The previous day in reverse. We had our car serviced in Mount Isa in the morning.

While the car was serviced, we visited Outback at The Isa which has a Riversleigh Fossil display from the time of Australia’s megafauna.

The Centre also displays Mount Isa’s mining heritage.

After the iphone and ipad comes icattle – the latest form of informoo-tion.

The Marsupial Lion greets visitors to the Riversleigh Centre. All the fossil records come from Riversleigh – 250km north of Mount Isa in the Gulf Country.

The skull of a 70kg koala-like creature – ancestor to the dropbears?

Diprotodon teeth

Riversleigh cave interpretive display

Just keep an eye out.

Extreme bushwalking – avoiding the Demon Duck of Doom.

Forest display

Giant goanna of the time – Riversleigh fossils date back to 15 million years ago.

After we collected our car, we drove as close to the mine as we could….

…saw lots of mulla mullas (Ptilotus exultatus) on the egde of town…

…and drove to Lake Moondarra, Mount Isa’s water supply.

Long tailed finches were close to the water’s edge.

Butterflies were active.

Gilbert’s dragon near the lake’s edge.

Green pygmy geese

Yellow throated miner

Grey-fronted honeyeater

Another species of honeyeater

The spectacular Varied lorikeet.

Peacocks were listed in the bird guide for Mount Isa. And they were here in near plague proportions.

View north from the dam wall – the bright green leaves are the Outcrop kurrajong (Brachychiton collinus)

Lake Moondarra from the dam wall

Archer fish

More fish of Lake Moondara

The place seems like an oasis in the arid landscape surrounding it. What could go wrong?

Another check on the trees around the lake before we headed back into town revealed a babbler…

..Spotted bowerbird…

…colourful dragonflies…

…very large spiders…

..and some beautiful hakeas.

There were many of these road signs in the district as many properties adjoining highways are unfenced. They breed the cattle tough in the north-west. In the signs, the cars are upended and the cattle are remarkably unharmed.

Driving back to Cloncurry in magic light.

North-west sunset from Cloncurry Lookout.