Walkabout Day 6 - Cloncurry - Mt. Isa

I have a late start today, not heading out until around 8:15. I get up late and play around with the means of securing my auxiliary fuel can. I don't want the full can resting on the plastic at the end of the bike, which might be damaged by the vibrations, and I don't want it supported by the rack, which is already fully loaded... the fuel tank would be loading it to twice the rated weight. So I position it forward of the bag, squeezing myself forward, held upright by the rack but supported by the seat. I could turn the rack around, but as I said it is heavily loaded and I want it to have more support. It sits about 15mm above the pillion seat at the moment... I'll look for something to squeeze under there so the weight is on the seat, at least partially.

Once satisfied with the setup, I ride to Mt Isa. I am really glad I didn't push on to Mt Isa last night because I would have missed the scenery. It is spectacular! Quite a change from McKinlay to Cloncurry, there are hills and vistas and outcroppings and termite mounds... I can see why the dream time legends spoke of the spirits of the termite mounds being little red devils... They look like they are crouching in the grasses, just the tops of their little red heads poking up.

I can't get a photo that does the scenery justice. I only feel safe pulling over where I can get right off the road... the road trains are often 3 trailers long and I see the last trailer on each sometimes swinging quite wildly, moving half a lane over very quickly. When I overtake, I do it as fast as possible, not wanting to be dawdling alongside the truck.

The adjustments I had made to the fuel can were not secure, and somewhere I lose a strap, so I need a replacement before the can will be secure.

In Mt Isa, I go to the tourist centre and book to go on a tour of an underground mine. Then I get some supplies, spare keys cut, and meet up with Jo's friend Julie and organised to meet up with her when she finishes work. I get some plastic breadboards to go underneath the rack, so the seat will give it some support.

After I used the fuel can, outside Roma, it appears I did not secure the pouring spout properly, and I lost it along the way. I get a length of tubing to use as a siphon instead from Mitre 10, as I found the strong wind near Roma was spraying the petrol everywhere as I poured... I don't think I should try just pouring it straight from the can into the fuel tank.

Lots of thoughts occur to me as I ride, though they are fleeting and yet, I feel, profound directions for my thoughts to take. I wish I had a voice recorder so I could take note of them for reviewing later.

The underground tour is very interesting, I learn a lot about how the process worked in the past, and where it is headed now. Material movement is a lot more dynamic than I had thought, down there.

The lady working at the information centre was very helpful and let me leave my bike bags in their back room during the day and while on the tour. This freed me from worrying about them while I left my bike on the city streets, or in the heat of the day.

After Julie finished work, we meet up and she takes me around town, pointing out areas of interest and explaining the history of different locations, such as the tent houses, which were used to keep cool before air conditioning was invented. They worked by having tent material on the outside, which was kept drenched in water, and the interior kept cool through evaporative cooling. She takes me out of town to a reservoir and forest area. I take lots of photos of landscapes, sunset, peacocks, Brahman cows, but don't get to see any crocodiles sadly... they do populate the reservoir apparently. There were several people out paddling kayaks, so it'd be good feeding, too. She takes me to a lookout, which looks over the whole town and Mt Isa mine, which was fully lit up, and 85 years old, according to the sign on the mine head. There is a sign on the top of the lookout, with directions and distances to many major landmarks, such as Sydney, London, etc. It is cute.

We have dinner, then I hop on my bike and find a motel. I'm not able to get the satellite phone to connect, so I go to the lookout and call San from there. The reception was marginal, and constantly dropping out.. I am not impressed with the satellite phone so far.

I had brought some superglue along with me, in case I needed to reattach anything to the bike. I use this to glue the breadboards together into a stack that will just slide under the rack, and leave it to bond overnight.