The fashion of the field

Fieldwork is not a place for fashion... its a hard place to even look half decent.
For example:

In my defence, it was a semi flooded mine. It was wet up mid thigh for sections. I didn't want to get my boots wet because they aren't high tech instant dry ones... I didnt want to get my trousers too wet because I knew that while they are relatively high tech instant dry ones, they weren't likely to dry off in the drizzle.

Hence borrowing some wellys from a colleague who didn't want to go in, and rolling the trousers up as far as they would go! The hard hat and light were necessary, though the pink polka dot elastic was admittedly a personal addition.

I do love the wellys though! And they kept the water in, so acted like a wet suit against the cold water!

Maybe I should work on some field clothes for September...

Outdoor Weekend! - Camping and biking the trails

This weekend was the last one my husband is home for before I start my phd and start working real life hours not FIFO. So we made the most of it:

We drove down south:

Set up camp

And took some fun photos.

Stairway to heaven? 

We spent a good hour throwing different sized rocks in the river and recording the result!

On the sunday there was a free mountain biking taster session, including free bike hire and sausage sizzle after! How good a deal is that?! We did the 17km route; It was good fun, if a little scary at first- I'm not the most confident bike rider, despite riding semi regularly. My never-quite-healed-right broken arm means I find it hard to get a stable grip on the handle bars. 

I took one impressive tumble- we were on a slight downhill windy sandy section. I just avoided one tree, and over compensated to avoid another. My front tyre dug into the sand, the bike slipped down underneath me, and I somehow managed to leap clean off the bike. The Boy heard me screech, and turned round to see me running down the path, bike in a sandy heap. Yet I was totally fine :D

I already have a bike that would be suitable for this kind of riding, so he's thinking of getting a cheapo mountain bike and we'll finally get a rack for the car, so we can hit the trails more often. 

Perth has a trail which is in the process of winding all the way to Albany - 1000km! - with camp stops  and cabins a gentle days cycle apart. We think its something we could definitely get into!

Have you tried something new recently? How did it go?

Life out in the Sticks

So, I often say that I'm off "out bush".

But what does that mean, exactly?

See that map of West Australia on the side bar?
The red star in the North is where I work. About 6 hours drive from Port Hedland, the same from Newman. And forget about sealed roads. We have none. In fact, often, forget about roads...

But despite the lack of roads, we have to live somewhere:

But thats just the office and storage space.

We cook on the fire:

And this is my bedroom:

And I mean bedroom; it may look like a swag, but inside are fairy lights, a weather station, alarm clock, "bathroom cabinet" (ok, tooth brush, toothpaste, hairbrush and mirror) and entertainment system (ok, iPod and book). 

  In winter its freezing. Because we're so far in land and on the edge of the desert there is nothing to keep the heat in, so night time temperatures drop to just above freezing. You can pull the top over the swag, and we've got decent sleeping bags, but its still cold. 

In summer, the night time temperature doesn't drop below 30 degrees C, and its horrible and sweaty and its really hard to sleep. I end up pouring water all over me and sleeping in a wet bed with no covers and fly screen down (risking the spiders and scorpions) in attempt to catch any breeze that might cool me down.

Its not all bad though. We have a washing machine, and satellite internet!

And we used to have a gym, but someone took the tarp away, so now we just have a smattering of exercise equipment that we never use because we're too busy, too tired, too hot, too cold, or fed up of falling over in the bull dust.

Welcome to my life!

I'm alive!

But still super busy.

Cairns was amazing! And it was really good to catch up with my best friend again after these long 3 years. Even if I would have seen her in 3 weeks anyway.

I went to my first ever wedding!
SO that was insiteful. At least I know what I'm in for now.

And now I'm posting from my slow satelite internet out bush... roughly -22 S and 120 the other one, if anyone knows Lat/Long.
Drill rig is going big guns, then followup work and cooking leaves little time for typing, even if the internet was better.

Hold out til monday!

And so it begins...

Last night was the first night out bush for 2010.
We were a few hours drive away from the mine site on an overnight mapping campaign.
Hot sweaty day walking round recording rocks for posterity.

We were meant to grab some extra cooking gear from the regional caravan halfway out, but *someone* forgot the key... OOoops. Luckily we had a camp oven anyway, and thats all you need for instant pasta! And baked beans and bread. And plastic knives and forks. So using a screwdriver as a stirrer we still put together a hearty meal. I hate instant pasta. Yack! But it was a short notice trip and it was only one night. All the small portion food in the freezer is frostbitten and all the rest of the food is in massive packs- 5kg steak anyone? I feel a trip to Newman for small goods coming on.

After/during food prep, I got my poi out and had a play with the LED settings. There are some very cool patterns!

By 7:30 I got ready for bed, after nearly falling asleep in the middle of the creek watching for shooting stars (only saw one). Asleep at 8:30. I sleep so well out bush. No distractions I guess. I was expecting it to be harder to sleep because of the heat and humidity (about 34 degrees and 35% humidity according to the BOM at Telfer), but it wasn't too bad. Maybe I'm getting used to it, or maybe its cooler than last year.

I woke up at 3am, absolutely freezing! Even though the BOM says it was still 30oC... Maybe a 100ks and a weird microclimate makes all the difference... I only had my silk liner in my swag with me, so had to unzip and jump out and grab my sleeping bag from the car. Slept through until 6:30. 10 hours of lovely, peaceful sleep.

I love waking up out there. 

Heaven in the Pilbara.

Snakes!

Yesterday I did the snake handlers course run by Brian Bush. He's a bit of a legend in WA, and even has a monitor lizard named after him.

We started slowly, with general chat and myth debunking and things. Just to let the adrenaline subside.
Then moved on to the lizards...

And the legless lizards...

Then the nasties!

Death adder.

Some brown snake or other.

Shockingly fast Whip Snake

Out came the Pythons, for an up close and personal look and feel of snakes. These ones were definitely pythons and hence non venomous (but can still bite, I do believe, just do less harm) but a lot of snakes look the same, especially from a distance. So always assume a wild snake is venomous. If you're in Australia the chances are it could kill you, so why risk the odds!

Then we were put into the hot seat, learning how to capture and remove snakes from environments where they are causing a threat. Like in my swag or if one gets into our caravan and refuses to budge:

I now feel much more confident around snakes. Not to a stupid degree, but at least now I'm less likely to freeze up or do some thing stupid if I ever do run into one. Its only a matter of time really. I've been here 18 months and have only seen 1, and that was out of the car window... We generally scare them away, but one day there will be one who would rather stand his ground, and now I'm much more prepared for that fact. 

I'm even tempted to get my licence from the government to be a suburban snake remover. But I think that might be a step too far!

And Brian Bush is an amazing character. And that laugh! If you ever get the chance to meet him, especially if he's teaching about lizards and snakes, take it! You won't regret it (unless you're easily offended!)

The day after the night before

Well, I was in bed at 8, fell asleep not long later, woke up at 10:30, and again at 3 (looked at the clock and smugly snuggled back under the covers for the remaining hour!)

Felt better this morning but still not right... Tried going caffeine free, but my lemon tea just made me feel ill.

So one cup of weak coffee is my limit today, tomorrow should be fine with none (driving day), same monday (busy day) and tuesday (home and busy). Might be tempted by proper Melbourne coffee on Wednesday though!

My caffeine addiction is purely psycological I think, so we shall see. 

I sleep so well out bush. I'll happily tuck myself into my swag at 7:30 when its dark and cold already, be asleep straight away and sleep soundly til the sun or the drillers reversing alarm wakes me up. Often 10 hours later. But I guess then I'm busy for the remaining 14, running around after the drill rig or the heritage mob or mapping or whatever., then doing follow up work and cooking.

Not long to go now!

Then all I'll do is complain about how much I miss being in the office :) 

nearly Australia Day!

Now, I know I shouldn't get excited about a celebration of the arrival of an invading nation which turned into a genocide, but y'know... Its Australia Day. Maybe they should change the day, but having a national celebration is a great thing. No one in the UK even notices St Georges Day (sometime in April? Maybe the 23rd but potentially not).
I've never been around for one before- the first year I was in Kambalda and while I seem to remember there was a bit of an Australiana quiz at the wet mess but otherwise all was quiet. I seem to remember I spent the day in the core shed learning how to pronounce 'Strayla the most ocker way possible.

Then last year was the big road trip to learn escape routes out of the southern half of our tenements (we're closer to Newman than the mine down there, so if anything were to go wrong we would be better to head there than home, but only as long as we don't get lost). We got to the southern road and set up camp, then the dust storm came through. Very cool. Then another came through, starting to wonder...

Then the heavens opened:

It put the fire out and the ground was flooding. We knew we had to bolt before it got too bad, or we could have been trapped there for a couple of days due to the rivers and poor road conditions. We got to Newman (2 hours ish drive from there, especially in those conditions) and cooked our camp food on the BBQs in the caravan park then had to head out again because there was no room in town. Anywhere. Gotta love Newman for that. So we ended up in a truckstop just as the sealed road stops, hoping that they wouldn't close the road first thing in the morning and that we'd make it back.
It was my first night in a swag. It rained all night, though not as hard as it started out. And I was terrified that a road train would pull in and somehow run us over, though we were way away from where that could happen.
We got up at first light, freezing cold from sleeping in wet leaky swags, cooked up bacon and egg sangas and wished each other a happy Australia Day.

Then the massive drive back home. We tried to stop off in a small town on the way, but nothing was open because it was holiday, so not even any ice coffee or cola to keep us alive. Definitely different, and very Australian, but not really what I had in mind.

This year, my friend and I have decided to do the Haviana Thong Challenge. Should be interesting :)

Packing a picnic and spending the day at the beach, then heading into town for the Skyworks. I have lots of dodgy Australia clothing and bits and bobs, and intend to look like the worst back packer out there. But at least if anyone from immigration happens to be watching, they'll see me showing my love for this beautiful country :)

So Excited!!