(stuff I
wanted to say but its not enough for a full post)
The Ghost Town
of Mary Kathleen (abandoned Uranium mine)
Situated
between Mt Isa and Cloncurry,
Queensland, on the Barkly Hwy.
What a strange
place. It makes you want to dig and find out what in the world happened. I keep
getting flashes of the Pelican Brief in my mind. But, I ask Gail (of the
Information Center of Cloncurry, the
closest town) and its all rather above board. End of my little drama session of
being an investigative journalist.
Gail said it’s the typical story of mine towns.
They find something worth mining, they dig, fulfil a contract, and close. The
towns open and close overnight. There
was a glut in the market at the time, and the uranium found in Mary Kathleen wasn’t
at a high grade, so there wasn’t any market for
it.
Mary Kathleen
was 1000 people strong just twenty years ago. Now its an eerie set of roads
with concrete slabs at the end of drive ways and encroaching grass. The town is
on private property, managed by ‘Rosebud’.
There were five vehicles driving around the place while we were there.
Feral cats!
Can you
believe it? There are cats out here. We saw them at night, on the road, and
there’s not a house in sight. Feral and killing native wild life. Iiiiik.
Katherine School of the Air
Katherine, NT
Cost - $5
each, $2 for children
After a brief
introductory talk, we watched an old video of the school. It was interesting to
see the classes in action. I liked viewing some of the school work displayed.
There were souvenirs to commemorate your visit. I’m not sure what I expected,
but I was a bit disappointed in it. The people were informative. Just, I didn’t
get any special feel for the place.
Travelling for
two months
We’ve met
people travelling for years. Two months is nothing, they tell us. You can’t see
anything. And it seems to be true.
Everyone you
meet is an adventurer. There are hundreds of stories. I’d like to sit and talk
to them and write about them. (Imagine another ten posts a week to read????)
They have
alternative lifestyles, different concerns, stories you can only marvel at.
Cheers to nomadic life!
Mary River
National Park (proposed)
West of Kakadu, NT
I warned the
next people to arrive not to go on the walk. There were a retired couple from Canberra out here for the
bird watching.
Yes, its
pretty and has lots of good stuff to see, but the problem again, for me, is in
the label. Nitmiluk National Park was more like a tourist resort area,
and its exactly the opposite with Mary
River National
Park with the tiny letters ‘proposed’ added.
Well, we went
on a walk… and happily we survived it. Honestly, we were under prepared. We’ve
been in dozens of national parks. We are not, by any means, unseasoned. But the
walk, ‘bird billabong’, was totally overgrown, and practically impassable in
places. The bridges were broken. Trees
fallen over the track. There were pot holes. We had to cross the billabong,
after witnessing a crocodile jump out of the water to announce his presence. Ok,
so it was just a little ‘un, but we still had to cross WATER, in croc area, to
get around, OR, face the prickly overgrown bush.
Poor Jett was
wilting. It said it was one and half hours walk, but that was probably when the
path was first cut. We had to push through it like the doomed Bourke and Wills.
I’m exaggerating, but it wasn’t what we expected.
(Let me repeat
that it was pretty and unspoilt!! Just be prepared!)
Say hello to
everyone – this comes in variations.
‘hey’
‘hi’
‘owsitgoin’
‘ello’
(We just met a
group of people from around the world on a bus tour around Aus. They looked
sullen and didn’t greet us, even after we said ‘hello’. This hasn’t happened to
in the four weeks we’ve been away. The tour
operator explained it was their first day, and they’d get used to us Aussies by
the time their trip was finished.)
Use the local
libraries! For children, they can have a look at the books while you do a
little reading in air conditioned comfort, or check your e mail. Librarians are notorious for having uncanny
knowledge about many things, so you never know, til you ask. Three cheers for local libraries. They are
another GREAT positive for our society.
The pilates
inspired roll down has been SO helpful for sleeping on unusual surfaces! I do it every day.
