August 1 Cloncurry

Hot! Hot! Hot! Am I complaining, not really. It’s just strange that yesterday morning we had the heater on before leaving Winton and today we put the fan on while we were having lunch. Yesterday the temperature here was 31 and they were predicting 32 for today. Must be a cold change on the way because the forecast for tomorrow is 28. As you could guess, we’re into shorts and short sleeve shirts!

Yesterday we discovered there was a mine tour scheduled for today but we were too late to book. Fortunately there were two seats left on the bus when I rang first thing this morning. The tour was to Ernest Henry Mine about 40 km north east of here. The mine is owned by Xstrata, the same company that operates in Mt Isa and has been in trouble over lead levels found in local kids.

The company provides the tour “free” of charge to the community with the proceeds actually going to the local tourism organisation. The tour itself was interesting but we had to go through a whole health and safety rigmarole before being allowed to go on the tour of the mine site. It was a bit over the top actually as we had to advise our next of kin contacts, medication and health details and answer safety related questions following a presentation.

The size of the open-cut pit was quite impressive but not on the scale of the Super Pit we saw in Kalgoorlie. The thing that impressed me was that out of 350 000 tonnes of ore they get 100 000 tonnes of copper AND 120 000 ounces of gold. At nearly $1000 an ounce for gold that’s quite a bonanza.

The Cloncurry Merry Muster started tonight with a Mardi Gras and street parade. Mum and I went and had a look – for a small place (4 000 people) it was OK – the kids certainly had a ball! There were lots of aboriginal kids and lots of people in “cowboy” gear (hats, boots, belt buckles etc) but then there’s a rodeo on tomorrow so I guess all the cowboys will really be out in force.