Friday 8 March 2013 - Mt Isa

Friday 8 March 2013 - Mt Isa

We’re in the big smoke! Mt Isa feels huge compared to all the small towns we’ve been through. There’s a Bunnings, a Coles, two Woolworths (two!) and a whole host of other places shops and facilities that you don’t actually miss when you don’t have them, funnily enough. It’s pretty weird to listen to the traffic in the background at the caravan park though. And everyone seems to drive pretty fast around here (even inside the grounds, much to Glenn’s disgust – justified though, considering there’s kids around).

We drove right through from Richmond yesterday, which was just over 400km and the girls coped pretty well with it. The DVD player is taking a little break at the moment, as it doesn’t seem to do Yasmin’s personality any favours, and we’ve definitely noticed an improvement in her behaviour as a result. So it will be kept in reserve as a very special treat or last-resort bribe. The last hour of our journey was punctuated by another storm, which didn’t bother us too much but cooled the place down beautifully all afternoon, so we could set up without sweating our guts out. 

This morning we went and did a little exploring, some groceries (yay, we could get some of our favourite Woolies peanut butter!) and then Glenn dropped the girls and I at the Family Fun Park while he did a few more errands. The park is terrific – heaps of rubber matting, shade sails and lots of different age-appropriate equipment, plus a whole water play area as well. And it’s free! The girls didn’t have their swimming gear but we plan to return there this afternoon. 

On returning to the caravan park, Yasmin spotted a little girl and made her first holiday friend. She and Grace (who’s 7, but doesn’t seem to mind a 3 1/2-nearly-4-year-old hanging out with her) have been playing together, swimming together and hanging out at each other’s camps all afternoon. Very cute. Glenn and I fulfilled our parental responsibilities – him by reading under a tree as Sienna took her afternoon nap and me by laying on a sun lounger and supervising Yasmin and Grace in the pool. I took my laptop and phone to make it look like I wasn’t enjoying myself too much. It’s a hard life sometimes.