Day 26 - Mt Isa-Bootu Ck

After the cruiser ute was picked up and we loaded Neil's bike into the trailer we set off, Tom going warp 9 after we crossed the border and Neil trundling along feeling faint at watching the fuel gauges on the cruiser go down minute by minute. The new V8 certainly chews the juice with a trailer on, and the shock of going from filling the bike (15l every 300km or so) to the ute (180l every 6-700km) was rude.

The ride / drive across the Barkly is.... exciting. Or not. Very big country, very flat, very burnt at this time of year. We got to three ways and Tom had discovered the effective Vmax of his tyres, warp 9 is apparently not good for the wear on his front, you could almost see it wearing away from one stop to the next.

We turned North at Three Ways and headed to Bootu Ck, a new manganese mine owned by OM. On the road in we dodged a few feral donkeys, then ended up at camp where Rob from ESS had arranged everything for us, BBQ, beds, beer. Not in that order.

Bootu Ck Social Club Gave Us $500

The social club outdid themselves, and contributed $500, with a further $146.50 being raised by donations. Many thanks to Jodie Prime for making that happen. Turns out Neil used to work for the site GM Mark Laing as well, so plenty of time was spent catching up whilst watching the NQ Cowboys.

Rob adds some manganese to the mix while showing us how to smelt steel on a Bunnings BBQ

Day 25 - Century-Mt Isa

Day 25 saw Neil's slightly thrashed BMW back loaded onto a low loader heading out from the minesite, courtesy of Brad and Lisa from NQ Heavy Haulage. The bike was trammed out to Burke and Wills where Neil decided he wanted another crack, so the bike was unloaded and we rode the three hours into Mt Isa. Meanwhile, another cunning plan was hatched, that would enable the trip to go on, and for us to still meet our committments at Bootu Creek and Gove. Neil arranged a 4WD hire in Isa, and a trailer for the bike, there being a considerable question mark hanging over the front brakes, we considered it might possibly be dodgy for the ride into Gove. Unfortunately due to this mishap we missed our mine visit to Birla Mt Gordon, which is a shame after the organising they had done to receive us.

Oversize....

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Century...

OR, "Pride Comes Before The Roadworks"

Tom is asleep, so I will get my version of the story out to the masses before he wakes. Don't beleive a word he types.

Our story begins with us heading from Cloncurry to Burke and Wills Roadhouse, to sample their famous crumbed steak once again. So far, so good. We then bent west along the road to Gregory Downs Roadhouse, past Augustus Downs where my bro used to work... also so good. We then embarked on the last 100km or so of dirt road in to Century Zinc. I was zipping along, eating Tom's dust as usual, when the road turned from a happy road into an angry road. Great piles of gravel loomed threateningly on either side, but the trusty BMW's kept us going through ruts and corrugations. Roadworks ahead, time to back off, thinks I.

Then, I swear, I was hit by a nasty crosswind. Two days before I had giggled into my helmet as I saw Tom slowly blown off the road into a spoon drain, today karma got me.

The sidewind blew my bike about a foot to the right, straight into the windrow of gravel. It chewed me up like an unwanted mintie, and spat the bike out, heading in a different direction to my planned one, and into another windrow. At this point the famous fishtail effect came into play, and I ate it. So far, so bad.

The bike came down mainly on the crash bar, and panniers, and I went face first into the surprisingly soft pile of gravel. No injury, not a scratch - you won't be seeing me today Doctor Dan. The once proud profile of my Beemer is now a sorry sight, minus the nose cone, broken mirror, wrecked handlebar guard, scratches all over the RHS, brake resevior scratched and weeping fluid.... etc.

A bloke pulled up, turns out he knew who we were, had seen us at Dawson mine in Moura. Dammit, the story is out. He lent me some gaffer tape and I set to putting the bike back together, sort of. The bike started - yay. I then rode it rather gingerly the next 40km or so to Century, all intact except pride.

Jodie at Century did a wonderful job organising our stay - we had a band in our honour in the wet mess, and the guys at Century all chipped in, with the evening raising $514 for the RFDS, none of which was spent on airlifting me out thankfully.

Thanks to Jodie and the Century boys and girls, and all who pulled over and resisted laughing at me until they drove away.

Day 23- Cannington- The Isa

Thats what we locals call Mt Isa. We figure we qualify as locals becuase of the amount of local dust we've inhaled recently. After a hearty breakfast at Camp Cannington, we bid farewell to our golf buggy chauffer and made tracks for Mt Isa.

In the Isa we visited the local RFDS base, for a slap up lunch of pizza and drinks organised by Tracey Spicer. We also met with Julia from Incitec Pivot - Phosphate Hill, who presented us with a cheque for the RFDS for $500 - fantastic. We then chatted for a while and met local legend Doctor Dan - if you have been helped by the RFDS in the Isa region chances are it was him. Nice bloke, hope we don't meet him in the back of a plane some day.

After a brief interview with the local paper we made tracks for Cloncurry, in order to get a head start on the run to Century in the morning. Our cunning plan was almost foiled by a lack of ready accommodation - Neil had tears in his eyes at the thought of how long it would take Tom to pack up his tent in the morning, however in the end we found a hotel, checked in, and passed out.

Julie from IPL and Tracey show the lads how it's done

Day 22 - Cannington

Day 22 was planned to be an easy riding day as Cannington was to be visited in the afternoon. Britt and the exploration geo's suggested a route and off Tom and Neil went. First turnoff and we were lost. Three different gates and a track that was suspect. Luckly at that junction a farmer came along and pointed us in the right direction and also opened a couple of gates - Cheers for that! Having lost his new side stand plate the previous day, Neil was now free to open up and see what his bike would do. Tom was also looking to lose side stand extender number 2 and both set a cracking pace across the dirt. No incidents to report but Tom managed to snare some great footage of Neil being chased by a cow! Unfortunately this will have to wait until we sort out the publishing of video thingy.
Arriving at Cannington we checked in and had a golf buggy to carry our stuff from the bikes to our rooms. Tom was not allowed to drive as the locals thought he looked like a mad golf buggy driver and insisted on chaufferring him around. The mine turned on a pretty impressive BBQ and the lads from the HSEC team hooked into cooking and all gathered around for a beer and steaks. A pass around of the hat with those attending resulted in $389.40 being generously donated to the RFDS - pretty good effort for what was a quiet night in the camp.

Day 21 - Osborne

After a pretty handy breaky at the Burke and Wills roadhouse we headed south towards the "curry" with our week fully booked and Osbourne Mine being the first cab off the rank. On our way through we met up with this character riding around Australia on a chinses version of the postie bike called a "Mad Ass". Pretty keen if you like to ride on QLD roads at 70 kph!

Neil checking out the mad ass but not keen to swap!

Following a gee up from a Barrick big wig Britt and the social club had been busily planning for our arrival. The dirt track from Djarra into Phosphate Hill was fairly interesting with a distinct lack of maintenance since the last rain event left washouts at each creek. Once we arrived at site we were met by Britt and shown to our fairly luxurious rooms. At the bar a pool competition had been organised and Neil's skills as a shark were put to the test. Unfortunately Neil was planning to lose a couple before playing for the big money. The competition however was sudden death and Neil's cunning plan kind of failed.

The acting SSE of Osbourne, Paul, announced that the mine would donate the proceeds of their aluminium can recycling - over $4000. After the pool comp was completed the winners were presented with a prize donated by the social club.

Neil and Tom with the winners of the pool comp, Rod, Tracey and Britt. It would appear that Britt and Tracey were organising at this point and missed pausing for the pic!

In the morning we joined the night shift crew in a golf game on the spinafex course that had a distinct lack of grass. After a couple of holes Neil had lost more golf balls than the money the lads were putting up and Tom and Neil retired from the competition.
All up Osbourne donated over $5000 to the Flying Doctors - a very generous effort and is the most from a site thus far.

Day 20 - Mareeba-Bourk&WillsRH

Sunrise at Burke and Wills Roadhouse

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