What a difference a week makes!

I am back home after a week away in the North West of Queensland where my daughter and her family live. When I left we hadn't had decent rain for quite some time but while I was away it just bucketed down and I awoke this morning to the sound of thunder and lightning. What a contrast to the dry, arid area where the mining town of Mt.Isa is situated!

Although there has been some rain in the North West it is still extremely dry and it is difficult to maintain a garden due to the heat as the daytime temperatures were still hovering around the mid 30s Celsius all week.

 The new home my girl and her husband have bought belonged to friends and there was already an established garden with lots of roses so they have a bit of a learning curve ahead of them as they try to keep them looking healthy in the heat. Of course, being an arid region, the plants that grow up there are often quite different from what we grow here in our temperate region.

As there are many overseas readers who visit my blog I took some photos of sights that are unique to the Outback.

On any given day you can see these tankers...

...or trucks trundling through town. I am certainly glad I don't have to drive such a long load!

 Mount Isa Mines, as I have mentioned before in a previous post, are right on the edge of the CBD. This photo was taken from the CBD and, as you can see, they are within walking distance of the shopping precinct.

Mount Isa hosts an annual Outback Rodeo which is the largest rodeo event in the Southern Hemisphere.

If you are visiting the town and would like to go on a underground tour the Hard Times Mine Tour is extremely interesting ...

 

 Source

 ...and you can even try your hand at using some of the machinery.

At the airport there is a hanger for the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. The RFDS was the dream of Rev. John Flynn. He had a vision to provide medical care for people living in remote areas of Australia and, in 1928 he saw his vision come to fruition. There are now bases in all states of Australia. If locals in Mt.Isa need to see a specialist they are flown to Townsville by the RFDS for treatment. This is a much valued service particularly for those communities living far from capital cities.

I will share some more of my exploits in the Outback during the week. We discovered that the internet connection where my girl lives is absolutely abysmal so I wasn't able to spend much time on the internet before it dropped out. We have had multiple visits to the local Telco with a disappointing outcome which needs to be rectified. It is very difficult to manage in modern society without a reliable internet service as so much business is now conducted online.

Now I have to try and catch up on the blogs I follow and see what everyone else has been up to while I have been away. I hope everyone has had a great week and I look forward to posting more regularly again. Welcome to the new readers who have come across my fledgling blog! I hope you find something of interest here.