A slower day today with 122km to Mount Isa.

Yoda’s favourite bakery in Cloncurry.

Cloncurry is a beef and mining town. There are 11 working mines in the area.

Original QANTAS hanger at Cloncurry airport

On the road out to the airport there were a couple of corellas.

At the Cloncurry River, three founders of QANTAS met here when one had a broken axle and hatched the plan to create an airline complany.

Cloncurry River

Little egret

This wattle was widespread from Cloncurry to Mount Isa.

Chinaman Creek Lookout with views over Cloncurry.

Chinaman Creek Dam

Grebe at Chinaman Creek Dam

Dragonfly

Rainbow bee-eater

Water-lily

Grey shrike-thrush

Restless flycatcher

Diamond dove

Hey-ey-ey, Good old Eagle Rock is here to stay, I’m just crazy ’bout the way we move, Doin’ the Eagle Rock (Daddy Cool from 1971). Wedge-tailed eagle statue on Chinaman Creek Dam road…..

… and the real thing.

Burke and Wills Memorial – only missed them by 163 years. The pillar had mineral ores in its construction.

Cloncurry to Mount Isa highway

Corella Dam was the water supply for Mary Kathleen – once a uranium mine with a toxic blue lake and associated ghost town. We gave it a miss today so our only glow will be sweat from the hot north-west – 30 degrees today in the middle of winter. We did see some mootants in the nearby scrub.

Corella Dam had few birds on this part of the lake as the grey nomads were there en mass. One resident was sitting beside this lake in the middle of nowhere to relax…..with a 100 decibel generator rumbling away beside them.

We did manage to see:

…a Black-fronted dotterel…

and several Darters.

View across the lake.

In the bush beyond the camping area away from the lake were…

…nesting Whistling kites and….

…nesting budgerigars.

Away from the main free camps at the edge of a quieter part of the lake was a Great egret…

…and a Spotted bowerbird.

The access road into Corella Dam had ….

…white plumed honeyeaters….

…this bush bird….

…and more budgies feeding on the roadside grasses.

We were excited to find a new Brachychiton to us – Brachychiton collinus which occurs from Cloncurry to Mount Isa and into the Northern Territory.

We arrived in Mount Isa and went to the town lookout to see the Mt Isa Mines operation from a distance. Mount Isa Mines began production in 1931 and for a brief time was the biggest company in Australia. Copper, zinc and silver are mainly mined here with cadmium, lead and arsenic also found in the rich ore.

Casa Grande – house fit for a queen! Well at least it was in 1970 where the late Queen Elizabeth stayed when she visited the city and mine. The Queen was very empressed with the area. On the mine tour, Prince Phillip did the underground tour but the Queen declined and said she would take a reign check and stayed on the surface.

The Big Barrell at The Irish Club at Happy Valley.

City Lookout at night with the Mount Isa Mines stack looming over the city.