Oz XXVIII - Don't tell Mum I work on a Mine

I am working on one of the mine sites out in the West Australian desert as an Exploration Field Technician. I got the job through a friend of the family in Perth who is a Geologist. When I met her she said she could get me a job as an Assistant Geologist. I thought she was taking the piss. However, it turned out that she was serious and had got me a job after speaking to her boss. I had already got a job in Perth as a Project Co-ordinator for an HR services company. I decided to go for the mining job because I am pretty sure I will never get another opportunity to work on a mine site. Although a co-worker recently enquired what mine sites were near where I lived back home.

The interview for the mine job felt like the introduction of an episode of 999. Michael Burke telling you all the ways in which people will maim themselves for the next hour. The guy told me about all of the equipment on site that I will be using. He then said about the dangers of old open mine shafts, the risks of dehydration, pictures of smashed up Utes. There was a section devoted to snakes, and their prevalence around the camp sites. He said he has developed a habit of looking at the ground to watch for snakes, not a good habit for city life. At one point he gave me a piece of core to hold (which is what they call the rock that they drill out of the ground). I wasn’t sure whether it was a test of strength, so I held it for the next 5 minutes. He took it out of my hands (I couldn't discern whether he was impressed by my Herculean efforts). I met one of the bosses who seemed slightly perplexed that my previous experience of geology was non-existent. I also had to gain my Marcsta qualification. The Marcsta is basic health and safety on mine sites. It involved another healthy dose of being told about the variety of ways that you can injure yourself on site. It really is common sense, where the answers are given to you for the tests that you take. The instructor missed one section out and I still managed to guess the right answers. The instructor had a bad habit of telling us how rich he was and how he drove a Subaru Impreza. I'm not sure what this was meant to demonstrate to us, other than that he was a Muppet.

The job was dependent on me passing a medical and a drugs test. The medical involved ticking various boxes on a sheet. I had a fitness test, apparently I fall into the 'Good' category (not Excellent, Average or Below Average). I was measured, weighed, had my blood pressure checked, demonstrated my ability to balance with my eyes closed, had my kidney's and liver checked, and was found to have no hernia's. Luckily I had the nous not to tick the box 'West Coast Eagles Player' or 'Competitor in Tour de France' for the drugs test. However, I was unfortunately too well hydrated to pass the drugs test. It turns out that one of the few instances when doctors don't want you to have clear urine is when you are having a drugs test. This meant that I had 3 attempts at the urine test. It is somewhat strange to have the colour and consistency of your urine discussed. On the third attempt I had reached sufficient apple juice likeness to have my sample deemed as acceptable.

The company I work for mines Nickel and the site I am on is apparently one of the richest Nickel deposits in the world. The site is one and a half hours flying time from Perth. It is about 400kms north of Kalgoorlie. If you wanted to drive it from Perth it would take about 12 hours. We get flown out on small 30 seat planes. To date all of my flights have been perfectly smooth and I have had some great views. In saying that the landings tend to be firm, especially when landing at the mine site. The landing strip isn't tarmac. When I first arrived I felt like I was in an episode of the Royal Flying Doctors. Apparently the flights can get quite hairy if the weather is poor. At times they don't allow any baggage on board because they know it is going to get bumpy. It has been known to see bits of duct tape hanging off the wings. Quite a few of the guys on site suffer from extreme flying phobias. One of the underground guys is known to curl up into a ball, and another takes two Valiums. He has to fly up a day earlier than everyone else to let them out of his system.

A typical day for me would involve getting up at 5am and going to the dry mess for breakfast. We would then have our morning meeting at 6am in the administration offices before going to the Core Yard office. A couple of fieldies (that is our nickname) will then do the rig run. They drive out to the drill rigs in the bush to collect the core that they drilled the day before and during the night (the drill rigs work 24 hours). The cores are drilled to find the Nickel and map the geology of the region so that they can dig shafts safely underground. We also download information from their gas detectors. We then bring the core back to to the yard. The core has to be marked up in a variety of ways and information has to be collected on it. During his process the Geos (Geologists) will decide which bits they want samples taken from and sent to Perth. We then cut it and bag it up. If it is particularly urgent it will be sent by plane to Perth. There are also underground rigs who bring their own core to the yard. So I spend most of my day in the core yard working on the core. The drill rigs can drill anywhere up to 2kms down. Other jobs come up such as going out into the bush to peg lines which will be cleared and then a rig will be brought into drill some shallow samples. We have morning smoko at 9am for half an hour, lunch for half an hour around midday and afternoon smoko at 3pm. The smoko is an Australian tradition. The day finishes at 5pm.

Whilst it may still be winter on the underside of the world it doesn't mean it is cold. The temperature on site seems to be completely dependent on the wind. If it is windy (and it has been a fair bit on my last two swings) then it is cold. However, if it isn't windy then it is pretty warm getting into the high-twenties. During the summer it can get up into the mid-forties. It has only rained once while I have been there and that was a pretty pathetic effort. In the summer the remnants of northern cyclones can flood the area in no time at all. I have already mentioned that there are plenty of snakes out here during the summer months (I am yet to see one). I spotted my first Bungarra Lizaard wandering around the maintenance sheds. It was about a metre and a half long. Apparently in the summer there are lots of them around. They aren't scared of humans, although when threatened they have a nasty habit of running up people due to their natural defence mechanism being to run up the tallest object. There are plenty of Kangaroos around and they even come into the Village under the cover of darkness.

There are plenty of characters on site. One of the guys who is on the Exploration team is a man of few words, who has love tattooed on the knuckles of one hand and hate tattooed on the other. (I don't want to have a meeting with either.) One of the Drillers is pretty unbeatable with banter. It isn't a place for fragile egos. About 90% of the people on site are male. A size able proportion fit the stereotype of big bearded guys who you wouldn't want to meet down a dark alley. In saying that the atmosphere is pretty friendly on site and when you wander around the village people will generally say 'G'day Mate' to one another. The stereotype of the big burly miner is broken down when you see a group huddled in the bar watching Ice Age or grabbing an ice cream in a cone. The language is colourful to say the least. I don't think I've been involved in a conversation that hasn't included fing this or cing that.

The Village facilities are good. We all live in dongas (essentially porta-cabins), the majority have ensuite showers and toilets. There is an air-conditioning unit and a phone in your room. They have a 25 metre swimming pool, though I'm pretty sure I managed to get overcome by the chlorine fumes last time I used it. At other mine sites they have 49 metre pools, due to pools that are 50 metres long requiring lifeguards. There is a tennis court with all the equipment supplied. The wet mess (bar) is pretty big and has a pool table. The prices for drink are very cheap. The food in the dry mess is the subject of much derision but I think it is pretty good. There is plenty of it and if you want to eat healthily you can. Particular foods do have a habit of coming back in a slightly modified version from the previous meal and the rissoles are renowned for revisiting you later in the day. Exploration are lucky enough to go back to the Village for a hot lunch whereas most people (all those underground) have to take their lunch with them at breakfast. They supply all of the food containers and have lots of different things for breakfast. The trouble is as you don't pay for anything and you can eat as much as you want, combined with beers, means that alot of people suffer from being overweight.

Oz XXVII - Splendid Isolation

Perth is the most isolated city in the world. It is closer to Singapore then it is to Sydney. The classic standup gag in Sydney about Perth is you get on your flight arrive in Perth and put your clock back 20 years. It is a somewhat unfair depiction. Perth is a much more relaxed place in comparison to Melbourne and Sydney. Over in WA (Western Australia) it is somewhat controversial to say you liked living in Sydney. There is a strong sense of a separate West Coast identity to that of the Eastern states. You stick out like an East coaster if you keep attempting to order Schooners of beer; they only do Midis and Pints. You should not question some of the dodgy activities of the players from the West Coast Eagles (some of them like ice and not in a figure skating sense). In saying that I do like Perth. I am a quarter Perthian and have a lot of family/friend ties out here. I have said it before and I’ll know doubt raise it in the future, knowing locals and being able to stay with them makes a great deal of difference to your appreciation of a place. (I might have even have liked Portland if I knew someone who lived there.) There is good nightlife around the Northbridge area and there are plenty of beautiful places to relax in the sun. Kings Park is huge and has majestic views over the Swan River. The Swan River is very pretty and Cottesloe beach is a great place to watch the sunset.

I arrived at the beginning of August. My first few days were spent applying to temping agencies and seeing what sort of work I was offered. Perth is in the middle of a resource boom at the moment, lots of jobs have been created and they are short of workers. Wherever I have been people have spoken about all the work available in Perth. It certainly seems to be true. I was offered a few short term placements and then a long term placement at the Australian Institute of Management. I would recommend DFP temping agency, they were by far the quickest and most effective at getting me job offers. As it happens I am going to become a bit more directly involved in the resource boom, more to come on that later.

Perth has a similar feel to Vancouver about it. They are both cities that are growing. Perth feels like it is really trying to establish an identity for itself (maybe it needs an Expo). There is a lot of building work in the centre of town and a new rail line is being put in to the south of the city. People are friendlier than in the other Australian cities. Strangers talk to each other on buses and trains (unless its rush hour when all commuters act the way that everyone does around the world). Public transport is pretty good, though not as good as Sydney or Melbourne.

I had a great gig at the Comedy Lounge at the Hyde Park Hotel in Northbridge. I added some references to Helen Clark (the New Zealand PM) and the crowd lapped it up. The other acts were very good especially a musical duo. There had just been a big Aussie rules at the weekend between the two local rivals, Fremantle Dockers and the West Coast Eagles (the Dockers won) and I chatted about that. It was a particularly violent match, though not violent enough if you talk to the locals. While in the UK the commentators frown upon fights between players in sport, over here the Aussie commentators actively encourage it. There seemed to be palpable relief in the commentary box when the first derby (pronounced in American manner) fight started. The commentators were advising the players to get stuck in. The guy who ended up winning the Man of Match award was the guy who started most of the fights, so it must be part of the rules. I didn’t realise until that match that in Aussie Rules there isn’t the equivalent of the Yellow and Red cards. All the umpires can do is put the player on report after the match, so if a player does something particularly violent the only way he can be removed from the field of play is if the coach decides to take him off. This weekend a player for the Dockers got elbowed in the nose, breaking it and knocking him out cold. The player who did it carried on for the rest of the match, and it took place 50 metres behind play!

Oz XXVI - Wildflowers from Kings Park