Mount Isa’s main feature is somewhat unusual for the centre of a city and certainly conspicuous. It is a huge mine owned and operated by Xstrata and is one of the largest producers of copper ore in Australia.
Situated around 550 miles from Townsville on the Queensland coast Mount Isa has been referred to as the Oasis of the Outback. I noticed the thousands of acres of green pastureland on the journey from Charters Towers but this was very deceptive. The country I saw is normally arid, brown sun-scorched ground and was only green because of the recent rains and flooding. Many Australians have never seen it in this present state.
Situated around 550 miles from Townsville on the Queensland coast Mount Isa has been referred to as the Oasis of the Outback. I noticed the thousands of acres of green pastureland on the journey from Charters Towers but this was very deceptive. The country I saw is normally arid, brown sun-scorched ground and was only green because of the recent rains and flooding. Many Australians have never seen it in this present state.
Bridget developed a problem with the starter motor which kept sticking so that I had to turn the rotor first with a spanner before turning the engine over in the normal way. Then on one occasion I noticed that the whole motor was loose. Trying to reach the fixing bolts was difficult and so I went to K&M Motors. Without hesitation they agreed to lift it on a hoist and tighten up the bolts. In fact they found it was not the fixing bolts that were loose but the long bolts that go right through the motor holding the total assembly together. Once tightened up things were better but I must lubricate the rotor when I do the next service, probably in Darwin.
I learnt on Wednesday that the road into the Northern Territories would be opened to light traffic only in the next two days. Traffic travelling east to west would be allowed through between 8:30am and 11:30am and west to east traffic would be allowed between 13:30pm and 17:00pm. Bridget and I left Mt Isa at 09:00 Friday morning and we were one of the first cars through, certainly the first MG probably for several years. There was a still considerable quantity of water lying at the sides of the highway and the damage to the road itself quite considerable. The authorities should be congratulated for getting it re-commissioned so quickly.
Again there were several locations where water was across the road but it was noticeably less than two days previous.
We arrived at Tennant Creek at around 17:00 Friday afternoon. This is approximately 350miles north of Alice Springs but I won’t have time to visit there. Tomorrow I am going to drive north towards Darwin but will break the journey halfway. The total distance to Darwin from here is approximately 600 miles. We covered 430 miles today and Bridget’s engine was running very hot. Mind the air temperature is around 36ºC and quite humid. I will check the oil and water levels before leaving.
I decided to get on the road early and get breakfast at a roadhouse. There was one at Three Ways junction just 15 miles up the road and whilst I was there I was told about another Englishman that is riding a small motorcycle from Sydney to Darwin then back to England. I eventually caught up with him at another roadhouse about 120 km further on. He has a 110cc motorbike and indeed is going to ride it all the way back to the UK so we exchanged notes over coffee.
The Stuart Highway is busier than the Barkly Highway was yesterday, I only saw 12 vehicles in a 200km stretch, but is still very quiet compared to roads in Europe. I saw my first dingo during the afternoon, emerge form the long grass that currently borders both sides of the highway since the rains fell. The vegetation does increase the dangers of collisions between animals and vehicles as it is very difficult to see the beasts until they actually step into the road.
Bridget suffered a fit or something today. I could suddenly smell petrol and pulled over to the side of the road concerned because if there was a leak with the engine so hot it could easily ignite. When I lifted the bonnet the support arm that normally holds it up didn’t move and I discovered that the bolt that hold it in position has disappeared. I found another and fixed it, then sure enough there was evidence of fuel on the exterior of one of the carburettors. I switched the ignition on so that the pump would work and petrol flooded out. I thought it was a hose leaking and changed it but the problem persisted. There is a connecting pipe between the two carburettors so I removed the far end to see if there was a blockage causing the supply to back-up. There was nothing visible and so I removed the carburettor float chamber. There was a slight hiss as I did so but there was nothing visibly wrong so I reconnected everything. After allowing the engine to cool for half an hour I started it up once again and the problem did not recur. Tomorrow I will need to keep an eye on things but it appears at the moment that I may have cleared an air lock or something.
We are staying the night at Mataranka, a small community on the Stuart Highway and tomorrow I hope to make it to Darwin. I have just heard on the news that Mount Isa is now flooded.
Sunday 25th January and a bad start to the day. As is usual I checked both the water and oil levels in Bridget’s engine and topped up the oil. She is certainly either burning oil or loosing it somewhere. I broke my normal routine which is to remove the filler cap and place it on the front bumper whilst I top up the oil, but instead I placed it on the heater unit. My mind was not on the job and I just closed the bonnet when I had filled her and left. A mile up the road I pulled over because she sounded noisier than usual and found the oil cap missing. I quickly checked around the engine, not seeing it I locked the car and started walking back to the motel searching all along the roadside as I went. I couldn’t find it so I returned to the car searching along the other side of the road. I was only too aware that as the top was round it could easily have fallen onto the road and rolled for a long way. Also there were ditches full of water that it could have rolled into. I resigned myself to having to make a temporary cover and returning to the motel until I could get a replacement.
I lifted the bonnet again and looked to se if it had fallen under the car as it ground to a halt, but no such luck. Just as I was turning away I saw it lodged between the heater and the battery. I recovered and refitted it with a sigh of relief. For the second time I started off on the final three hundred miles to Darwin.
Although we made good time over the first 200 miles Bridget was clearly no running properly and stalled as soon as I slowed down at a roadhouse. I decided to leave her to cool down and got myself a coffee. Afterwards I looked under the bonnet and immediately saw that she had been leaking fuel again. I checked the points and remove each spark plug in turn. Sure enough the plug from cylinder three was well sooted and discoloured so I replaced it with another, but I fear that either the valve has given up or the piston ring has had it. By good luck a couple of ‘bikers’ had been watching and came over to offer their help. It transpired that one of them has a motor service centre in Darwin and offered to give Bridget a compression check tomorrow. We will have to wait and see if the problem is serious or just something simple.