We’ve hit the prairies! The Nullarbor has nothing on this country – at least there were trees and the occasional elaborately decorated one – here all we get are rolling plains and far too many dead roos being scavenged by the occasional massively winged bird of prey. The road is so flat and scenery unchanging it’s like you’re on a gerbil treadmill never quite seeming to make it anywhere but somehow magically do. As the driver it becomes mind numbing at times – remote, idyll distractions are coveted but often discouraged by my navigator as they are deemed illegal by her driving law-book and often result in severe threats and reverberations. We hit a milestone as we crossed the border of NT into QLD as now we had officially graced each state and one of the territories with the gradually thinning tires of our faithful stead and her homely companion. We were onto the final leg of our arduous long journey. With mixed emotion we sped onto Camooweal – a smallish enclave without much zeal or memorable adherent other than the fact that the local store had adopted a ‘green light’ system of identifying healthy foods. Despite the fact that there weren’t too many items on offer, a number of green signs were posted over foods deemed of sufficient nutritional value to warrant highlighting. Not sure whether it will lead to improved selection and buying practices but I suppose any attempt to curb sustenance from junk foods is worth the effort.
Without much ado, we packed up and were off to Mt Isa in the morning – probably the largest town in the area, well known for its mining and fossils. The massive smelter could be seen a few kilometres from town and no matter how you slice it is truly an eye-sore. We headed into the information centre which just so happened to house the Riverleigh Fossil Museum and laboratory. Not far from Mt Isa lies one of the most fossil-dense limestone deposits in the world housing millions of years of natural history. From massive marsupial bear-like creatures to carnivorous kangaroos and distant croc relatives, the fossilized information is overwhelming. They run a session with the in-house palaeontologist twice daily so we signed up for the arvo session. In the meantime we ventured afield to find the largest kids park in Queensland (if not Australia !!!) It was opened in 2009 so was practically brand new and was phenomenal as kid’s parks go. There were essentially 3 main areas of jungle gym apparatus, tricked up cycling paths complete with jumps, ramps and bumps and two flying foxes. The kids had a ball trying everything and were difficult to tear away for the palaeontology session back at the info centre. We did make it back in the nick of time though and were rapt by the discussion and info provided regarding the nature of the fossils in the area, how they are processed and how the palaeontologist manages to fit these sometimes tiny little puzzles together. Having had our fill of fossils for the day we finished with a short sojourn to Cloncurry – home to the original benefactor of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the Reverend – John Flynn. Whilst in Mt Isa we picked up the latest Top Gear magazine which came with a free DVD so we concluded the evening with a spot of British humour and automotive insight. We rarely get to watch much TV anymore so it was a treat to have a short spell of it over a bag of oranges and mandarins – nothing like a touch of Vitamin C to end the day!
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