Distance travelled: 467 kms
Cumulative distance: 2563 kms
A few observations:
-The weather is fine and sunny around 31C.
-The roads are in amazingly good nick considering most of them were under water a week ago.
- The group have settled in and the cliques that formed in the first few days have disappeared. Everybody is mixing well.
Today was a relatively short route, only 467 kms so after breakfast we left at a leisurely pace. Most of the route was flat and uninteresting so we pushed the speed limit of 110 kph a bit. There were a couple of kilometres of road being completely relaid. They made a temporary road alongside it with a 60 kph speed limit as it was a bit unstable. Apart from that the road surface was pretty good. At McKinlay about 30 kms from Mt. Isa there is a pub called "Crocodile Dundee's". It was suposedly used in the film of the same name. Colin and I saw it when we were heading for Winton in 2014. A bit "vin ordinaire".
The route from Cloncurry to Mt Isa passed through some hilly country which was a change from the flat country we'd just been through.
I arrived at the accommodation first and booked into my room. It is used to house miners from the local Mt. Isa Mines. It is fairly basic but functional with each unit having its own "facilities".
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| The view of Mt. Isa from the hills outside. |
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| This is the "hilly" country coming into Mt. Isa. |
We had drinks and nibbles in the Barbcue area. Dinner and breakfast are provided in the canteen. All you can eat!!! I did a quick inspection of my bike and found a small oil leak. I think it was coming from the oil filter so I gave it another turn to sealed better. One of the Goldwing riders, Wayne, lost his wallet on the way from Cloncurry to Mt. Isa. It must have fallen out of a "glove box" that flew open whilst he was riding along. He just slammed it shut and didn't notice anything falling out. He retraced his route but unfortunately didn't find it. He has reported it to the police so hopefully some good samaritan will find it and hand it in.
Dinner was not exactly "Haute Cuisine" .,, just plain canteen food. All the miners were in from their shift so it was pretty busy.
Another big one tomorrow, 660 kms to Tennant Creek.
