I decided it must be time to attempt to scratch together a few words, seeing as it appears to be a few weeks since I last wrote anything in the public domain. As usual, time is flying by, I can barely believe that is is October already. 3 more months and then the year is gone. They do say time flies when you are having fun.
A couple of fairly busy weeks, as per usual. One week I had a cabling job to do in town, where we had to set up a wireless link system and also install a rack cabinet and around 24 odd data points in a few nearby buildings. As we had to use an elevated work platform to access the roof to install the radio gear, we expected to have a few hoops to jump through. We asked the fellow in charge what paperwork he would require, and was pleasantly surprised when he replied that they don't need work method statements on that site, they prefer to just get the work done safely using common sense. I couldn't believe that we were actually still in Australia for a moment there. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, we got stuck into the job and managed to get it all completed in a reasonable time frame. The job was done safely, smoothly, and economically, and it was refreshing to find there are still some companies out there who realise that paperwork isn't everything when it comes to working safely.
That weekend, I had just cooked my dinner and was settling down to enjoy consuming it when my telephone rang. It was a fellow workmate, and it transpired that he had been out for a drive and had managed to get his 4WD hopelessly stuck. I decided that I had better go and give him a hand, so I wolfed down my meal and made sure I had my snatch strap on board. About at this point I remembered that I had no spare tyre, as I had managed to obtain a puncture whilst out at the mine the week before and it was still being repaired. I decided to call into work and pick up the spare spare, just in case...
I picked up yet another Nixon bloke and we took off towards our bogged colleague. He was about 60 odd KM out of town, and it was well dark by the time we got nearby. I called him up on the radio, and by then he had walked out to the main road to guide us in to where he was stuck. We managed to locate him and we went on a bit of a journey in through the bush to his truck. When he said hopelessly stuck, he wasn't underestimating the situation. He and the people with him and attempted to dig it out, and of course ended up with the vehicle sitting on the axles and going nowhere. I sized up the situation, and determined the closest possible distance I could get my 4WD in without ending up bogged myself. I ended up having to join a winch extension to my snatch strap to get the range, and luckily remembered to put a stick in the join so that I could separate them again after the operation. I said to them, "we are going to try this once... it is either going to work splendidly well, or else not at all". I instructed my workmate to hop back into his truck, and to be sure to fasten his seatbelt... I called him up on the radio and gave the countdown, and then began to move forward. I felt the snatch strap take the strain, then, exactly as they are designed to work, the strap sprung him out of the situation at a great rate of knots. He later informed me that he only remembered the seatbelt as I was counting down, and was frantically trying to fit it before I pulled him out. He was somewhat thankful that he got it on just in time...
We packed up the equipment, had a bit of a laugh about it, then I began to drive out so he could turn around and follow me. I had got about 500 meters down the track when the radio crackled into life... "Yea, Carl... you better come back mate, I've done it again."
Sure enough... in his attempt to turn the truck around, he strayed into the soft sandy mess yet again and managed to become stuck yet again. This time it proved a little more challenging, as he was 90 degrees off the track so it was a lot more difficult to achieve a straight line pull. A winch and snatch block would have been handy, but unfortunately my land rover is across the Tasman... I went past him and attempted to pull the nose around, with little success, so I went back behind him and managed to get myself in a position that allowed me about 4 meters worth of pulling, before I would run into a tree. We rigged up the pull, and I crossed my fingers and we went for it. The strain took up, he bounced out, and I just managed to haul up about 6 inches in front of the tree. Lucky on that count, then. We packed up yet again, and this time I made him drive out first. He stuck to the track, and made it out in one piece. We followed him out and, he carried on to his camp site. We decided seeing as there wasn't much else happening that night, we may as well join them for a while. After deciding that there was no suitable camp sites anywhere near where he got stuck, we drove another 30 KM and eventually found a suitable beach. Yet again following him, he drove straight through an estuary and I couldn't believe that he didn't drown the poor old vehicle there and then. I went around the water, and met him up on the other side... apparently once he started through the water he realised it was a foolish decision, but of course stopping half way through was guaranteed disaster so he kept up it and was extremely lucky to get through it OK.
We found a suitable site, and had a bit of a campfire, sat around and chewed the fat for a while, and then just after midnight I decided it was probably time to call it a night, so I headed back to Gladstone. So, an eventful evening all in all, probably more entertaining than sitting at home working on my computer.
This last week has been fairly straight forward, we had a bit of a tidy up in the workshop, new lino on the floor, a few splashes of paint here and there, and a general clean up. I ended up moving benches, as during the course of the cleanup I discovered that the benches on the other side of the room are about a foot longer in work space, and have an extra shelf. I couldn't believe that I had been there almost 2 years and had only just discovered that. Anyhow, I'm almost totally moved back in and am beginning to get my bench set up how I'd like. I was supposed to go out to the mine and install some alarm broadcasting equipment, but half of it still hasn't arrived so that never happened. I went for a drive out to Callide, but the fellow who organised the trip had left the country for 3 months and the other fellow who he left in charge was too busy to discuss the job with me, so we ended up taking a few photos and leaving it at that. A bit of a wasted trip really. Mind you, I still get paid, so I'm not complaining.
Next week could be an interesting one, I think there is about 1500 KM of driving involved... 2 of us off to audit some cable labels and perform routine maintenance on a selection of sites to the west and north of Gladstone. A few nights away, a few long days, should be an interesting week.
Anyhow, I shall leave it at that for now, I haven't taken any terribly exciting photos this week but here's a couple for the record.
TTFN!
No comments:
Post a Comment