Thursday 29 October 2015

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'. 




 



24 comments:

  1. I'm glad to see you are back safe and sound Chel, I thought of you every night when I watched the ABC weather and they talked about the terribly high temps in Mt Isa. I have a cousin on a place near Blackall and she posts many pictures on FB showing the dry land. That little man of your's is a cheeky possum isn't he, loves his Nanna too.

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    1. Barb, my daughter rang before and it was 37C at 6.30pm up there and 15C here. She couldn't believe I had a track suit on. I hope the predicted rain falls in the drought areas.

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  2. I'm glad you had a good trip! I think it would be very tough living in the outback. The heat alone is so extreme.
    It is awesome you see them all three times this year. Now to get ready for Christmas!
    Welcome back! xxx

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    1. Yes Annabel, it will be lovely to see them again. The baby will be walking by Christmas I dare say as he is so close now.

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  3. Oh dear, what a welcome home, we sure need the rain but it was strange to be back in slippers and warm clothes again after all our warm weather.

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    1. Margaret, I had to dig out the winter PJs as it has been so cold! LOL!

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  4. Glad you had a wonderful time up there with your family....I was brought up in Mt Isa and I don't think it has changed much at all....Would rather live where we are I love Toowoomba and this rain is a blessing.

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    1. Mandy, I didn't realise you were brought up there. What a place to live! I would rather live in Toowoomba too.

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  5. Love reading about your Grandies Chel, must have been so very lovely to spend some time with them!

    xx

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    1. Emma, it was a lovely time. I hope you have done some packing by now. LOL!

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  6. What a mischievous grin on that little boy!! I have some sympathy for the 'Outback dwellers' as we lived in the Mojave desert for 30 years! We had extreme heat in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. 'Desert Rats' are tough though! ;) Glad you had an uneventful trip this time!

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    1. Wow Kathy, that would have been hot! I hope your leg is healing up now.

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  7. welcome back chel! glad you had a wonderful time & a safe trip!
    we have had some lovely welcomed rain here too, a few storms but all is good, when i was younger the outback is where i wanted to go & live but never got there, i liked the old houses they had out there.
    your grandson is a cheeky cutie too.
    thanx for sharing

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    1. Glad you got some rain too, Selina. It is nice to get the storms but not the damage of the last couple of days in some areas.

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  8. Your writing reminds me of life in Darwin, for the first seven years of my life. ;)

    The heat is the worst. We didn't have the luxury of air conditioning in the classrooms, during the 70's and 80's though. It was fans or nothing. I can remember almost passing out a few times, which must have been a regular thing for kids at schools because the teachers seemed quite used to it.

    Needless to say though, frozen icy-poles made at the school canteen, were given on a regular basis for free. I can remember classes being excused in really bad weather, to go sit under the classrooms (two storeys) and suck on icy-poles. So, not all bad. :)

    Glad you got back safely, and had a good time. My lettuce in the garden has gone mad, with all this rain. I bet your garden is loving it too.

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    1. The classrooms are certainly air-conditioned in Mt.Isa, Chris. I can imagine children fainting if they weren't. My lettuce has gone to seed since I have been away but it is so nice to have the rain.

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  9. Welcome back home Nanna, im not sure i could live in the Outback either but it would have been so lovely catching up with your family, your grandson is adorable xoxo

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    1. Karen, they breed them tough up there. LOL! The girls are used to it as they have never lived anywhere else.

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  10. Ugh, not a place i'd want to live thanks. I love cool, blues and greens. I'm not sure i would even want to visit the outback. Lots and lots of snakes, dust, dirt, brown and occasionally a big rock. Nice sunsets though. Glad you are back.

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  11. Lynda, I didn't see any snakes although I did look out for them. There were lots of geckos. Yes, there is certainly lots of dust up there due to the lack of rain. I certainly wouldn't be visiting the Outback if my family didn't live there. Lots of grey nomads love visiting in winter though as that is the sensible time to travel there.

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  12. We missed you Chel! Welcome back and glad you had a lovey visit with your bubbas. Love, Mimi xxx

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    1. Thanks Mimi. I had a great time catching up with the grandchildren.

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  13. I must say Chel, I don't miss living in all those hot places. My first baby was born in Kununurra in the Kimberley's, where the tarmac used to melt and stick to the pram wheels! We've had the cool snap here on the Sunshine Coast too. I had my corgi, Smudge shaved when it was hot last week - now I've had to sort him out with a little coat as he is shivering. Hot again next week though.

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    1. Hutchy, Kununurra sounds worse than Mt.Isa. At least the tarmac didn't melt as I walking to the plane. It was ONLY 41C though. Still plenty of time to get hotter. LOL!

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