I was woken at 8:20am by Talia ringing me and telling me to get downstairs. I gathered some basics and met her and Ben in the car park. The plan for the day was to grab a McDonalds, then pack some snacks and drive out of town for some beer, swimming and picnic.
This we did. And, lo, it was fun! For those who say “why are you going to Mount Isa – there’s nothing there”, this is one of the reasons for going. It’s surrounded in all directions by very beautiful, unspoiled nothing.
Two other people happened to walk past where we were splashing in the entire five hours we were out there. Fish nibbled at our toes, people fell off inflated inner tubes and the sun turned us a lovely shade of crimson. My back’s going to tingle tomorrow once the sunburn sets in but I know I’ll end up with a great tan afterwards.
Sometimes the simple plans are the best, and it was a great afternoon out. The scenery where we were was lovely. Tall, barkless trees with some noisy birds hopping amongst them. I spotted an eagle (or some kind of bird of prey) and a host of dragonflies. The water was clean and cool, but not freezing. And the sky had that beautiful unpolluted blue colour you just don’t seem to find anywhere in England any more.
As I type, I’m back in “my” room having had a freshen up. I’ve got an hour to kill before I meet up with everyone for dinner and then we can figure out what to do tomorrow – apart from figure out how the heck I’m going to get to Cairns on the cheap.
Yeah, it was a pricey flight to get out here but to catch up with nice people and see somewhere new… I’m thinking it was worth it.