In the last few years, I’ve covered Anzac Day events in south-west Queensland and it can be quite chilly getting up for some of the dawn services down Roma way.

That certainly wasn’t the case here with a very pleasant temperature to greet Monday’s dawn in Mount Isa.

My congratulations to the local RSL and council who put together an excellent event, both in the dawn service and the main parade and Anzac Day service later in the day.

By the time the main service came, I was wiping the sweat off my brow.

It was good to see plenty of water was provided in front of the Civic Centre and the old diggers there from various conflicts were an inspiration to the younger ones attending the services.

It was also good to see all the schools represented there with so many students in their school uniforms.

I couldn’t stay around for long after the service as I had to rush back to the office to meet deadline for Tuesday’s paper.

But once we got Tuesday’s paper out of the way, I took advantage of some downtime that afternoon, to do some bush walking around the back of Lake Moondarra.

It was a feast for the senses and feeling energetic I climbed up to the viewing spot overlooking the lake.

I have to say the view was breathtaking with the sun shimmering on the lake as recreational users paddled their canoes or ran their boats on the water, while the dam looking imposing in the background.

I thought how lucky we are to have such a beautiful resource on our doorstop.

Here I was barely 15 minutes drive from town with a magnificent lake in one direction and endless expanse of wilderness in the other. I’m pleased to see MITEZ are launching community consultation on how best to use the lake.

They are looking at other dams in Queensland and seeing how their plans for recreation and camping facilities have been successfully implemented and managed.

There is a public meeting at Outback at Isa at 9am Saturday on the topic and I encourage anyone with an interest in the facility to attend, or else provided your feedback to MITEZ – ​Derek Barry