Stayed in Mount Isa for a couple of days awaiting arrival of post from marina. Big mining town but not much here really.  They mine for copper and lead.  Originally open cast now underground.  Here’s more of that gushing smoke tower. 

The wind changed overnight and you could smell the sulphur in the air.  Never saw this tower smoking.

The town (well the mine) celebrated its 90^th anniversary this year (2013).  A lot of the mine is now underground and this is one of the mine shafts.

You can just about make out the depth of one of the unused (now) open cast pits behind the wire fence.

They have so much land in Australia they just dig the holes and pile the rubble up elsewhere.  One mine recently said that it didn’t have enough money to back fill at a new mine, and was requesting money from the government for that purpose.  I’m with the locals ‘don’t dig’.  Think this might be one of the melting pots for the copper.

The other thing that Mount Isa is famous for is their rodeo.  Biggest in Australia with tens of thousands in prize money.

Went to the city look-out. 

Here’s Paul

Here’s me pointing in the direction …….

Of…  Not far to go now !!

What we didn’t appreciate until we came to the look out is that Mount Isa sits on a plain surrounded by hills.  Here’s some of the views from the look out:

Across part of the town

Another straight road.