Lets all Mount Isa

Lots of stories on the net about mayor John Maloney asking all ugly women to go there if they are looking for a man. You have to be kidding. In all towns there are men and women who are not pin up material, this dry dusty shithole of a town is no better. Lots of fly in , fly out jobs, you work 12 hour shifts to afford to live in the dump and the cost of living is through the roof. In winter it can get to below 2c, in summer over 40c. The CBD is full of drunks who think nothing of accosting you for cigarettes or money. Quite often you will get an earful of abuse and threatened if you say no. Who wants to live in a town where it is common to hear men and women screaming out at the top of their voice, "You fucking c**t"...or "I'm gonna smash you're fucking head in you motherf**ker". Charming, and this is not just men, women do it as well. If you are bored on a Friday or Saturday night, head off down to the Buffs Club or out to the Irish Club. The drunks are spewing out the doors let alone on the sidewalk and in the bins. If that doesn't take your fancy, hop along to the Overlander, Eastern Suburbs Bowls Club (one of the best jobs I had), Concordia Club, RSL, The Red Earth Hotel, The Isa Hotel,The Tavern, The Barkly Hotel, Fourth Avenue Bowls Club, The Shack...incidentally which is in the riverbed. Oops I forgot the Golf Club, now that is not quite in the town itself.

You have to form a love for pig hunting or far and away fishing to relieve the boredom. Many head out of town to do some fossicking or travel to Karumba for some R & R. You could always travel out to Lake Moondarra for a swim and try fishing but with copious amounts of weed, water lice and lots of dirt and rocks to navigate, stuff all shade , who in their right mind wouldn't get bored with it all. Oh the kiddies park on Railway Avenue has play equipment for the kids but how do you fit in dozens of families when only so many public bbq's are available and again, bugger all shade. Most of the other parks and backyards are full of the dreaded bindis. They bloody hurt digging them out of your feet and if you think that is bad, wait until you step on a goats head (a thick thorn that sort of resembles a mini rose thorn).

The amount of people whose marriages/partnerships crumble in Mount Isa is a blister waiting to burst. Because of the long hours usually involved in work, many become lonely and it is not uncommon to hear about who is bed hopping with whom while bread winner is at work.

The town smells, the stench is so bad it can make you feel quite ill. Xstrata mining have pollution controls in place but it matters none when you call mine control and report how bad the fumes are, rarely do you see the stacks shut down and the town is enveloped in the stink of sulphur. Don't be fooled by the mine saying the lead levels are safe, what a crock of, there are incidents now of toddlers having unsafe lead levels in their blood, this is nothing new, 12 years ago and way beyond the warnings were there and all the mines did then was pay for the blood testing. The city centre is built right on the doorstep of the mines, it is such an eyesore. My own daughter was contaminated with lead in this muck hole.

So the town boasts the greatest rodeo but gee they moved it to the racetrack which is virtually in the middle of town, and the residents have to put up with the dust that covers everything and an influx of drunk horny and obnoxious cowboys looking to score for the weekend.
The town has it's characters as do all towns , some awesome wildlife and unreal lightening shows when storms arrive but the bad far outweighs the good.

The beauty of the men and women mean jack , nothing makes up for the shithole Mount Isa is, as a sticker I once spotted said...HAPPINESS IS MOUNT ISA IN YOUR REAR VISION MIRROR !!