Bike Odyssey
Sydney to Darwin 2001
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| David Linda Bike Odyssey E-Mail: djf01@bikeodyssey.com.au | |
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| Journal for 23-Jul-2001 : Mt Isa |
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| Date: 23/07/2001 (Location=Mt Isa, Dist=0km, Total=2628km) I've been accused of making these scrawlings sound like we are not enjoying the trip. This is not true, we are having a great time every second (OK, almost every second). I think there are a couple reasons: 1) I write these updates in the evenings while totally whacked after a hard days riding. Everything seems so hard, and doesn't reflect the enjoyment during most of the day. 2) Im a cynical old bastard. So here is a bright, happy depiction of the wonderful Mt Isa: Mt Isa is a mining centre that has been digging zinc, copper, lead and silver out of some huge ore bodies for the last seventy years. This is not a dying regional sub-centre, but a thriving community going from strength to strength. It's the first place in more than 2000km of cycling prosperous and fortunate enough to boast a McDonnalds family resteraunt. Isa looks like a modern prosperous town in the east, and a mega high intensity industrial works in the west (downwind) and has a vibrant feel that come s from most of it's 22000 residents being young. There are lots of facilities including a council chambers, a sulphuric acid plant, full size supermarkets, serious underground copper mines, 10 primary and 1 high schools, underground lead zinc and silver mines, an exceptional array of fast and takaway food outlets, more tatoo shops than I could count, fantasic sporting facilities, a copper smelter, a dry river bed, a lookout cum water tower, heaps of workers and other well attended recreation clubs, a lead smelter, a hospital, a huge emissions stack from the lead smelter and a special school for intellectually handicaped children. OK, so I'm a cynical old bastard, but I dont *really* mean it as an insult to Mt Isa is Wollongong without the beaches. For those who have asked, we are continuing our trip to Darwin by bike. We have taken a number extra security precautions which we are not about to publish on the web :-). Because of hardware incompatabiliteis with most advanced telecommunications facilities available at most NT roadhouses (ie we cannot update the site from a pay phone) it is unlikely we will be able to update this magnificient site as often as in the past. Thank you to everyone who has forwarded us messages of encouragement and support. << Prev - Next >> |