Monday - 30th July

Left Boulia and travelled further up the single lane Min Min Way towards Mt. Isa.  Almost no traffic encountered along the road until we were not far out of Mt. Isa.  The scenery is stark and beautiful. We started to see some large boulder formations and in some areas they resembled those at the Devil’s Marbles in NT.  Checked in and set up at  the Sunset CP in Mt. Isa before going into town to refill our supplies.  Happy-houred with Ron and Jan, our forum friends.

Tuesday - 31st July

We descended into the underground today with a tour of the “Hard Times Mine”.  We had to don all the requisite mining gear, orange overalls, boots, helmets and mining lamps before descending in the cage to the working levels and trudging through the drives.  The guide, Steve, an ex-miner, was very informative and kept up a constant flow of anecdotes and demonstrations.  We weren’t allowed to take cameras underground so not many photos.  The tour lasted over three hours.  In the evening I went to the lookout above Mt. Isa and watched the sunset over the mining complex.