After homework the next morning, we headed into Cloncurry on our way to Mount Isa. A small town, we spent some time shopping, including a lunch visit to the local bakery. Joe also bought his first yabbie trap in hope to catch some dinner.

 On our way to Mount Isa, we realised that we had miss-calculated and were pushing it very close to running out of diesel. Let’s just say that we now know that our car can travel 8km on a zero range-something we don’t want to test again! All part of the adventure! It must have been Mel’s wonderful driving that got us into the petrol station safely.

At Isa, we checked into the Sunset Tourist Park and decided we would stay for 3 nights. The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming, washing the caravan (baked on mud from the Kennedy Development Road!) and cooking a delicious roast.

The following day, we left the park early and heading into Outback at Isa. Joe and Zach had booked into the Hard Times Mine Tour. They got all dressed up in their mining gear and headed off with their tour to discover mining life. They both had a wonderful time and particularly enjoyed going down the shaft, having a go at drilling and using the various mining tools. Meanwhile, Melinda, Joshua and Kaytlin enjoyed venturing around Outback at Isa. Joshua and Kaytlin spent lots of time digging for dinosaur bones and also enjoyed exploring the outdoor park. They also toured the Riversleigh display and learnt more about what life in the region used to be like.

That afternoon, we went driving around the main Mount Isa mine site. We were amazed with how large the site was, as well as its close proximity to the town. Surprisingly enough, we found Isa to be quite a clean town, despite the smoke from the neighbouring mine. In our travels around the mine, we came across a water park, which we found out was called ‘Family Fun Park’. Indeed, it was a wonderful site with a huge array of playground equipment, bbq’s, bike track and of course, the water park. The kids were very excited, so we went back to the park to pick up our swimmers and had a wonderful afternoon. Believe it or not, they were actually quite intrigued by the toilets- a fully automated system- yes- right down to the toilet paper! Of course, the orchestral music that commenced when you first opened the door was a lovely touch too! Upon dusk, we left the park and headed up to the lookout. We got some wonderful pictures as the sun was setting, especially with the mine in the background.

The following morning, we headed to the underground hospital and joined a tour. The hospital was built during WWII after the Japanese bombed Darwin. As Mount Isa was the closest major town to Darwin, it was believed that Isa may very well be next on the hit list. The miners would work a full day in the mines and then come across to help build the tunnels for the hospital. Fortunately, the hospital was never used for its intended purpose.  It was amazing to tour and imagine how people would have felt should the need to use it had arisen. The cottage had a large collection of old hospital instruments and we were all quite fascinated by the items on display.

After packing up the following morning, we decided to head back to the Family Fun Park for a morning play and early bbq lunch. The kids just loved this place and we indeed felt it was one of the best we had seen in our travels so far. We also stopped in at the Tent House, which was part of the original tent city from the early mining days. It was quite interesting to see and we were able to peek through the windows, although it was not open for tours.

We then headed west towards the Northern Territory border.