Day 156 - The Burke and Wills Roadhouse

Hi Everyone, I hope all is well. For me, I've moved on from Mt Isa and the rodeo, and am now staying at a Roadhouse, called Burke and Wills, which is the only building in town. A very quiet place, but at least there's a few caravans around.

So before leaving Mt Isa, I did the right thing, and put my vote in. Guess what, in the senate, you can vote from the Australian Sex Party. What the hell is that? I voted for the Shooters and Fishers party instead.

When I got to Cloncurry, I stopped for lunch and a little look around. Does anyone know why Cloncurry is famous?? Let me give you a hint, it has something to do with the $20 bill. John Flynn, created the Flying Doctors service from here, and as a reward was placed on the $20. So I went to the museum that's set up here, which showed all the processes and difficulties he went through to get it working.

So now I'm in B&W, with the main sound the Bower Birds flying and screetching around town. I'm off to Normanton tomorrow, then Karumba, and will hopefully get a chance to catch a Barra along the way.

Catch ya

Day 155 - Mt Isa, part 2

OK, for starters, I didn't wake up feeling too bad, but then again, I didn't feel that great either. Once I managed to get myself out of my room, right on 10am, which is unlike me, I went for a walk to clear myself up. I found a place to have breaky, which was really full, and it wasn't long before I was chatting away with a girl, who was part of one of the bands that played in town last night. It was lovely to have this chat, and sad when all her friends turned up.

Anyway, with a full stomach, and feeling much better, I headed in to town and went to the Underground Hospital. OK, in WW11 the people of Mt Isa decided they needed a place to go to if the Japanese attacked here (they never did). So the local miners spent a few weeks digging out a lovely tunnel where the hospital could go to. OK, this is where it goes bad. I went to take photos, and my camera died, and I couldn't fix it.

So I headed off to Harvey Norman, and bought a new one. Ok, it was labelled as $329, for a 12 megapixel camera, but I bargained them down to $285. But when I paid, they only asked for $185. As I said BARGAIN!!!

So with new camera in hand, I headed to the Fossil Centre, to few lots of fossils that have been found in the area. Apparently about 200 new/old animals have been found in this area.

From there I headed to Lake Moondarra, in the search of a Barra. But to no avail, the lake wasn't very nice and I think the fish thought the same thing.

So now, I'm planning for the next week ahead. I don't think I'll be in network range for the next week, as I head up to the Gulf of Carpentaria. I'm very much looking forward to the town of Karumba, just because it's name reminds me of the Simpsons.

Catch you soon.

Day 154 - Yee Ha, it's Rodeo time

Hi Y'all, it's Rodeo time, so strap on ye're chaps, grab your horse and get moving.

Well, almost. So in my travels there's been times when I wish I had've done a bit of research. This is one of them. Yesterday I got told that there was a rodeo on town in Mt Isa, but I don't think I fully understood this one. Apparently this one is the biggest rodeo in the southern hemesphere.

So I drove to Mt Isa, with a bit of nerves, not sure what I was expecting. And after spending time finding the tourist centre and accommodation, I headed in to the rodeo. My first feeling of the place was a small Royal Melbourne Show, with rides at one end, music stands at the other, and show bags being sold. The next thing I noticed was that everyone, except me, was wearing cowboy hats. Very attractive.

So I spent about 4 hours at the rodeo, and saw lots of different activities, like riding bulls and horses, chasing calves and sheep with lasoos, and sprints. Lots of fun, and interesting, in that all the events were done by both men and women. I even managed to see one of the "clowns" get run over by a bull, nothing too bad, but it did stop the activities for a few minutes.

After leaving the rodeo, I headed to the pub, to spend the next 4 hours watching first the rugby union, and the the Collingwood/Geelong game. Both exciting games, but I did end up a little drunk. And what a great result, Pies on top of the ladder, and most likely to stay that way now.

G O P I E S !!!!!