The Industrial side of the Outback

It’s early morning in the Pilbara, the sun has just come up and there is a slightly cool breeze. The temperature is already near 75 degrees. I made it to Port Hedland. It’s beautiful here, and just like I thought it would be…flat, hot, and lots of red dirt – though, there is a bit more vegetation than I expected. The town is built on a massive delta…if you can call it a town. It’s main purpose for existing is as a port for exporting iron ore mined in Western Australia. It’s almost purely industrial with over 50% of the population working as fly-in fly-out workers and staying in working camps. The day we flew up, there was an article in the paper rating the different camps. I am staying in the worst Port Hedland camp. Haha. Figures. It sounded nice…Beachfront Village…but really it’s a refurbished detention center for immigration asylum seekers. There is a huge gate all around the compound complete with guard towers and video cameras. 90% of the population in the camp is male. The rooms are dorm-style with only two bathrooms on each floor…one male, and one female. Some genius put me in the room directly across from the men’s shower/toilet. Did I mention that the walls were really thin?
If you forget the wire mesh on the windows, the dorm smell, the thin walls…it’s not so bad. All meals are provided in the mess hall where they serve breakfast and dinner from 4 – 8 (am and pm)…and a salad/sandwich bar for a packed lunch. The food’s not bad, but after a week and a half it’s getting a little repetitive.
Did I mention it’s a man-camp? I’ve been hit on more times than I can count…and once by a gal. Another story for another time.
The last couple weeks have been a bit of a blur. I’m glad to be leaving…and heading towards the beach.

Little Creatures

Next May 9 - 22
They’re booked! My sister, Stacy, has tickets to come to Australia! I’m so excited, and we’ve got big plans: the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree National Forrest, Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Darwin, beaches, and Kakadu National Park. I can’t wait. She’ll be coming at the beginning of July as I begin my ‘journey’ home.
This weekend was a good, but short. I had Mother’s Day off, called my mum in the morning and headed off to church and Mother’s Day lunch with the family that I had met the previous weekend. Peter and Annette live out in the hills and have 4 adult children just a little younger than myself. It was really pleasant to get out of the city and hang out with a great family.
There is some talk that I might go work up in the Pilbara just south of Port Headland next week. Though the area is said to be quite a ‘hole’, I’m excited to get up in that part of the country. I’m expecting it to be quite hot and dry and flat with little vegetation and bright red soils. The project manager said that I could fly back from a town called Broome if I wanted to take a couple days up there. Several people have told me to visit Broome while I’m here. It’s supposed to be quite a nice area with gorges, scuba diving and beaches. Though, you have to be careful cause that’s where the crocs and the dangerous jellyfish are…: )
As a side note and totally random, but relevant to my day to day existence, the tv shows are really terrible in the apartment. We get 3 channels on a bad day and 5 on a really good day. “Two and a Half Men”, “How I Met Your Mother”, and “Top Gear” are played relentlessly as well as the Aussie evening soaps called “Home and Away” and “Neighbors”. Occasionally, they do play some good stuff like Mentalist, Man vs Wild, Bones, Castle, and various movies, but you have to time it just right…and the wind needs to be blowing in a certain direction.
This past week was cram packed with late nights and long days trying to get reports out or ready to pass off before I head up to Port Hedland. Thankfully not all of the late nights were work related, I had several chances to go out with friends and spend some time away from home/office. Liv and Dan invited me for dinner one night where we chatted for hours – and I got some advice for visiting the Blue Mountains. I joined Jen and some of her friends visiting from Canada for dinner at the local brewery called Little Creatures, which was awesome.
People kept telling me that I needed to go there, so it was really fun to see what all the hype was about. It’s a brewery/restaurant that’s kind of like a Boundary Bay Brewery (but better). The atmosphere was awesome, the food was excellent, and the beer was great – they even brew their own cider! As a side note: Aussies seem to really like their cider and it makes me happy! I rarely go to a pub that doesn’t have at least one choice of hard cider. Beer is nice, but cider is better. : ) Lastly, Scott Z. invited a couple of us from the office over for a BBQ…and he did it right! The Brat’s were boiled in beer before being brought to the flame and there were Polish sausages and Chicken breasts bought straight from the butcher. Yum! Unfortunately for Scott, most of the nights jokes were teasingly at his expense. Thank you Scott, Jen, Dan, and Liv for redeeming my week!
Oh! I nearly forgot to mention…last Friday was Golder’s 50th anniversary. …and even though I promised to take pictures, I failed. Sorry. It was a really pleasant evening…even though it was a bit of a challenge for me to get there after a full day in the field. They had assigned seating which turned out to be really nice. As a new person, I didn’t have to strategize where or who I would sit with…and whoever arranged it did a really nice job. There were a couple new people at the table, but also some others who had been at Golder for a while. One of the gals I sat next to was a lot of fun. We laughed and joked and pretty soon the table grew to twice the size. Apparently the Perth office gets a lot friendlier after the open bar and a couple bottles of wine. It was really nice, I enjoyed meeting everyone and nearly talked my voice away.