Poison Waterhole

Another view of the waterhole/abandoned mine. This one shows the green-blue of the water much clearer. Copper sulphate is largely responsible for the strong colour.

Old Copper Mine

This is the view into the old open cut copper mine near Mount Isa. It's called poison waterhole. The water is greeny blue from the copper and people jump off this edge into the water about 15m below. That's my foot right on the edge.

Google maps view here

The Earth Opens

And here is the mouth of the cave. Don't get too close to that crumbly edge!
Apparently there are many small bats living in these caves as it provides an ideal shelter and no predators or visitors can disturb them.

Approaching

Finally nearing the mouth of the sinkhole where the cave begins.

Plenty of Car Spaces

This is the car park at the Camooweal caves national park. It's easy to find a space here. You're getting closer to seeing a photo of the caves so you can finally see for yourself.

Google maps view here

ANZAC Day

From the 2007 ANZAC Day ceremony.

Windmill

This old windmill is just out of town on the way to Camooweal. On this day it was slowly turning in the breeze and passing the time. The old driving piston is no longer connected to anything, and so it was doing no work. It makes a very pretty sight however.

(Apologies for the recent absence of posts. I've now gone live on a new ISP.)

Camooweal Caves

This is a close up of the limestone/dolomite rock which the rain has eroded. This is why there are caves in Camooweal. These rocks were on the edge of the large Nowranie cave. The caves are really sinkholes in the ground and require abseiling/ascending gear to enter and exit. Apparently the longer caves extend for many kilometres underground from this entrance.

On the Road Home

This is a view I'll never get tired of. This was taken on the Barkly Highway heading from Camooweal back to Mt Isa. The scenery is brilliantly coloured and the big sky envelopes all. This road used to be known as the worst section of national highway in Queensland. It was single lane bitumen, dirt shoulders, regularly flooded and a difficult drive for a mere 200km. Thankfully it is now upgraded, and as you can see, wide and flat with no potholes in sight. New bridges span all the crossings and there are even pleasant cambers steering you into some of the bends - not that there are many corners to negotiate out here.

Sunrock

And of course, I had to show you a photo of the rock itself. The east rising sun lights this rock up beautifully in the morning.

Dude, where's my car?

An Aussie outback carpark. Sometimes it is hard to find your car for the trees.
This is in a small park halfway from Mount Isa to Cloncurry, called Sunrock.

City Boundary

About 30 km east of town you will pass this sign. Today was the first time I've left town since arriving several months ago, because I stepped over that line.

Universal Nectar

One thing about chain stores is their consistency. Even here in Mt Isa you can buy a jar of R. Stephens leatherwood honey, more than 3600km from it's source.

Big Bugs, little bugs

So Nat'ralists observe, a Flea
Hath smaller Fleas that on him prey,
And these have smaller Fleas to bite' em
And so proceed ad infinitum.
(Johnathan Swift, 1773)

Photographic evidence, 2007.

Moon

The lunar disc. As opposed to the compact disc which many people have walked all over. The night sky in Mount Isa is very dark, you need not go far to get clear dark skies. In fact this was from my backyard. With good equipment and a small telescope the night sky can become a photographer's playground.

Alien Landscape

A large meteorite impact last night left a large crater in the ground near the mine. This photo was taken as I was halfway up the crater wall. No really, this is just a pile of rock from the mine. (Yes, it's April today)