Gidday.
It's been a while since the last update, I have been a little tied up away from the computer. Spent last week at Maura and then ended up working Saturday as well, so it's been a long week.
Well... where to start. So much to update... I think I'll attempt to start chronologically.
Monday. Was up at 4:30, left the house at 5:15 and dropped Ryan off at the airport as he was flying to Melbourne with the boss in his plane. Carried on to Maura, which is about 2.5 hours up the road. Usually. Until you get a little confused and take the wrong turn... I ended up in the town of Maura, which is not the mine. After phoning work and obtaining directions, I finally managed to find the mine, even if I was half an hour on the late side. Signed in, did my "OSPAT" test. OSPAT is basically a computer screen and a trackball, there is a target in the middle of the screen and a wee cross that jumps around all over the show. You have to use the trackball to try and keep the cross in the middle of the target, and the computer measures your reaction time and determins if you are high on drugs or asleep or fit to work.
Got to the Nixon office on site, and then the jobs started pouring in... for the next 5 days. I must of picked the busiest week possible for my first attempt at flying solo. However, I just kept adding jobs to the list and knocking them off one by one. Ended up doing a fair bit of overtime, which should help the pay packet.
Most of monday was a mission, getting lost, not knowing where anything was, and trying to not get run over by huge 797B dump trucks. Luckily the day went though without too much hassle.
Tuesday, again a fairly straight forward day as far as I can recall. It got hot on tuesday, over 40 degrees celcuis. Warmest I have ever been, I went through about 6 liters of water that afternoon alone. Just as I was finishing the last job for the day I was certainly starting to feel the effects of the heat exhaustion, so it was probably lucky that was about it for the day.
Wednesday, not too complicated for a start, a guy from Nixons came out to install some repeater gear to one of the repeater sites. We were up on the hill and a warning comes over the radio, lightning alert, we have had strikes within 15KM, supervisors make ready your lightning plans. So again probably luckily we were just about finished, so we tidyed up and got off the hill pretty smartly. We could see the bolts of lightning hitting the ground in the distance, it was quite spectacular to watch actually. You can kind of see the storm coming, this huge mass of dark grey clouds and lightning bolts. Very cool, unfortunatly I didn't think to get any photographs. Got off the hill, and the guy from Nixons went back to town, and I thought I may as well go back and do the next job. Got to the workshop and the guys informed me we had now gone code orange lightning alert, and we had to stay indoors and no one was allowed outside. So I went into my wee office and thought I may as well catch up on some paperwork. 20 minutes went by, and there was very little activity outside, I was thinking it was quite quiet. Then a guy comes bursting into my office saying "what are you still doing here, we went code red, and this workshop is in the blast area for the shot! We have to evacuate now!" I was like... gee, thanks for the warning guys.
Luckily it was three o clock, knock off time, so I signed out and gave up for the day. They get a bit panicky about anything in the 800m radius from the loaded shot in a lightning storm, as lightning bolts apparently are a good way to detonate the explosives.
Seeing as I had finished at a time which was early for me for a change, I decided to go into Maura town and help out a mate who wanted skype setup on his computer. I rang him up and got directions on how to find him, which, suprisingly, I managed to do so with little trouble.
The trouble came when I went to leave... as it was now dark and I had absolutly no recollection as to which direction I had came from. I thought: "Righto, you can go one of two directions here. Pick one and just keep on keeping on and surely we can work this out". So, I took the 50/50 gamble and drove off. In the completly wrong direction. I drove, and drove, and drove, and then ended up on some highway somewhere. I thought if I double back now I'll only get more lost, I'm better to keep going. So I did. For a few KM, then finally struck a sign saying "Maura, 12 KM --> that way. Which was the way which I was not going.
So, found a suitable turning spot, spun around, and stuck on the highway all the way back into Maura, where I managed to locate the camp where I was staying.
I think next time I might be better leaving a trail of bread crumbs.
Except, the cockatoos might eat them. There were about... 500. I took a photo but it doesn't do them justice, there was at least three times the amount I could fit in the lens.
Thursday, the lightning had also bought with it rain... and the mine was a giant slush pit of mud. 4WD was only just cutting it. Couldn't do much, did a few little jobs and caught up on some long overdue paperwork. Went out and changed an antenna coax run on a dump truck... was a mission getting there, most of the time sideways, and then a mission doing the job, getting soaked, then a mission getting back, again, mostly sideways.
Then... we had a power cut. Electric draglines, shovels, and conveyors do not work well without electricity. So, mad panic among the electricians to find the fault as it was halting a fair bit of production. Finally got the power up, but then the draglines wouldn't start properly so they had a mad rush of leckies going round to start all the draglines up. There were a couple left to go to the last dragline, but no vehicles. So seeing as I couldn't do much else I ended up taking them down to the dragline to get it started up. That was quite an interesting trip too, sliding sideways down the ramp into the pit where the dragline was working. Finally got the thing going and managed to crawl our way back up through the mud back to the workshop.
Side note, I'm having a devil of a job getting the mud out of my trousers...
Anyhow, that was pretty much Thursday over with. Friday... Got to work, not too many jobs on, thought to myself that it would be a nice easy day, leave reasonable hour, get home on time for a change, as I had the 2.5 hour drive back to Gladstone.
That plan went well, for all of... 20 minutes. Then the phone went off time and time again with more and more jobs coming in... so my nice quiet Friday turned into a run around fixing many things Friday. Didn't help when dispatch send me out to find dozers which don't exist... "Go down to DL5 and fix TD32, the two way keeps falling out". Righto, easy. Drive down to Dragline 5. Call him up. "Nixon's to DL5, have you got TD32 there?". "No". "Righto, dispatch think you have." "I haven't". "Righto."
Call up dispatch. "Nixon's to dispatch". "Dispatch". "Where was TD32 again?" "Down at dragline 5" "I'm there, and he hasn't seen it". "Well that's where it is" "Righto".
Call up DL5 again. "Nixon's to DL5" "Yea go" "Dispatch reckon you have got TD32, what have you got?" "I've got TD30 mate, no idea where TD32 is". "Righto".
Drive to top of a hill and get some cellphone reception, ring dispatch. "Oi, no sign of TD32, can you track him and tell me exactly where he is please" "Yes no worries mate, too easy... he's at the maintenance workshop" "So, not at DL5 then?" "Nah mate, no where near it". "Righto....."
That kind of thing happened a couple of times... you waste a lot of time chasing phantom vehicles. I didn't mind too much, as it was a good way for me to learn my way around the mine and about radio procedure etc.
Finally got away about 4:30, when I shoulda been away about 2:30. Got to Banana, and then managed to miss the sign saying "gladstone, turn right"... drove a few KM up the road and thought "hmm I don't remember this bit... "
Drove back to Banana and luckily spotted the sign this time... Could have been worse.. you can drive a long way in the wrong direction in Australia.
Finally made it home, unpacked the truck, and went to use the Internet. Slow as a wet week. Not useful. Checked email... "Bigpond here, you have exceeded your quota and have thus been reduced to dialup speeds". Checked usage... "You have used 70% of your cap!" uhhh what?
Rang bigpond... "Yes, your right, we have cocked up, it's completely our fault". Righto fine, fix it. "Sorry, we can't, we have to do it next week. There is nothing we can do." Grrr. "But I want my Internet which I am paying for, and I want to use it now, not on flaming Monday!" "Sorry, there is nothing I can do. Ring back on Monday. Goodbye".
Have I ever mentioned that I hate telstra with the passion of a thousand burning suns?
Right, that's probably enough for now.
TTFN.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Giddy up
Gidday.
Thought I better give you all one more update seeing as I'll be offline for a week while away at the mine. Nice easy day today, or so I thought. All I had to do was to ring a guy from work, and organise to swap our car for the mine 4WD. Simple. Well, it should have been...
Rang him and organised to meet at work, that was fine. Met him at work, swapped over the vehicles, and went for a drive out to harvey norman to have a look. On the way, noticed that the clutch felt like it had air in it, when you depressed it rapidly it made the sound of air bubbles and sometimes wouldn't disengage the clutch plate.
I made a mental note to check it when we got there, so I opened up the bonnet and had a look at the fluid level, all seemed OK. No leaks that I could see. Thinking it might be a once off I left it and decided to keep an eye on it.
After wrestling with the stuck bonnet catch for 10 mins (as I didn't have the required screwdriver to "readjust" the catch to allow the bonnet to close), I finally made safe for driving. Noticed that the tail lights were out... great, another thing to fix before I can take it to the mine. Went to get out of the park and found I was rolling backwards at an alarming rate, with the handbrake full on.
Not useful. Again a mental note to leave it in gear... handbrake may as well be non existent.
Went to drive home again, almost at a set of lights the clutch pedal again played up, and made a lot of bubbling noises similar to ABS operating. Just through the intersection the clutch went flat to the floor, and the gearbox made a bit of a clunk, and that was that. Coasted to the end of the road, stuck in gear, and turned the engine off. Gearstick was no longer attached to the box in any useful way, can't select anything nor get it out of 2nd. Great. Luckily had some chocks for the wheels, as we were on a hill and the handbrake didn't work.
Rang the boss... he rang the RACQ (AA) and they (after an hour and a half) came and towed it away on a flatdeck truck. The boss took me back to work to get another mine truck, and couldn't find the keys. Rang someone who knew where they were, got the keys, and he drove off. I went to start the second mine truck. "Click". Great. Flat battery. On the phone to the boss again...
Jump started it, and went to take off down the road. Squealing like a stuck pig, as the fanbelt is loose.
Nothing in life is simple. Nothing in Australia will ever be simple.
Finally got the truck home, tightened the fan belt adjuster, and went to get some fuel. Big dual tanks... 126 litres to fill. Ah well... all packed up and ready for the 5:00 start tomorrow morning.
Could have been worse...
We have decided to move to the new flat we were offered, so that's going to happen in about three weeks, we managed to get it down to a price we can afford and still be able to save reasonable amounts. It is a far nicer place, will post photos once we have them.
Right, better go and keep an eye on dinner cooking.
TTFN
Thought I better give you all one more update seeing as I'll be offline for a week while away at the mine. Nice easy day today, or so I thought. All I had to do was to ring a guy from work, and organise to swap our car for the mine 4WD. Simple. Well, it should have been...
Rang him and organised to meet at work, that was fine. Met him at work, swapped over the vehicles, and went for a drive out to harvey norman to have a look. On the way, noticed that the clutch felt like it had air in it, when you depressed it rapidly it made the sound of air bubbles and sometimes wouldn't disengage the clutch plate.
I made a mental note to check it when we got there, so I opened up the bonnet and had a look at the fluid level, all seemed OK. No leaks that I could see. Thinking it might be a once off I left it and decided to keep an eye on it.
After wrestling with the stuck bonnet catch for 10 mins (as I didn't have the required screwdriver to "readjust" the catch to allow the bonnet to close), I finally made safe for driving. Noticed that the tail lights were out... great, another thing to fix before I can take it to the mine. Went to get out of the park and found I was rolling backwards at an alarming rate, with the handbrake full on.
Not useful. Again a mental note to leave it in gear... handbrake may as well be non existent.
Went to drive home again, almost at a set of lights the clutch pedal again played up, and made a lot of bubbling noises similar to ABS operating. Just through the intersection the clutch went flat to the floor, and the gearbox made a bit of a clunk, and that was that. Coasted to the end of the road, stuck in gear, and turned the engine off. Gearstick was no longer attached to the box in any useful way, can't select anything nor get it out of 2nd. Great. Luckily had some chocks for the wheels, as we were on a hill and the handbrake didn't work.
Rang the boss... he rang the RACQ (AA) and they (after an hour and a half) came and towed it away on a flatdeck truck. The boss took me back to work to get another mine truck, and couldn't find the keys. Rang someone who knew where they were, got the keys, and he drove off. I went to start the second mine truck. "Click". Great. Flat battery. On the phone to the boss again...
Jump started it, and went to take off down the road. Squealing like a stuck pig, as the fanbelt is loose.
Nothing in life is simple. Nothing in Australia will ever be simple.
Finally got the truck home, tightened the fan belt adjuster, and went to get some fuel. Big dual tanks... 126 litres to fill. Ah well... all packed up and ready for the 5:00 start tomorrow morning.
Could have been worse...
We have decided to move to the new flat we were offered, so that's going to happen in about three weeks, we managed to get it down to a price we can afford and still be able to save reasonable amounts. It is a far nicer place, will post photos once we have them.
Right, better go and keep an eye on dinner cooking.
TTFN
Friday, February 19, 2010
Abracadabra
Gidday.
The weekend has arrived already. Probably a good thing... I was up at 4:00 this morning to get an early start to a job. It was one of those typical jobs, where it is doomed from the start. The plan was to do four jobs... we successfully managed only one of the four. Mostly problems related to keys... or more specifically, lack of. I was reminded of Mt Mary... the guys at Ashley's will understand that one.
Apparently there were two alternative routes we could take. First one was through a gold mine, first we needed permission. We went to scope it out, but due to the rain the goldmine road was washed out and we couldn't even make it to the mine. I did however get one pic which I will attach. Second alternative route was "around" the gate... we went a short distance up this so called track and very almost got stuck, so we gave up and went back to the main track... even if we were travelling sideways. The town is called Mt Morgan, there is a bit of a railway museum there so I suspect I may well be back there at some point.
We gave up on that job at that point, and went to do job number 2, turned out we weren't inducted on the particular site so we couldn't do it.
Gave up and went to do job number 3, which was strangely successful. Then we figured it was too late for job number four, as that was about 2 1/2 hours up the road, and by the time we drove there, did the job, and drove the 4 hours back, we would have still been on the road now.
Got back to work, and found someone had booked about 4 vehicles in for a friday afternoon for one person... which is not very useful. So instead of knocking off at 1:30 as was intended, I ended up doing an install too. So the day wasn't entirely wasted.
Everythings pretty wet here at the moment, some places have had over 1100mm of rain in the last 2 months. Yes, over a meter. They haven't had this much rain since 1974... and us kiwis are getting blamed for bringing it over.
Might head to Rocky (again) in the weekend, and carry on to Yeppoon, where there is a Peter Brock museum which we intend to have a look at. Sunday will be a pretty cruisy day, preparing myself for my first solo week at the mine.
Should be interesting...
Right, I best go and get some shut eye.
TTFN.
The weekend has arrived already. Probably a good thing... I was up at 4:00 this morning to get an early start to a job. It was one of those typical jobs, where it is doomed from the start. The plan was to do four jobs... we successfully managed only one of the four. Mostly problems related to keys... or more specifically, lack of. I was reminded of Mt Mary... the guys at Ashley's will understand that one.
Apparently there were two alternative routes we could take. First one was through a gold mine, first we needed permission. We went to scope it out, but due to the rain the goldmine road was washed out and we couldn't even make it to the mine. I did however get one pic which I will attach. Second alternative route was "around" the gate... we went a short distance up this so called track and very almost got stuck, so we gave up and went back to the main track... even if we were travelling sideways. The town is called Mt Morgan, there is a bit of a railway museum there so I suspect I may well be back there at some point.
We gave up on that job at that point, and went to do job number 2, turned out we weren't inducted on the particular site so we couldn't do it.
Gave up and went to do job number 3, which was strangely successful. Then we figured it was too late for job number four, as that was about 2 1/2 hours up the road, and by the time we drove there, did the job, and drove the 4 hours back, we would have still been on the road now.
Got back to work, and found someone had booked about 4 vehicles in for a friday afternoon for one person... which is not very useful. So instead of knocking off at 1:30 as was intended, I ended up doing an install too. So the day wasn't entirely wasted.
Everythings pretty wet here at the moment, some places have had over 1100mm of rain in the last 2 months. Yes, over a meter. They haven't had this much rain since 1974... and us kiwis are getting blamed for bringing it over.
Might head to Rocky (again) in the weekend, and carry on to Yeppoon, where there is a Peter Brock museum which we intend to have a look at. Sunday will be a pretty cruisy day, preparing myself for my first solo week at the mine.
Should be interesting...
Right, I best go and get some shut eye.
TTFN.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
God save the queen
Gidday.
Excellent day today... got to drive a discovery. Even if it was only to get it going so we could sell it... but, I got to drive it nevertheless. Man it bought back memories... the high riding position, the comfort, the landrover scent...
First time I had driven anything with the TD5 motor in it, and boy I am impressed. It has been settled, when I buy a defender, it will have the TD5 powerplant. So much more power than the poor old 300TDI I have in the shed at home.
I finally downloaded the images off my phone so I will post a few on this, as DT says, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Spent most of the day hanging a projector through a suspended ceiling... that wasn't very straight forward. I ended up installing a couple of 2x4 beams to mount the bracket to, and then the bracket was so long the projector was about a meter off the floor...
Ended up using a bit of Kiwi ingenuity (for some reason the auzzies crack up when you say that) and shortened it using my trusty dewalt hacksaw.
Got it going in the end...
Whoever buys the disco gets a free series one disco thrown in, which isn't going to be much help because the one being sold is series two. Although there are transferable parts... on a whole they are quite different vehicles. That aside I am trying to acquire some parts off the series one before it's sold, so that is proving an interesting task.
There is also a pic of the banana tree we have in our backyard, and another one of three of our portable repeaters going out to a pipeline job in western australia.
Right, I'll post these pics and then I better go and cook some dinner.
TTFN
Excellent day today... got to drive a discovery. Even if it was only to get it going so we could sell it... but, I got to drive it nevertheless. Man it bought back memories... the high riding position, the comfort, the landrover scent...
First time I had driven anything with the TD5 motor in it, and boy I am impressed. It has been settled, when I buy a defender, it will have the TD5 powerplant. So much more power than the poor old 300TDI I have in the shed at home.
I finally downloaded the images off my phone so I will post a few on this, as DT says, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Spent most of the day hanging a projector through a suspended ceiling... that wasn't very straight forward. I ended up installing a couple of 2x4 beams to mount the bracket to, and then the bracket was so long the projector was about a meter off the floor...
Ended up using a bit of Kiwi ingenuity (for some reason the auzzies crack up when you say that) and shortened it using my trusty dewalt hacksaw.
Got it going in the end...
Whoever buys the disco gets a free series one disco thrown in, which isn't going to be much help because the one being sold is series two. Although there are transferable parts... on a whole they are quite different vehicles. That aside I am trying to acquire some parts off the series one before it's sold, so that is proving an interesting task.
There is also a pic of the banana tree we have in our backyard, and another one of three of our portable repeaters going out to a pipeline job in western australia.
Right, I'll post these pics and then I better go and cook some dinner.
TTFN
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Shine on
Gidday.
I nearly had to wrap my laptop in a plastic bag to type this update, we were up to 98% humidity at one point today. That is pretty damp. And at about 30 degrees, you know your alive. Even if you are soaked to the skin every time you walk outside.
The locals are blaming us Kiwis for bringing the rain with us, there is a lady at work who hasn't seen it rain like it has in Gladstone for about 30 years. A couple of weeks back was the first time her kids had experienced rain of that consistency. Yup, we are definitely in the tropics...
Fairly interesting day today... par for the course really. We had left some large bits of cardboard at a place after completing a job yesterday, and I decided to take the work experience boy with me to go and collect it. I decided the flatdeck landcruiser (with about half a million km on the clock) would be just the ticket. Foolish mistake. Loaded up the ropes and gear for carrying cardboard on the back, jumped in, went to start it. Click. Click. Flat battery. Righto, no major, just jump start it. So I went and got the Mazda Bravo (bounty to kiwis) to jump it. Hooked her all up, started it, no worries mate. Got to the gate at work, fuel light comes on. Hmmm... can't be good.
Got to the first set of traffic lights, about 200m from work, noticed the engine revs were becoming slightly irregular. Lights turn green, go to accelerate, and the engine bogs down and there is no power. Confirm that I am indeed in first, which I was. Manage to get a little momentum up by slipping the clutch, enough to get off the intersection, and once clear I kill the ignition and coast to the side of the road. Yup, you guessed it... out of diesel. Just my luck.
Rang work, they sent the other cruiser to tow me back... and forgot the tow strop. Rang work again, they sent another landcruiser with a tow strop. Hooked her up and towed it back to work. Took the battery out and stuck it on charge, so that's a step in the right direction.
Thought "righto, I'll go and get some diesel then have a crack at bleeding this fuel line (good old diesels...)".. so jumped in the corolla with a jerry can and shot round the road to the fuel pump. Loaded the can with diesel, and went to pay for it with the fuel card. "Fuel type not allowed on this card". Turns out the card for the car is locked to the fuel type for the car. IE, not diesel. So, back to work to get a fuel card for diesel...
I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow, when I have a go at restarting it...
I ended up just taking the bravo, and wishing that I had just done that in the first place...
In the words of "Merrie Melodies"... That's all folks!
I nearly had to wrap my laptop in a plastic bag to type this update, we were up to 98% humidity at one point today. That is pretty damp. And at about 30 degrees, you know your alive. Even if you are soaked to the skin every time you walk outside.
The locals are blaming us Kiwis for bringing the rain with us, there is a lady at work who hasn't seen it rain like it has in Gladstone for about 30 years. A couple of weeks back was the first time her kids had experienced rain of that consistency. Yup, we are definitely in the tropics...
Fairly interesting day today... par for the course really. We had left some large bits of cardboard at a place after completing a job yesterday, and I decided to take the work experience boy with me to go and collect it. I decided the flatdeck landcruiser (with about half a million km on the clock) would be just the ticket. Foolish mistake. Loaded up the ropes and gear for carrying cardboard on the back, jumped in, went to start it. Click. Click. Flat battery. Righto, no major, just jump start it. So I went and got the Mazda Bravo (bounty to kiwis) to jump it. Hooked her all up, started it, no worries mate. Got to the gate at work, fuel light comes on. Hmmm... can't be good.
Got to the first set of traffic lights, about 200m from work, noticed the engine revs were becoming slightly irregular. Lights turn green, go to accelerate, and the engine bogs down and there is no power. Confirm that I am indeed in first, which I was. Manage to get a little momentum up by slipping the clutch, enough to get off the intersection, and once clear I kill the ignition and coast to the side of the road. Yup, you guessed it... out of diesel. Just my luck.
Rang work, they sent the other cruiser to tow me back... and forgot the tow strop. Rang work again, they sent another landcruiser with a tow strop. Hooked her up and towed it back to work. Took the battery out and stuck it on charge, so that's a step in the right direction.
Thought "righto, I'll go and get some diesel then have a crack at bleeding this fuel line (good old diesels...)".. so jumped in the corolla with a jerry can and shot round the road to the fuel pump. Loaded the can with diesel, and went to pay for it with the fuel card. "Fuel type not allowed on this card". Turns out the card for the car is locked to the fuel type for the car. IE, not diesel. So, back to work to get a fuel card for diesel...
I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow, when I have a go at restarting it...
I ended up just taking the bravo, and wishing that I had just done that in the first place...
In the words of "Merrie Melodies"... That's all folks!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Dream a little dream
Gidday.
Well it appears that our internet may be here to stay, it has been at least 2 days and it is still operational, so touch wood we are now in the clear for a while.
Very humid here today, it absolutely bucketed down for 15 mins or so in the morning and that has the effect of making the air very damp. 86% humidity. I have great problems walking outside, as my glasses instantly steam up. It's not so bad if you are outside constantly, but if you are in the aircon air in the car or workshop it's pretty noticeable when you go outside. If you open the windows of the car while driving with the aircon on (which is always is of course) you can see the water droplets condensing in the aircon blast, it's quite cool to watch.
If your working out in the humidity (which today I was) you are pretty much wet the whole time, you are wasting your time trying to stay dry. You just have to drink water and be happy. You have to be careful because when you move electronic gear (radios, laptops, etc) from aircon to anywhere that isn't (when it's humid like today) the device condenses and doesn't work very well. You have to acclimatise it slowly. All new learning.
The other downside of rain is mozzies. They like to breed and exist quite well in damp conditions... usually there is one or two around, but it is impossible to get to our car from our front door without encountering.... about 500. You ply the repellent and swat away but to no avail, the little bastards manage to bite you. One landed on my top and I watched him for a while before squashing him as flat as a pancake. They are quite crafty, the sit there and use their front legs to push their spiky snout into your skin. I never know when I'm getting bitten, apparently they inject a local anaesthetic so you can't feel it before they steal your blood.
The biting isn't the bad thing, and I can probably afford to lose a bit of blood,but you have to watch for the nastys like dengue fever which are a bit of a threat here. That can knock you on your back for 6 months, so it's not very cool.
They have declared it a bit of a problem so the council are going to go around fogging. This basically involves them going around with a loudspeaker saying "everyone get indoors" and then they drive a big spray truck around fogging the entire neighbourhood with mozzie poison. Sounds like a good plan to me, anything to knock the beggers down.
Spent today installing yet more interactive whiteboards to schools, I'm starting to dream about the ruddy things. I had spent a fair while running back and forward to a particular classroom and installing this thing, and finally got it going and was about to leave when the teacher goes: "oh by the way, be careful walking around out there, we saw a brown snake out there a few hours back and we are not too sure where he went".
Thanks for that, could probably have done with that info a few hours back when I was busy taking shortcuts through the gardens and sandpits...
We live and we learn I guess. Unless you get bitten by a snake that is.
Right, I better go and do some dishes, that's one advantage with only having two plates, two bowls, etc. It means if you don't do the dishes, you don't eat. And if you don't eat, you die. So it's good incentive to do the dishes.
TTFN
Well it appears that our internet may be here to stay, it has been at least 2 days and it is still operational, so touch wood we are now in the clear for a while.
Very humid here today, it absolutely bucketed down for 15 mins or so in the morning and that has the effect of making the air very damp. 86% humidity. I have great problems walking outside, as my glasses instantly steam up. It's not so bad if you are outside constantly, but if you are in the aircon air in the car or workshop it's pretty noticeable when you go outside. If you open the windows of the car while driving with the aircon on (which is always is of course) you can see the water droplets condensing in the aircon blast, it's quite cool to watch.
If your working out in the humidity (which today I was) you are pretty much wet the whole time, you are wasting your time trying to stay dry. You just have to drink water and be happy. You have to be careful because when you move electronic gear (radios, laptops, etc) from aircon to anywhere that isn't (when it's humid like today) the device condenses and doesn't work very well. You have to acclimatise it slowly. All new learning.
The other downside of rain is mozzies. They like to breed and exist quite well in damp conditions... usually there is one or two around, but it is impossible to get to our car from our front door without encountering.... about 500. You ply the repellent and swat away but to no avail, the little bastards manage to bite you. One landed on my top and I watched him for a while before squashing him as flat as a pancake. They are quite crafty, the sit there and use their front legs to push their spiky snout into your skin. I never know when I'm getting bitten, apparently they inject a local anaesthetic so you can't feel it before they steal your blood.
The biting isn't the bad thing, and I can probably afford to lose a bit of blood,but you have to watch for the nastys like dengue fever which are a bit of a threat here. That can knock you on your back for 6 months, so it's not very cool.
They have declared it a bit of a problem so the council are going to go around fogging. This basically involves them going around with a loudspeaker saying "everyone get indoors" and then they drive a big spray truck around fogging the entire neighbourhood with mozzie poison. Sounds like a good plan to me, anything to knock the beggers down.
Spent today installing yet more interactive whiteboards to schools, I'm starting to dream about the ruddy things. I had spent a fair while running back and forward to a particular classroom and installing this thing, and finally got it going and was about to leave when the teacher goes: "oh by the way, be careful walking around out there, we saw a brown snake out there a few hours back and we are not too sure where he went".
Thanks for that, could probably have done with that info a few hours back when I was busy taking shortcuts through the gardens and sandpits...
We live and we learn I guess. Unless you get bitten by a snake that is.
Right, I better go and do some dishes, that's one advantage with only having two plates, two bowls, etc. It means if you don't do the dishes, you don't eat. And if you don't eat, you die. So it's good incentive to do the dishes.
TTFN
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Better...
Gidday.
Well I am not sure if one should celebrate or not at this early stage so I will keep it low key... but it appears that we may have internet again. I'm sure it is only a matter of time before it breaks again, but time shall tell.
Finally we are seeing some reasonable speeds, approximately 12 mbits down and 1mbit up. Not quite as quick as NZ adsl2+ but getting reasonable, it shall suffice.
I successfully managed to get my kitset web server in a box built and online today, which was good. It's not entirely straightforward but it is usable. Not entirely sure what I am going to do with it but I will think of something.
Spent yesterday working, hanging whiteboards and projectors into a local school. Took a lot longer than we wanted, but however, at least it is done now. Ended up heading into town last night, met up with some interesting people, including a kiwi chick. She must of been here a while, because she speaks like an Auzzie.
Currently watching a programme on TV called "talkin' 'bout your generation" which is quite entertaining. They do have some good TV here, the only catch is they play all the good programs at stupid hours of the day. I thought a good solution would be to buy a PVR to record programmes, which may still be the answer, but it turns out you cannot buy "generic" PVRs over here. They are all locked with special "australian freeview" firmware which locks out any advanced features... this includes brands like topfield, even if you buy straight from manufacture. I may be able to upload unlocked firmware, but I will have to investigate. They treat everyone as idiots in the country, which I guess most of them are.
Back to work tomorrow, for another week. Then off to Maura again for another week. The time is flying past pretty quick actually, it's surprising where the year is going.
Right, not much else to report, and my laptop is beginning to burn my lap so I will give up for now.
TTFN
Well I am not sure if one should celebrate or not at this early stage so I will keep it low key... but it appears that we may have internet again. I'm sure it is only a matter of time before it breaks again, but time shall tell.
Finally we are seeing some reasonable speeds, approximately 12 mbits down and 1mbit up. Not quite as quick as NZ adsl2+ but getting reasonable, it shall suffice.
I successfully managed to get my kitset web server in a box built and online today, which was good. It's not entirely straightforward but it is usable. Not entirely sure what I am going to do with it but I will think of something.
Spent yesterday working, hanging whiteboards and projectors into a local school. Took a lot longer than we wanted, but however, at least it is done now. Ended up heading into town last night, met up with some interesting people, including a kiwi chick. She must of been here a while, because she speaks like an Auzzie.
Currently watching a programme on TV called "talkin' 'bout your generation" which is quite entertaining. They do have some good TV here, the only catch is they play all the good programs at stupid hours of the day. I thought a good solution would be to buy a PVR to record programmes, which may still be the answer, but it turns out you cannot buy "generic" PVRs over here. They are all locked with special "australian freeview" firmware which locks out any advanced features... this includes brands like topfield, even if you buy straight from manufacture. I may be able to upload unlocked firmware, but I will have to investigate. They treat everyone as idiots in the country, which I guess most of them are.
Back to work tomorrow, for another week. Then off to Maura again for another week. The time is flying past pretty quick actually, it's surprising where the year is going.
Right, not much else to report, and my laptop is beginning to burn my lap so I will give up for now.
TTFN
Friday, February 12, 2010
No good
Gidday.
Brief update today as I am back to cellphone internet.
I knew it was too good to be true. Having decent internet. Firstly discovered that the plan we were assured was uncapped turned out to be capped at 1.5 mbits. Decided to pay the extra $10 a month for uncapped speed. Next day... bam. No internet. Cut off. Dead as a door nail. We successfully had (slow) ADSL for no more than 2 days. Luckily the cutoff day coincided with getting a work cellphone, so I could ring telstra's helpdesk without it costing me several limbs and and probably a vital organ or two.
I won't bore you with details but I spent around 3 hours on the phone to several operators, all re verifying my details as they went. They couldn't get through their head the actual fault, IE, it didn't work, and told me they had to get their "higher level help desk" to call me back next day.
Which, to my surprise, they actually did. In the middle of the day. And expected me to tell them what the lights were doing on my modem. I told him what they were doing even though I wasn't there, and he said it was a major and would get yet another consultant to ring me back later.
Come about 7:30 that night, I was suprised yet again to receive another phone call. I was greeted with a "oh are you not at home". I said of course I am. Turned out he had rung our so called "home" number, which of course we haven't a phone plugged into because we don't use it.
This fellow at least appeared to have some technical knowledge, and between us managed to work out the fault was in the exchange and caused by them. As usual. Then he gave me the good news that it was monday or tuesday before they would be looking at it. This is a 10 minute job at best.
Needless to say I am yet again not best pleased, if they expect to get paid for this "months" internet usage they are mistaken.
So, back to the waiting game... I will let you know how we get on.
Working saturday, so will be a short weekend. Went and bought a pack and some hiking boots today, boy was that a mission. You kind of expect to be able to buy walking boots kind of like in NZ, pretty much anywhere. But no. Not here. There is a sum total of one store in all of Gladstone with any boots even resembling walking boots, and they were last years stock and they can't get any more until August. Luckily I found a suitable pair and subsequently purchased them. Not quite as good as my Kiwi ones but they will suffice.
And another thing..
All the good TV programs are on at stupid hours of the night, and crap is on when people actually want to watch TV. And all TV runs about 10 minutes late.
*sigh*
Will have to invest in a topfield HD TV recorder so we can record and then watch at our leisure me thinks.
Right, Off to cook some dinner.
TTFN
Brief update today as I am back to cellphone internet.
I knew it was too good to be true. Having decent internet. Firstly discovered that the plan we were assured was uncapped turned out to be capped at 1.5 mbits. Decided to pay the extra $10 a month for uncapped speed. Next day... bam. No internet. Cut off. Dead as a door nail. We successfully had (slow) ADSL for no more than 2 days. Luckily the cutoff day coincided with getting a work cellphone, so I could ring telstra's helpdesk without it costing me several limbs and and probably a vital organ or two.
I won't bore you with details but I spent around 3 hours on the phone to several operators, all re verifying my details as they went. They couldn't get through their head the actual fault, IE, it didn't work, and told me they had to get their "higher level help desk" to call me back next day.
Which, to my surprise, they actually did. In the middle of the day. And expected me to tell them what the lights were doing on my modem. I told him what they were doing even though I wasn't there, and he said it was a major and would get yet another consultant to ring me back later.
Come about 7:30 that night, I was suprised yet again to receive another phone call. I was greeted with a "oh are you not at home". I said of course I am. Turned out he had rung our so called "home" number, which of course we haven't a phone plugged into because we don't use it.
This fellow at least appeared to have some technical knowledge, and between us managed to work out the fault was in the exchange and caused by them. As usual. Then he gave me the good news that it was monday or tuesday before they would be looking at it. This is a 10 minute job at best.
Needless to say I am yet again not best pleased, if they expect to get paid for this "months" internet usage they are mistaken.
So, back to the waiting game... I will let you know how we get on.
Working saturday, so will be a short weekend. Went and bought a pack and some hiking boots today, boy was that a mission. You kind of expect to be able to buy walking boots kind of like in NZ, pretty much anywhere. But no. Not here. There is a sum total of one store in all of Gladstone with any boots even resembling walking boots, and they were last years stock and they can't get any more until August. Luckily I found a suitable pair and subsequently purchased them. Not quite as good as my Kiwi ones but they will suffice.
And another thing..
All the good TV programs are on at stupid hours of the night, and crap is on when people actually want to watch TV. And all TV runs about 10 minutes late.
*sigh*
Will have to invest in a topfield HD TV recorder so we can record and then watch at our leisure me thinks.
Right, Off to cook some dinner.
TTFN
Monday, February 8, 2010
Another one bites the dust
Gidday.
The unthinkable has happened. Something I thought I would never see in the time I am here. We actually have ADSL connected to our house!!!
It wasn't plain sailing, as you might have gathered from previous posts. And there was even more unplain sailing today.
It stated when we had a customer come in who wanted to receive faxes on their cellphone sim card, and send it to their fax machine via a special modem. Perfectly reasonable and achievable request. That is, until you involve telstra.
I haven't got a spare four hours so I won't transcribe the encounter, but needless to say it wasn't easy going. I was on hold at one point for 43 minutes straight. And the guy never told me he was even putting me on hold.
After ringing 4 different numbers, I got to a guy who said "you have the wrong department, when you get the computer voice prompts just say blah blah blah and it will give up and let you speak to people"
So I figured that sounded logical, and gave it a shot. The rest of the boys in the workshop now think I've gone mad, but I did successfully get to talk to a human.
Problem was, they were in Manila or some other foreign place who have never heard of faxes.
Me: "I want to see if this sim card has got fax receiving enabled"
Them: "All sim cards can receive texts sir"
Me: "No, not texts, faxs."
Them: "Yes sir, SMS and Text is same thing"
Me: "No No No, Fax! F A X! Facsimile! You know, you write stuff on a piece of paper and put it in and it goes down the phone wires in millions of tiny pieces and then magically appears as paper at the other end!"
Them: "Oh you mean a fax sir!"
Me: "Yes!!!"
Them: "Well you need to speak to another department"
Repeat this over 4 times in 4 hours and you start to tear your hair out. As John Cleese aptly stated: "If you want anything done in this country you have to complain until you're blue in the mouth!"
After over four hours of battling with these incompetent idiots, I finally got put through to someone who spoke English, (well Auzzie anyhow), and she was most helpful. Turns out they couldn't do it without a password, and I had to get the customer to authorise it, blah blah.
Anyhow, when I had the one useful person on the line I figured I might ask about the state of our Internet connection. Again on hold for half an hour, but after a long story which I won't go into here, basically the postman had not delivered our modem to our house, but to the local postshop. Apparently he is supposed to leave a card to call, which he neglected to do.
So the post shop were reluctant to give me my own mail. I ended up having to ID with drivers licences etc to prove I wasn't trying to rip off some poor bigpond customer. They needn't have worried, bigpong and telsta are doing a perfectly good job of that on their own.
Finally got the modem, took it home plugged it in.... dead. Not a sign of life. Typical of this god forsaken country. Rang telstra yet again... blah blah'ed my way through the computer, got to a humanish thing, and filed a fault report.
They rang me back about an hour later, half way through the sim/fax issue, so I started asking them about that, and then he managed to stop me and say he was ringing about our fault. He was lucky he interrupted really, I was about to give him an earful. So he went out and connected us up like they were supposed to do in the first place. Nothing is easy. Got home after work, and low and behold the thing actually goes. Kind of.
My heart sank when I saw they sent us a "thomson" modem... I have never had good experiences with them. They have us completely locked out, it has "special" telstra firmware in it which not only doesn't allow you to do anything at all, but it locks out further firmware upgrades so you can't "unlock" it. You can't change your wireless details, it hangs intermittently... no good at all.
Shopping day on wednesday for a decent linksys modem.
AND what is more, the flaming salesman on the telephone when I set it up assured me the plan I was on was uncapped speed. Turns out he was plain lying. Capped at 1500 down and 256 up, which is no good. So, yet another $10 a month out the door to crank it up to full 20mbps. Fingers crossed that + the new linksys will give me stable and usable internet.
So, that was pretty much most of my day, arguing with idiots.
Then in the afternoon we went back to a job that we started a while back, which turned to custard yet again, so the outlook is indeed bleak for the rest of the week as far as that job goes. Getting to play with a bit of wireless linking etc, so that is quite fun though.
Right, it is past my bedtime and I should go to bed as technically I am second on call tonight. Problem is the person who is first on call with the callout phone does not have my telephone number, so I'm not sure how he intends to actually call me out.
At least it means I should get an uninterrupted sleep, unless he comes knocking on my door.
TTFN
The unthinkable has happened. Something I thought I would never see in the time I am here. We actually have ADSL connected to our house!!!
It wasn't plain sailing, as you might have gathered from previous posts. And there was even more unplain sailing today.
It stated when we had a customer come in who wanted to receive faxes on their cellphone sim card, and send it to their fax machine via a special modem. Perfectly reasonable and achievable request. That is, until you involve telstra.
I haven't got a spare four hours so I won't transcribe the encounter, but needless to say it wasn't easy going. I was on hold at one point for 43 minutes straight. And the guy never told me he was even putting me on hold.
After ringing 4 different numbers, I got to a guy who said "you have the wrong department, when you get the computer voice prompts just say blah blah blah and it will give up and let you speak to people"
So I figured that sounded logical, and gave it a shot. The rest of the boys in the workshop now think I've gone mad, but I did successfully get to talk to a human.
Problem was, they were in Manila or some other foreign place who have never heard of faxes.
Me: "I want to see if this sim card has got fax receiving enabled"
Them: "All sim cards can receive texts sir"
Me: "No, not texts, faxs."
Them: "Yes sir, SMS and Text is same thing"
Me: "No No No, Fax! F A X! Facsimile! You know, you write stuff on a piece of paper and put it in and it goes down the phone wires in millions of tiny pieces and then magically appears as paper at the other end!"
Them: "Oh you mean a fax sir!"
Me: "Yes!!!"
Them: "Well you need to speak to another department"
Repeat this over 4 times in 4 hours and you start to tear your hair out. As John Cleese aptly stated: "If you want anything done in this country you have to complain until you're blue in the mouth!"
After over four hours of battling with these incompetent idiots, I finally got put through to someone who spoke English, (well Auzzie anyhow), and she was most helpful. Turns out they couldn't do it without a password, and I had to get the customer to authorise it, blah blah.
Anyhow, when I had the one useful person on the line I figured I might ask about the state of our Internet connection. Again on hold for half an hour, but after a long story which I won't go into here, basically the postman had not delivered our modem to our house, but to the local postshop. Apparently he is supposed to leave a card to call, which he neglected to do.
So the post shop were reluctant to give me my own mail. I ended up having to ID with drivers licences etc to prove I wasn't trying to rip off some poor bigpond customer. They needn't have worried, bigpong and telsta are doing a perfectly good job of that on their own.
Finally got the modem, took it home plugged it in.... dead. Not a sign of life. Typical of this god forsaken country. Rang telstra yet again... blah blah'ed my way through the computer, got to a humanish thing, and filed a fault report.
They rang me back about an hour later, half way through the sim/fax issue, so I started asking them about that, and then he managed to stop me and say he was ringing about our fault. He was lucky he interrupted really, I was about to give him an earful. So he went out and connected us up like they were supposed to do in the first place. Nothing is easy. Got home after work, and low and behold the thing actually goes. Kind of.
My heart sank when I saw they sent us a "thomson" modem... I have never had good experiences with them. They have us completely locked out, it has "special" telstra firmware in it which not only doesn't allow you to do anything at all, but it locks out further firmware upgrades so you can't "unlock" it. You can't change your wireless details, it hangs intermittently... no good at all.
Shopping day on wednesday for a decent linksys modem.
AND what is more, the flaming salesman on the telephone when I set it up assured me the plan I was on was uncapped speed. Turns out he was plain lying. Capped at 1500 down and 256 up, which is no good. So, yet another $10 a month out the door to crank it up to full 20mbps. Fingers crossed that + the new linksys will give me stable and usable internet.
So, that was pretty much most of my day, arguing with idiots.
Then in the afternoon we went back to a job that we started a while back, which turned to custard yet again, so the outlook is indeed bleak for the rest of the week as far as that job goes. Getting to play with a bit of wireless linking etc, so that is quite fun though.
Right, it is past my bedtime and I should go to bed as technically I am second on call tonight. Problem is the person who is first on call with the callout phone does not have my telephone number, so I'm not sure how he intends to actually call me out.
At least it means I should get an uninterrupted sleep, unless he comes knocking on my door.
TTFN
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Gidday again.
Been a few days since the last update I'm afraid, I had a bit of an adventure.
I'm going to open with another complaint about the Australian Internet system. Over two weeks ago now I finally signed up for an (overpriced) Internet connection. The gentleman on the telephone was most helpful, "yes sir, we will get that underway ASAP, thank you for your business".
Well, we are still waiting. They have sent me two letters saying "welcome to Telstra" and "welcome to Bigpond" but as of yet, no sign of the phoneline actually being activated and as of yet no modem arriving in the post.
"Righto" Thought I. "I'll get onto the helpdesk". So. Finally locate a telephone number. So called "freephone". Rang it. It was answered by a Dalek. I re read the telephone book, and rang their "complaints" number, which as it turns out is also the "new connections" and "faults" number.
Telephone: "Please speak to tell me how I can help you today"
Me: "Internet"
Telephone: "You want help with your Internet, is this correct?"
Me: "Correct"
Telephone: "I'm sorry, I didn't understand you. Say yes or no"
Me: "Yes"
Telephone: "So we can help you better, please state your date of birth"
Me: "11 12 1987"
Telephone: "Thanks, I would like to put you though to our Internet consultant but the helpdesk is currently shut. Please ring back Monday to Friday 8:00 till 6:00"
Me: "You are no help at all"
Telephone: "beep. beep. beep."
"Righto" says I. I'll get smart. I'll ring again and make out it's a fault, surely that will work.
Telephone: "Please speak to tell me how I can help you today"
Me: "Telephone"
Telephone: "You require help with your telephone, is this correct?"
Me (Learning from previous encounter): "Yes"
Telephone: "Thanks, now to help me more please state your telephone number"
Me: "I don't have a telephone number because your useless tech's haven't connected it yet"
Telephone: "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Please use the keypad to enter your telephone number or say I don't have one"
Me: "I don't have one"
Telephone: "Please hold" *Music fading into white noise and back into music* "I'm sorry, our helpdesk is currently shut. Please ring back Monday to Friday 8:00 till 6:00"
Me: "You're useless"
Telephone: "Goodbye"
Now, as it turns out, this "freephone" number ended up costing me over $20 in the time it took for me to argue with a robot.
Needless to say, I am not best pleased. And the Internet still isn't connected. And I can't complain to anyone until Monday. Bring back NZ Internet I say... at least telecom talk to you, even if they are in India.
Anyhow, on a somewhat brighter note, I had my first experience of an Australian coal mine last week. Spent the week staying at Maura mine, one of the bigger coal mines here. There are many stories to be told about that week but I won't go into it now or I will be here all night. What I will say is it was a real eye opener, a totally different way of life to that of the real world. Both in good and bad ways. You have to just adjust and fit in, do your part, and forget about the rest.
I met some really huge machines out there, some huge Cat 797 dump trucks, D11 dozers, shovels, and largest of all, draglines. If you have never seen a dragline before, look it up. If I remember before hitting the "post" button I will attach a pic. These things are basically an office block that moves around digging huge holes in the ground. I think the smallest one here moves 40 cubic meters of ground per bucket load. You jump on board and then it's a bit like being on the sea, the thing swinging around. Good thing I don't get seasick. We had to do some work on the dragline in the photo below, this dragline is the smallest out of the 6 on site here. We had to replace some antennas on the top of the mast, and clean a camera on the boom. The mast on this one is over 60 meters tall. Once you have climbed it 5 or 6 times the novelty soon wears off let me tell you. Climbing up the boom is something else... it's like a giant stairway to heaven. Keeps on going... you think the top is miles away. Climb the Piazza at home about 8 times in a row and you might be getting close...
One thing you learn out there is no job is rushed. A 2 hour real world job would equal about 2 days probably more out there. But it would be a safe job. No chance of much happening to you, apart from perhaps getting caught up in all the safety gear and having to start again. Unbelievable stuff, it really is. You don't have a real appreciation for the culture in these places until you experience it first hand.
It was raining for the first few days, we have had a bit of rain over here the last week or so. The entire mine turned to 8" deep mud, and most of the main roads in and out were closed. The last thing you want is huge trucks sliding around out of control I guess.
One good thing about the rain, the crows all went away and were quite for a change. One bad thing about the rain, all the ruddy frogs came out. Now you are probably thinking of NZ frogs, nice quiet tree frogs with not a lot to sing about... well... these Australian frogs are about 10x the size and about 10x the loudness. Man they make a racket for a smallish animal. There were toads too, I think they were trying to out sing the frogs, but boy were they going for it. Trying to get to sleep that night was a waste of time... I kept thinking about how much I would swap my kingdom for a shotgun.
Anyhow driving around out there I came across some cockatoos. Not many, say.. about 500. All over the road, and side of road, and in trees, and everywhere you looked. All dozy as. Eventually at the last second just before we squashed them they took off into this giant cloud of white and yellow. Totally unbelievable, I have never seen so many birds in one place. Unfortunately I didn't get the camera out in time, but I will be on my guard in future.
Right, I think one of the guys from work is going to take us out on the town tonight, so we will get a chance to observe the Gladstone night life. Should be an interesting night by the sounds of things...
TTFN
Been a few days since the last update I'm afraid, I had a bit of an adventure.
I'm going to open with another complaint about the Australian Internet system. Over two weeks ago now I finally signed up for an (overpriced) Internet connection. The gentleman on the telephone was most helpful, "yes sir, we will get that underway ASAP, thank you for your business".
Well, we are still waiting. They have sent me two letters saying "welcome to Telstra" and "welcome to Bigpond" but as of yet, no sign of the phoneline actually being activated and as of yet no modem arriving in the post.
"Righto" Thought I. "I'll get onto the helpdesk". So. Finally locate a telephone number. So called "freephone". Rang it. It was answered by a Dalek. I re read the telephone book, and rang their "complaints" number, which as it turns out is also the "new connections" and "faults" number.
Telephone: "Please speak to tell me how I can help you today"
Me: "Internet"
Telephone: "You want help with your Internet, is this correct?"
Me: "Correct"
Telephone: "I'm sorry, I didn't understand you. Say yes or no"
Me: "Yes"
Telephone: "So we can help you better, please state your date of birth"
Me: "11 12 1987"
Telephone: "Thanks, I would like to put you though to our Internet consultant but the helpdesk is currently shut. Please ring back Monday to Friday 8:00 till 6:00"
Me: "You are no help at all"
Telephone: "beep. beep. beep."
"Righto" says I. I'll get smart. I'll ring again and make out it's a fault, surely that will work.
Telephone: "Please speak to tell me how I can help you today"
Me: "Telephone"
Telephone: "You require help with your telephone, is this correct?"
Me (Learning from previous encounter): "Yes"
Telephone: "Thanks, now to help me more please state your telephone number"
Me: "I don't have a telephone number because your useless tech's haven't connected it yet"
Telephone: "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Please use the keypad to enter your telephone number or say I don't have one"
Me: "I don't have one"
Telephone: "Please hold" *Music fading into white noise and back into music* "I'm sorry, our helpdesk is currently shut. Please ring back Monday to Friday 8:00 till 6:00"
Me: "You're useless"
Telephone: "Goodbye"
Now, as it turns out, this "freephone" number ended up costing me over $20 in the time it took for me to argue with a robot.
Needless to say, I am not best pleased. And the Internet still isn't connected. And I can't complain to anyone until Monday. Bring back NZ Internet I say... at least telecom talk to you, even if they are in India.
Anyhow, on a somewhat brighter note, I had my first experience of an Australian coal mine last week. Spent the week staying at Maura mine, one of the bigger coal mines here. There are many stories to be told about that week but I won't go into it now or I will be here all night. What I will say is it was a real eye opener, a totally different way of life to that of the real world. Both in good and bad ways. You have to just adjust and fit in, do your part, and forget about the rest.
I met some really huge machines out there, some huge Cat 797 dump trucks, D11 dozers, shovels, and largest of all, draglines. If you have never seen a dragline before, look it up. If I remember before hitting the "post" button I will attach a pic. These things are basically an office block that moves around digging huge holes in the ground. I think the smallest one here moves 40 cubic meters of ground per bucket load. You jump on board and then it's a bit like being on the sea, the thing swinging around. Good thing I don't get seasick. We had to do some work on the dragline in the photo below, this dragline is the smallest out of the 6 on site here. We had to replace some antennas on the top of the mast, and clean a camera on the boom. The mast on this one is over 60 meters tall. Once you have climbed it 5 or 6 times the novelty soon wears off let me tell you. Climbing up the boom is something else... it's like a giant stairway to heaven. Keeps on going... you think the top is miles away. Climb the Piazza at home about 8 times in a row and you might be getting close...
One thing you learn out there is no job is rushed. A 2 hour real world job would equal about 2 days probably more out there. But it would be a safe job. No chance of much happening to you, apart from perhaps getting caught up in all the safety gear and having to start again. Unbelievable stuff, it really is. You don't have a real appreciation for the culture in these places until you experience it first hand.
It was raining for the first few days, we have had a bit of rain over here the last week or so. The entire mine turned to 8" deep mud, and most of the main roads in and out were closed. The last thing you want is huge trucks sliding around out of control I guess.
One good thing about the rain, the crows all went away and were quite for a change. One bad thing about the rain, all the ruddy frogs came out. Now you are probably thinking of NZ frogs, nice quiet tree frogs with not a lot to sing about... well... these Australian frogs are about 10x the size and about 10x the loudness. Man they make a racket for a smallish animal. There were toads too, I think they were trying to out sing the frogs, but boy were they going for it. Trying to get to sleep that night was a waste of time... I kept thinking about how much I would swap my kingdom for a shotgun.
Anyhow driving around out there I came across some cockatoos. Not many, say.. about 500. All over the road, and side of road, and in trees, and everywhere you looked. All dozy as. Eventually at the last second just before we squashed them they took off into this giant cloud of white and yellow. Totally unbelievable, I have never seen so many birds in one place. Unfortunately I didn't get the camera out in time, but I will be on my guard in future.
Right, I think one of the guys from work is going to take us out on the town tonight, so we will get a chance to observe the Gladstone night life. Should be an interesting night by the sounds of things...
TTFN
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