Fourth Avenue Motor Inn

Fourth Avenue Motor Inn is a small motel on a quiet residential street in Parkside, the suburb that sits just east of the Mount Isa city centre across the Leichhardt River. This is the kind of place travellers book when they want a night or three in the Isa without paying mining-town peak rates: single storey rooms, a barbecue area and the clean, practical rooms guests mention settling into straight off the highway. It suits tradespeople on rotation, families passing through on the Barkly Highway and anyone working through the Isa's mine tour and lookout circuit.

Dogs at the motel

Visitor reports describe the motel as pet friendly with pets staying free, and service animals exempt from any charges. The motel's own site stays silent on pets, so treat the no-fee part as reported practice and confirm it when you book: ring ahead, tell them the breed and how many animals you are travelling with, and get the room allocation sorted before you arrive.

Travellers with dogs single out the management for being accommodating rather than restrictive, and the free parking right outside the door is the quiet win: you can unload the dog and the luggage straight from the ute without a corridor walk. Ask about the barbecue area when you check in, because an outdoor cookup is the easiest dinner arrangement when the dog is staying in the room with you, and anyone on an extended Isa work stint should ask about weekly rates and vehicle parking at the same time.

There are no fenced courtyards attached to the rooms, so the dog is on lead outside the room door, and the policy on big or multiple dogs is the informal sort that gets settled with a phone call. Quiet location is one of the recurring guest themes, which is exactly what you want with a dog that barks at road trains.

Worth knowing

The grounds sit near the river end of Parkside, and the walking windows for the dog are early morning and after sundown, because the footpaths burn by mid-morning in the warm months; locals keep their vet's number handy for grass seeds and heat. Fourteenth Avenue addresses can confuse GPS units, so enter the street number and suburb carefully before you set off from Cloncurry or Camooweal.

Close by with the dogs

If you are staging a trip across to the Northern Territory or down the Matilda Highway, the Summit Motel in Townsville covers the coastal end if your loop runs east. The Mount Louisa Dog Park in Townsville is the fenced stop if the drive continues east, and more pet friendly stays sit in the Queensland dog friendly stays listing.