Moondarra which is 17 kilometres north of the city centre. The dam was completed in 1957 by damming the Leichhardt River 3.2 kilometres below Mount Isa to ensure a water supply for the township and Mount Isa Mines Limited. The road is sealed all the way so it’s an easy drive for tourists and locals alike to check out the picturesque shoreline or enjoy some swimming, boating or canoeing. The lake is also stocked with barramundi for those inclined to try a bit of fishing.
We drove to the Lake Moondarra Lookout for some outstanding views east over the Selwyn Ranges and west over the lake. If you are by the sea and there is a jetty it’s mandatory to amble out and back again. When you are at a dam wall it’s mandatory to walk across it, so we walked over the dam wall – only 250 metres – and back again. We watched the speedboats out on the lake and saw some of the birds that inhabit the area. There was a bird watchers’ info board with dozens of birds shown on it. We observed but a few. More kites, a couple of pelicans and a couple of white birds (herons? brolgas? they were a long way away) and a great flock of black birds (ducks? coots?) that were constantly wheeling across the surface of the lake due to being disturbed by the watercraft. From the lookout we made our way along the shoreline drive and then back to Mount Isa to relax in our air-conditioned rooms for the rest of the afternoon.
Ha, tonight we went to the rodeo but that would be the Rodeo Bar & Grill at the Hotel Isa. There are not many eating venues open on a Sunday night in Mount Isa. We drove back to the motel to collect a camera to drive up to the City Lookout for the nighttime view. We had been told that the mine looks prettier at night when it is all lit up. At the lookout were some photography/astronomy nerds who were excited about trying to view Comet C/2023 A3 (aka Tsuchinshan- ATLAS) which was last this close to earth 80,000 years ago. Unfortunately, it makes its appearance (since Friday night for a few nights) very close to the horizon and tonight there was a band of low cloud on the horizon.
Tcht, last night a thunderstorm, tonight cloud. Now that we know about this astrological event, we’ll check the western horizon again around sunset tomorrow night in Karumba. It might be easier to view in Karumba with less light pollution?? Trying to spot a comet on the horizon across all the lights of the mine was always going to be challenging cloud or no cloud.
