Most of last year was spent at work to top up my savings so that I could run away on more adventures. I would fly from the East Coast over to Perth. Stay in a hostel or backpackers for a night and get up around 4am to head off to the airport. Catching a plane to work before the sun rises. I quickly learnt where I would be flying to and at what time. So that I could pick a seat on the best side of the plane to nap, hide from the sun or look out at the views. But coming home from the worksites. I could only choose either a Window or Aisle seat. Which is not a problem. As we are all so destroyed the whole plane has its blinds down and nearly everyone is fast asleep for the flight.
When I do stay awake and keep the window open. I love looking at how the landscape changes. Dry rivers and rolling hills. The occasional mine popping up with nothing else around other than an airstrip. Then when I go down south there are more trees and forests. And the weather changes so much as well. Up north it is hot and humid all the time. Down south it’s a lot cooler and seems to rain more often. Which means I still need to pack everything in my 10kg bag. As that is all I am allowed to take on the plane. And it is also everything I have with me while I am away from home for a few months. So nothing fun. Just work clothing, socks, jocks, and a pair of nice shorts and two t-shirts. My laptop is the only big luxury that I carry with me. And I always wear my work boots to keep the weight down. Even the beard straightener and all my nice balms to keep it in good condition are left back at home for when they will be more useful.
Arriving out here either i go straight from the airport to site to start working. Or back to camp to try and get a few hours sleep before going onto nightshift. Then I have to get my body used to the conditions and time difference. As overhere is currently a 3 hours difference from back home. At least on most jobs the first day is just getting all the gear sorted, paperwork done and looking over the job while we wait for isolations to be put on. So that lets us get our body and mind working again.
Then we work hard and catch the bus back to camp at the end of shift. Racing back to our rooms to strip off and get our dirty clothing to the laundry before all the machines are taken. Next is a shower which is always hot even if you dont turn on the hot tap as the pipes heat up so much in the sun. And watching the water turn an orange colour as all the dirt is washed off.
Dinner is great but also very dangerous. Multiple dishes are made each night and the serving plates are huge. So as you go down the line you take a lot of the veggies and then a little bit of each thing as they all look good. Eventually ending up with a very big pile of food on your plate. And to make it worse. As you walk your plate over to the dishwashing area you pass the dessert bar. Hot pudding, custard, mousse, an ice cream freezer, jelly, trifle, little cakes. So many dangerous choices. And I have to at least try some of them.
Eventually you are so full that you head back to your room and crash for the night. Waking up to your alarm and freaking out as you can’t find your overalls anywhere. If you are lucky you remembered to put them in the dryer. Otherwise they could still be soaking wet in the washing machine. So you run out to get them. Head back and get changed. And then race off to breakfast to collect your lunch for the day and then jump on a bus. Ready for work.
Back in Perth if I have more than one day off I buy myself a 10 pass to the bouldering gym. It keeps my body and mind working and it’s a good distraction from the job.
This chain of gyms has 3 locations so if I am back for more than a few days I can attempt the climbs at each location. And I made the mistake of visiting one of the gyms just after they had a major competition. So the whole place had been reset to a very hard standard. There were some that I could do and others I attempted. But most were way out of my league without lots of training.
Another place that I go to on my days off is the Training Centre. I practise all my rope rescues and play around with systems that we don’t normally use on site but could be useful in some situations. The Norwegian and English Reeves are two useful tension line techniques for rescue and lowering into confined spaces. But they require a lot of equipment for just one person. In the photo below i didn’t double up all the ropes and protection as i was just trying it out on the dummy just off the ground. When i am on the job there are a few more ropes and carabiners that go into the setup.
After my rest days and stocking up on essentials like shampoo, coffee sachets, new socks as my old ones are worn out. I head back again to the site. Arriving to find out if I am on days or nights. Never really knowing who I am working with or what the job is until we land at the mine site airport. Even then the job still might change.
I have loved all the different places that this job takes me to. Inside all these different machines we are to build them from the ground up or enter and inspect, or maintain and replace the parts that are worn. The size of them still amazes me.
In the photo below the line on the roof at the train tracks. The train drives through the car dumper and 2 carriages at a time get locked in and then flipped upside down to dump their load. In the Hunter Valley I have worked in similar bins. But the train did not flip. It went over a steel ramp that would activate the carriage’s side walls to open up and drop all the coal.
Even the size and weight of the parts we install are insane. And I am getting used to driving along the hwy and calling up the truck in front to ask if it’s clear to pass. As the usual B-Doubles are around 25m long take no time to drive past but the Road Trains up to 60m long. The main roads out here are usually 110kph and only 1 lane each way. I don’t really see overtaking lanes but the roads are long and straight with everyone talking on the radio so you know what’s going on out there.
Each site looks so different and as the seasons change they change as well. At the moment there is a lot more grass out here than when I was last driving through.
And then I go back to Perth again between jobs. Due to the lovely weather and warm nights there is usually something going on. I was down in Fremantle visiting some mates. I was supposed to go out to dinner with them and I screwed up the time. I read it at 7:30pm when it was written at 17:30. My days off from work are important to let my body and mind rest. As I am usually destroyed.
So I missed dinner with them but headed down there anyway. As I was walking around the Fremantle foreshore and found that they had a projection show on a few of the buildings. I met up with my mates and we got ice cream and then walked around watching the sun set and finding where all the projections were.
One of the events I was sad to fly out and miss was a fire show in the gardens. There were flaming sculptures and fire artwork. I missed out but i received a few videos of it from mates that i recommended to go and see it. Right now in Feb 2024. I am having major issues finding accommodation between work as there is a Fringe festival on. All my normal places are booked out and even though I am a regular they still can’t fit me in.
Back on the work site I can still get photos of the critters that come and visit us. This guy snuck into the crib room when the door was open and scared a lot of people by bouncing from table to table.
At my current site there are a lot of Bungarra (sand goanna’s) walking around and hiding out under the dongas. There are snakes out there as well but we don’t see them as much. And during a night shift we yelled out to one of the boys as he was walking to us along a dark section of the road and a pack of Dingos were stalking him.
There is so much going on out here it keeps me very entertained.
Welcome to my Adventures 