The Isa!

Well here we sit in

Mt Isa!!

Well we actually don't do much sitting here I must say!

But I will get to that later!!

We left Kurumba & we were headed to Darwin instead of going the Savannah Way

we decided to go via Mt Isa

as Husband has a friend there & we thought we would call in & say hello on our way!

We drove through Normanton & then on to the Burke & Wills Road House for lunch!

The scenery again ever changing yet ever similar!

I took over the wheel & drove the last 150 kms in to town!!

Now that was a tad bit scary towing the van as the road trains & some of them over

50 meters long come flying past!!

Oh Boy I am Good!

Only one little mistake but we don't need to go there!

Now I have decided I am kicking Mark out of the drivers seat!

As the next thing I will be doing is the

reversing of the van into our caravan park spot!

I am over doing the directing bit!

Because more times than not we end up in an argument!

OK over to the left, no straight back, no over to the right more!

Sheeez!! 

According to you know who!!!
Apparently my directions are very rarely right!

Anyway back to Mount Isa!

Our few day stay has now seen us here for over a month!
Both Mark & I have been inundated with work!
Hence the statement......... "We don't do much sitting here"

Even though the photo below tells another story!

Me zipping around our park where I am now the cleaning lady!

I work 7 days a week & have 2 jobs!! 

The other in the local nursing home!

It is the most work I have done for

Sooooo long!!! 

We have now decided to give Darwin a miss as the temperatures are rising & the wet & cyclone season is about to set in!

Already the temps here in Mt Isa are in the late 30's!!!

So so hot!

We are only staying here till about the middle of December & have now decided to go home for Christmas!

I cant wait to see our family & friends!

We will only be there for about 2 weeks & from there we thought we would head down south & through Victoria & South Oz then back up the centre in say about April / May!

 Well that's the plan even though we really don't do plans!

Now what can I tell you about Mt Isa!

Well it is dry hot & surrounded by mountainous rock as the whole town is set around the mines!

They mine copper silver zinc & lead

The majority of people here work in the mines & reap in the big $$$$$$$

Mt Isa covers an area of over 41,000 Sq Kms

which makes it geographically the largest city in the world!

 With a population of approx 23 thousand people 4,000 of those are indigenous

10,000 male & 9,000 female!

There is an artificial lake about 15 kms out of town

Lake Moondarra which is just a beautiful spot for a picnic or to spend the day on the

lake fishing & relaxing!

Just this weekend they held the annual

 Lake Moondarra Fishing Classic!

It is a competition which ran from Friday to Sunday every year they hold this event

A big tagged Barramundi is released into the lake a few days before & if he is caught

the prize is 45,000 dollars!

As Husband said though they would of fed it before releasing it & it will probably go

into hiding for about a week so the chances of anyone reeling it in would be very slim indeed!

Anyway it is all fun & games & it ads a bit of excitement into the town!

The lake is also Mt Isa main water supply!

We also took a trip out to Mary Kathleen which was in it's day a uranium mine with the

township built around it!

We are not sure why they stopped mining for uranium but the township is now nothing but a ghost town with empty streets & concrete slabs where the miners homes & shops & schools all would of stood proudly back in the boom!

Also out there is an open cut mine with all its terraced levels which

  goes deep into the earths core!

This hole is full of water from the rain & the colour is the most unusual blue you really need to see it! As the photo does not do it justice!
The colour is caused by a chemical reaction from the uranium!

Mt Isa by night!

Mt Isa by day!

Husband forever trying!

Home home on the range.... No make that rocks

                                                                 Outside our Isa Abode!

The closed cemetery because of the destruction from the 50 million bats that decided to reside there!

                                                     Part of husbands contribution to Mt Isa!

Inside our Isa abode!

Happy Hour!

Followed by dinner time!

Now for Some of the local's!

Too cute are our Rock Wallabies!

 Green Frogs everywhere here & they so love the loo's......They make me jump every time I flush!!!

I love cows!

These poor horses do not look healthy!

                   These birds are ugly but cute & very weird they come up to you & beg for food!!

Well that is a bit about Mt Isa!

                                 I really like it here & the people are so so friendly & lovely but
                                                             as the saying goes........
                                                                              It is a

 Great place to visit but

You wouldn't want to live here!!

Well you might but we wouldn't!!

Cheers from the Isa!!!

What a Croc!!!

Now
Seeing as we returned from our

Cape York Trek

without sighting a crocodile in any of our river crossings or rivers!!

 Seriously i thought they would be swimming around everywhere just waiting for us to step into their snapping jaws!

I would of been happy just to have spotted a big one sunning itself on the bank!!

Even though i did see a nose it was just not quite as exciting as seeing the whole big fat rest of him!!!
As i have had this craving for a while now & i was really dying to see one in the flesh!
So we decided the only way was to cheat & head off to
Hartley's Crocodile Farm for the day!

This place was so worth the visit!!

For starters the drive from Cairns to there is so pretty!!
They say
( whoever they are?? )
 That it is the 2nd most pretty drive in Australia!

The first being

The Great Ocean Road!

Hartley's was the first place in Australia to breed Croc's in captivity!

Because of the game shooting of crocodiles that took place in the 1950's & 60's

their decline began & they were in fear of becoming extinct!

Television companies produced many documentaries @ Hartley's which raised public awareness

of their pending demise!

The government declared in 1974 that our Crocodiles were to be protected!

Crocodiles were hunted for their skins & meat!

Yucko i say!

Although a Croc skin hand bag would look good i feel hanging off my arm!

but the only way i could afford one is if i won lotto

as the starting price is

$2,000.00

Hartley's started farming crocs in 1989 therefore saving them from extinction!

They export their skins & meat all over Australia & the world!

We arrived at about 11am paid our admittance fee & in we went

First stop was the souvenir shop they have crocodile belts there which started @ $200.00

no handbags in sight maybe they go straight overseas?

Lot's of lovely crocky things though to browse over or buy as we did!!

From there we headed in to the restaurant as the waft of frying crocodile was

calling us & tempting our taste buds!!.....NOT!!!

Whilst waiting for our tour to begin we decided to have lunch no croc burgers for us

fish & chips sound good!

As we were sitting on the deck which over looks the man made canals & river system

where the crocs just swim up & down in full view!
I stood up & looked over the railing down below

just as i did i thought wouldn't it be funny if there was on under me & well yep there she laid

this giant croc right below my feet!!!

On the boat & our tour guide started the usual spool

One thing though she did say that made me nervous was.........
In the event of the boat sinking don't bother grabbing the life buoy!
Over our eyes went to this
thing that looked like a giant donought!!
Everyone laughed
Bar me!

Fantastic!!
 What a useless piece of equipment that is

just dangle your legs through the hole & snap!

Instant amputation!

Right about now i was ready to disembark!!!

I seriously questioned myself at what i was even doing here

for one i hate boats & for two i am too young to die just yet!

Well

After i composed myself the trip up the river was fantastic & did not disappoint!

The tour guide did the usual dangle the dead chook from a pole trick & wacko
crocs came out of nowhere
some of these were huge & the average age of the biggies was 50 years!

After our river trip we did the farm tour

that was also very interesting the guide went on to tell us how the farm works

The workers at Hartley's go into their croc infested waters & take by hand some of the crocodile eggs from their nests!

 How brave are these people & so dedicated to their job!!!!

Or

Maybe they are really just mad & get off on the adrenalin rush!

Can you imagine how aggro that mother croc would be if she spotted them!!!

Once they extract the eggs they are then incubated & when hatched transferred to big cement pens to grow to a certain size & then killed!

I had to pipe up & ask him how this was done?

With a bullet to the head he said!

It is unbelievable how all these crocs get on so well

 he also told us it is rare for them to fight!

they are so crammed in there & all happy to just crawl & walk over each other & then plop down for a snooze extremely lazy they are!!   

Me getting up close & personal!!                           So brave I was!!!                                            

Even this little fellow had to have his snout muzzled as his snap would break your finger!

**************************************************************************************

As we strolled around the park along the walk ways

 i glanced over & right before our eyes croc's everywhere we could not believe how close we were to these prehistoric mean agressive yet beautiful creatures!!!

Apparently crocodiles are the only 1 of  2 animals in the world that will deliberately hunt humans!

Highly intelligent & very patient creatures they are!

As 

the saying goes though 

"You will never see the one that takes you"

Doo-doo-doo-doo!!!

I thought the other was a shark but as usual i was wrong it is

The

Polar Bear!!

Well that was a great day & fed my cravings well!

Hopefully as we travel more of Australia & head to

The Northern Territory

we may get to see them in the wild!

Till Next Time
Happy Croc Spotting!!

************************************************************

NEWS FLASH!!!

Now please don't faint everyone!

YEEEHAAA!!.....

 I got the Job!!!!

Wacko the didlio

It's off to work i go!

I am Excited!!!! 

Hopin & Wishin & Waitin

Here I sit this morn waiting on a phone call!

 This trip of ours was after all suppose to be a working/holiday

Around Australia

As i have said before though,

work & holiday's just do not go together

but seeing as we are a fair way off retirement age

& are not rolling in $$$$$$

The holiday for the moment is now over &

it's time to get stuck into a bit of work for a couple of months or so

 that way we can put some $$$$$ back in the coffers & then enjoy a couple of months of the holiday part again!!

We really have not worked much 
since leaving home at the end of April this year

Oh!...... Sorry! 

I should re-phrase that

I have not worked much since leaving home in April!
Well really i have only worked once & that was at the
Causeway Kiosk battering my fish!
It's not through lack of trying it is more been bad timing & they
want me for a long time not a short time!!
Anyway enough of my flimsy excuses!!
Mark never has any problems he walks so easily into work!!

One recruitment agency we strolled into recently asked Mark

if he had a resume???? 

I said no dont be silly he is old!!
Poor Husband! 
I also added he has run his own business for the past 30 odd years & has never had the need for one!

This lady continued on....

Well most companies will require one these days!

We walked out of there, looked at each other & said Mmmm
we will cross that bridge when we come to it if need be?

Later that day we drove around town to a new building estate

there were some builders packing up their tools for the day

We stopped & Mark went over & had a mag to them.

 He started work with them a couple of days later!!!

So lucky is he!!

Or is he??

The first day as the new boy on the building block & his

tales went like this.......

 The temp was about 45 in the sun, I was up & down the ladder
all day putting on a roof, I drank 8 litres of water & Gatorade
we had smoko at 9.30 am & get this
that was it for the day!
No more breaks, no lunch break, no toilet breaks nothing!

You have got to be kidding me that is not right I piped up sternly!
Wait he says it gets better!

You couldn't have a toilet break even if you wanted one
they have no toilets on site!

 I said to one of the boys what if you need to go.......He says you drive into town & go to Maccas or Kfc

That is so wrong!!!

These people are really strange!

As far as I am concerned

You Mark Gregory were the best boss ever!!!

At least your guys could do a wee when they needed too!!!
Just this second as i am writing this
Husbands truck pulled up out the front I ran out to him....
Did you tell them to stick it??
Hahaha No.....I have come home to use the toilet!
There are other negatives with this mob but i wont bore or shock you with any more of them!

 As we sat talking the other night i said  
we don't have to stay here you know 
we could always head back home!
I hopefully would get my old job back on a casual basis though & 
you would get heaps of work where you would be able to go to the loo when needed & you could have lunch again that would be fun!
It would be a whole lot more comfortable temperature wise
like 30 odd degrees as opposed to temps in the late 40's!!
We could spend Chrissy with our Family!
Then head off again maybe to Darwin at the end of February when the weather started to get cooler again! 
Too Easy Let's Go!!

After a few minutes of thought
I said what sooks are we running home to the comforts that we
know & love!!!!
(Well it is me really being the only sook here!!)

When the goin' gets tough 
The Gregory's think
Time to Bail!...........NOT!!!
We will not be defeated wow this will be a test!

Summer in the Top End of Australia!
Far away
 from
All Our Family
@
Christmas Time!!!
Mmmmmm
 ??????????Maybe??????????

We have decided to take each day as it comes with no real plan
which is really the way we have been this whole trip!
As you can see
this is obviously why we ended up here at this time
in the hottest part of Australia & it is not even summer time yet!
Oh well....No plan is a good plan
I think???


Now Back to my phone call!

I put my resume in various places around town & yesterday I was lucky enough to have an interview with Blue Nurses working in respite with disabled people.

I thought the interview went really well, but i also thought that when I applied for a job with Blue Nurses in Yeepoon......
Well that was not to be!!

They did not even have the decency of ringing me back!!

Silly Sharon waited on their phone call for 3 days

Until i realised i was a reject!

 I wont be waiting this time for 3 days
I will give it to the end of the day & hopefully
it will bring me good news!!
If not it's time for
Plan B.....Oh that's right we don't have any of those!
Oh well!
 Whatever Will Be Will Be!

Have a Fantastic Day
&
Please Feel Free to Wish me Luck
I think i may need it!!!!