From one extreme to the other

When I left Mt.Isa on Tuesday the temperature was due to hit 41C. When I arrived home it was windy and rainy and as I got out of the car I froze! Talk about extremes of temperature. Yesterday the forecast up there was for 41C again and ours was for 17C. :-) Although it is quite cool I know where I would rather live. If my family didn't live up there I wouldn't venture into the Outback at all as it is so dry, hot and dusty.

However, it was lovely seeing them all again. The baby has grown so much as babies tend to do in the first year of life and he has found his legs and is trying to walk after taking his time with bothering to crawl. As all mothers know, once little ones are on the move they tend to pick up every little item left on the floor so mums have to be constantly vigilant making sure the older children have put everything up out of reach.

 The flight up was thankfully uneventful unlike my last trip during the May 1st rain event in SE Queensland. Once we left the lush green areas of the south east the landscape began to change. We flew over what I always thought was the Channel Country but all the searches I have done to find more information about these flood plains that rarely flow say they are in SW Queensland which I don't think is part of the QANTAS route from Brisbane to Mt.Isa. The plane flies near Biloela, Emerald and Longreach which wouldn't be SW Queensland. Perhaps someone who knows more about the Channel Country can clear that up for me.

There are just miles of miles of remote countryside, some of which I believe is prime beef grazing land.

 

When I see these formations I know we are near Mt.Isa and about to descend. 

 The three chimney stacks come into view and from the air you can see how the city has been built right next to the mine. The stacks are on the right of the photo. The window of the plane wasn't very clean so it was hard to get a good photo.

Once on the ground it is always a bit of a shock when you leave the plane as the walk across the tarmac in the searing heat is a tad warm after leaving the coolness of the cabin. In that kind of heat you just move from aircon to aircon and try and stay out of the sun so once my family arrived I hopped in the car and once home we stayed inside until it cooled down somewhat outside. Evaporative cooling systems are used up there in the dry heat and they do a great job. 

I take my hat off to the young mothers who live in the Outback towns as the daily trip to and from school in the searing heat is very uncomfortable especially when they have a baby as well as school aged children. The Prep children have to be walked to their classroom so getting the bub in and out the car often just as he went to sleep was quite stressful. In case you are wondering where the girls' hats are, they stay in the classroom in case the girls forget to bring them. Because of the heat there is a fridge in each classroom where lunches are put on arrival at school.

  The afternoon pick-up was the worst so I looked after the baby at home a couple of times so he could stay in the cool while my daughter picked up the girls from school. He liked playing peekaboo!

Like all grandmothers, I miss them but this year I will get to see them three times as they will be coming down south for Christmas. It will be a long hot trip for them and it will be the first time the baby has travelled so hopefully he takes it in his stride like his sisters did. You have to get used to a lot when you are an 'Outback Kid'.