Outback at Isa

At Outback at Isa, Mount Isa's major tourism facility, you will find the Mount Isa Visitor Information Centre (VIC), Hard Times Mine Underground Tour, Isa Experience and Outback Park, the Mount Isa Regional Art Gallery, Riversleigh Fossil Centre, and the Outback Cafe. 

The  Hard Times Mine Tour is more than a tour - it's an experience!

From the very beginning of the tour you know that this is something special. From the moment you meet your tour guide who has worked as a miner for most of his life, to the kitting-out in overalls and cap lamps, already you're having fun and can't wait for what comes next.

Descending into the mine in the Alimak Cage, you begin to explore the history of mining as the guides enthral you with their stories of the good times and the hard times that they had working deep under the earth. See how the tunnels are formed and shaped by the majestic boom drills and mucking units. Get up close with the machinery and try your hand at the air-leg drill and feel the earth rumble with the firing of the blast face. These magnificent experiences will stay with you forever.

The Riversleigh Fossil Centre at Outback at Isa educates and interprets for visitors the fossils extracted from the nearby Riversleigh Fossil Fields. Now a World Heritage Area, the fossils fields are home to one of the most significant and exciting fossil deposits in the world. 

These finds have been depicted as dioramas and exhibited in an authentic setting to illustrate the unique discoveries in one of the world's richest fossil fields. Unlike many other fossil deposits, the Riversleigh fossils are not just a snapshot in time, but a window on the development of early mammal megafauna over the past 30 million years.

This classifies the Riversleigh Fossil Centre as unique among centres offering 'fossil tourism'. The Riversleigh fossil deposit is the richest and one of the most important fossil fields in Australia. The centre undergoes a 1.5-million-dollar upgrade from February 2012 till May 2020

The Outback at Isa Cafe provides a range of fresh and homemade food to suit even the fussiest eater, from fish & chips, native local aborigine’s food to homemade scones.