Merry Christmas 2011!

I'm at work, which suck a bit.

In fact, I'm spending the day underground sludge sampling... catching mud, basically.

Whoop!

So Christmas is in Leonora this year. Leonora is a small bush town, with a permanant population of about 400, and another couple of hundred who fly in and out for work. Its about 800km from Perth, and 200 from Kalgoorlie, the nearest town of any size. Most people here are involved in the mines, but there are some cattle stations dotted around as well. Gold was discovered here in 1894, and the town rapidly developed after that.

In Leonora, it seems the Christmas Tradition is to have a massive water fight on the main street in town... everyone comes out with water bombs, water pistols, buckets of water, confetti cannons, then the town fire engine roams the street, sirons blaring, with santa and his helpers giving back as good as they get!

Lots of fun! The days previous had been in the low 40s (Max. ~110 F) and christmas eve was only a bit cooler, so its a good way to cool down! I'm just glad my camera survived, as I got a bucket of water poured over my head while taking these :)