Around Straya
After two days of travelling from Mataranka, stopping at Dunmurra Roadhouse and Barkley Homestead on the way (very hot days), we arrived in the early morning to the Queensland Border and then on to Mt Isa.
We stayed at the SDA church in Mt Isa which was a lovely building with a very small spot to park our caravan. We felt very cosy and well cared for there with a big hall to play in and everything so close by.
We stayed in Mt Isa for five days and the three places of interest we went to see were Mt Isa Underground Hospital, Lake Moondara and Mt Isa Fossil Museum:
Mt Isa Underground Hospital
Mt Isa Underground Hospital was extremely interesting. We learned that the hospital had been thought of by one of the doctors in the town who had learned of what happened in Darwin with the bombing by the Japanese. He did not want to be caught unprepared if there happened to be a Japanese land attack on Mt Isa so he asked for permission by the town and asked for volunteers to help him build the underground hospital. They built it by exploding the mountain and then everyone digging it out after work each day.
Inside the hospital was very dusty and small but it had lots of prepared items. There was a medicine cabinet, a place for people to have babies, a place to have surgery and a section for men and one for women. It was very cool in the hospital and apparently the nurses in the above ground hospital used to sneak in there to sleep during the day after night shift.
They would often do bomb drills and everyone would evacuate from the above ground hospital to the below ground to make sure they knew what to do well.
We also learned that the Japanese had already prepared Australian currency money to use when they invaded and took over Australia.
Lake Moondara
We went to see this Lake on Sabbath afternoon. While we were travelling around it looking for a good spot to park we spotted two fresh water crocodiles swimming in the lake.
There were some beautiful peacocks there which we enjoyed feeding and chasing.
Mt Isa Fossil Museum
In the Mt Isa Fossil Museum we learned that there are a lot of fossils found in Queensland. There were lots of interactive videos that we learned about fossilised Emus and a type of lion that was found in Australia. We also learned that they found Platypus fossils in South America.
There was a lady there sifting through different fossils and putting them under a microscope. She helped us look through the microscope and told us how to identify the bones. Some of them were teeth and some of bat bones. The lady told us that the pretty yellow ones were coloured like that because they had been covered in bat poo.
Skate Park and Pool
We also sent to the skate park and public pools in Mt Isa. While we were there it was pouring with rain but it was still fun because it was hot. There was a beautiful rainbow that we saw.
We had lots of fun on the skate park as well and learned how to skate down really big slopes.
