Day 48 The Nullarbor Plain

Good evening bloggies, well it has been an interesting and busy couple of days, firstly my other half has filled the empty space that I have had for the last couple of weeks, Awwww! Ness is back and we can get back on the road and back to normal. Welcome home beautiful.

On Wednesday I was driving back from Prominent Hill and I had a call from one of my clients, they said to me that one of their senior managers son’s had fallen off his motorbike on the weekend and was in Adelaide hospital with a spinal cord injury! They asked if I could get there as soon as possible and talk to the parents about what to expect & just some general support, now I am not a very spiritual or Karmic person but it just so happened that I was only 70km from where they were! How freaky is that? I work all over Australia and when someone calls to ask where I am I was only 70km away!

Anyway Ness & I met with this guy’s dad, as you can expect he is doing it tough....we went through some of the things that he might experience in the next few weeks and hopefully helped him in some way, I offered my support in any way he needs it and I hope they get through it ok.

Because we met with Jim (story above) we did not leave Pt Augusta until 230PM, we were meant to be meeting up with Marg & Norm in Ceduna (500km away) for dinner. Anyway after a few frantic text messages between Ness & Marg we rearranged it to supper instead! Marg & Norm had supper ready for us when we got in at 8pm, thank you so much it was a lovely night, look forward to the next meeting.

Oh but I forgot to mention the new discovery, man this thing has 180KW & 600NM of torque, do you know how cool this is! I drove it around a bit on Thursday with David, Sandy & Ness, but did not really get the chance to get a “Feel” for it. The drive to Ceduna was awesome, cruised easily on 100km/h with the van on, overtook trucks, it is quiet and sooooo smoooooth, I just love it, ask Ness... I was driving most of the way with a big smile on my face.

Oh and it is official, the Discovery is now called Dolly, Nikki suggested it & Georgia backed her up, so Dolly the Disco it is.

Today we did 500km, so we listened to music, but not just any music..... Ness has a 5 CD compilation of 80’s music. So we listened to all 5 cd’s and tried to guess the song name & artist.... How cool is that. (I didn’t get too many right!)

Happy birthday to Jo in Qld, hope the house is progressing Jo? Oh and by the way it is Ness’s birthday tomorrow.... make sure you all send her a message (we are currently half way along the Great Australian Bight and will have limited phone access)

Ok this blog is continuing as I did not get the chance to finish it last night, we stayed on the G.A.Bight last night, at a roadside stop. It was great, we could hear the waves crashing against the rocks and the trucks driving past on the highway

We also did our longest driving stint today, 700km from Eucla to Norseman WA. Got our honey confiscated at the road block. Also got pulled up by the police for a license check on the Nullarbor Plain.

Dolly is going great, 100km/h up hill, down hill no problem. Even had a comment from a truckie on the CB saying that he was impressed at how well it went up hills, we chatted bloke talk on the CB for a few minutes about how much I loved the new Discovery.

Took Ness out for dinner tonight, there is only one place to eat here (apart from the pub) so we booked in to the restaurant at the motel next to the caravan park... well it was an experience. The waitress was a young girl, she did her best but Ness & I both agreed that it was pretty bad, the food was quite chewy. So in hindsight we probably would have been better off staying home (even if I cooked)

We are heading to Kalgoorlie tomorrow so will make sure I have time to really update you on all that has been happening.

Love from us.

Happy birthday to my beautiful wife, the trip & our life is cruising along just as we planned darling, I am enjoying every minute of it. Mwaaaaah!

Day 47 Cant be bothered!

We have had a couple of big travel days, both feeling very "Flat" and it is Ness's Birthday eve so I have not finished today's blog.

Please call/text/message Ness tomorrow for her birthday as I have not bought her a present! (I know...slack, but I have been in the middle of no where)

Will catch up with blogs when I can.

Good to be back with Ness in the van though.

James

P.S. Happy Birthday to Ness's Auntie Jo in Qld, hope you had a great day and a very belated birthday to Ness's Uncle Mike...on the Gay side!!

Day 46 Ceduna

Very quick & short Blog tonight, made it to Ceduna, just got back to the van after dinner with Norm & Marg, lovely to finally meet you both. Promise i won't tell anyone about the beds in a Russian hotel!

I fell in love today! I mean you all know i love Vanessa, but today i fell in love with our new Land Rover. Man can that thing Pull! More on this in tomorrow's Blog

Have a great night Blog Readers

James

Day 45 Prominent Hill last day

Last day at P.H. today, I’m writing this blog early in the morning as I won’t have time during the day. Ill be busy packing the car and getting ready to leave. My plan is to leave after my second session today, I should finish around 230PM. By the time I go to the loo, get a couple of bottles of water (travelling in remote areas....have to carry at least 4 litres) it will be 3PM and I will then head back to Pt Augusta and meet up with Ness, Sandy & David.

Last night was good, I know a lot of the people here now and went to the wet mess for a couple of beers, this site is typical of many like it.... in that most of the people here don’t really want to be here but this is their job. And they will stay here until they get sick of it or go on to the next site. The turnover here runs at around 30 – 40% per year according to the HR manager. That is quite low for fly in fly out, usually it is much higher.

Nikki, thanks for the suggestion to name the LR Dolly, I will consider it, Arama suggested Bertha or Bea, but I was always scared of the Prisoner character. Who can tell me the name of the 3 guys (girls) in Priscilla? I might name it after one of them! After all it is a tough car that wears a Bra!

Ness, Sandy & David are in Renmark, they rang me from the restaurant overlooking the golf course..... way to rub it in! I might go up the wet mess, mingle with some smelly miners, swat 300,000 flies, drink beer straight from a bottle with no stubby holder and call them! They don’t know what they are missing!

Rob has let us know that he is settled in Vietnam, his digs are comfortable & he can communicate with some of his staff, don’t worry too much about Juan Rob, hasn’t he told you that he is joining Ness & I on the caravan of love tour? He is now the official tour director and events manager. (Juan I’ll ring you soon and discuss the position).

I had a great chat with one of the guys that works here today, he hung around after my second session today with a couple of the other guys from the drilling crew (he was mentioned in yesterdays blog....his name was Gerard) he is aboriginal and he said something that I have heard before, he said that aboriginal people hate wearing seatbelts! I asked him why and he said it is just something that gets passed from person to person, family to family and even generation to generation, he says that he remembers his dad telling him not to put a seatbelt on when he was a kid! And he said that he would often be in a carload of people and no one wore a seatbelt. But he does not know if there is any reason behind it. he thinks it is just a habit that aboriginal people have that they keep going, he even said that he allows his kid (3YO) to travel in a car without a seatbelt! (but he did say that he would after the session today)..... Interesting hey.

Georgia, is this a noticeable thing in Menindee? Arama do they have the same problem in NZ? (Sorry about the cricket by the way!)

Do any of you find washing therapeutic? I went to the laundry again today and sat there while my washing went round and round and round and round......sorry got carried away, but it is just something that I find relaxing. Ness will say that it is probably because I don’t do it that often!

I also read a book today on the relationship between the local aboriginal landowners and the mining company, it wasn’t a book....more of a glossy brochure making the relationship look all cosy and sweet. It was all about “Working together”...... Crap! The mining companies usually say and do whatever they have to just so they can dig big holes and get precious stuff out of the ground!..... again just my opinion, but I work with the industry so am really a part of the problem I guess!

I want to run a straw poll here, if any of you have ever heard of Les Norton can you please let me know.

See you all soon in my dreams..... well that is if I dream! That will be a topic of a future blog.

Love from me.

Day 44 Видные Хилл (Russian) for the 2nd last time

Right I have to start this blog by asking how many of you assume things about other people? I mean a lot of us do, I do sometimes. Yesterday my sister accused me of using spellcheck? And I thought to myself..... that is an assumption.

Heather I will have you know that I had the finest education at Gunnedah High School, on the rare occasions that I actually went to school and did not go down the river fishing or swimming.... I actually learnt how to read, write, spell & even add up! (wasn’t real flash at science, music or history) but I did love English & reading books. Must have stuck with me though as I still love books and writing is something that I have only recently started to do but I am enjoying it. so to clarify things I do NOT use spell check unless absolutely necessary!

Hey I’ve been here for 8 days now and the clean undie drawer is running low. I wandered around the camp and looked for a laundry that did not have steps to get into..... there was none! I then went to the camp office and asked if there was a laundry that I could get into. They said no, but they did have a ramp that they sometimes use for trolleys etc. They said they would find it for me. Anyway to cut a long story short they could not find it so they had 2 of the maintenance men make me up a ramp within a couple of hours, it is a beauty, checkerplate non slip top and very secure. I will take some photos of it.

But it reminds me of something that happened with my brother in law Brad, I have been visiting him and my sister as often as I can over the last 5 or 6 years, they lived (until last week when they moved into a new house) in a beautiful Queenslander style house, raised off the ground with everything upstairs. Brad only last year went to the effort to make a ramp for me to get into their house, so for almost 6 years whenever I went to visit he made me sit out the back of his house! These guys did it in a couple of hours Brad! Now I know where I stand with you!

And now he is hell bent on creating his “Blokes World” I guess this is aimed at keeping me away too mate? I’m not coming to visit until you call it MANLAND!

I like this blog thingy, I can tell people stories (and slant them my way). Don’t you write a nasty reply Brad, I will bar you from the blog!..... Hehehe!

So getting back to the ramp, I did my laundry today, they supply washing powder & you don’t have to put coins in the machines. Actually the only thing that you have to pay for here is alcohol and shop items (soft drinks, chocolates, newspapers, toiletries) so the money in your pocket each week is yours!

Ness had the car bra fitted to the still un named Land Rover today. Looks good and will protect the front of it on it’s Maiden voyage tomorrow. When it gets to SA and I see it for the first time I will take some pics and put them on the web too.

They had a couple of dingo’s on site last night, apparently they come into the camp and raid the garbage bins. I didn’t actually see them but they made a big mess. I wonder how Panda (my dog) is coping with us being away. I miss her too.

This morning when I went up for breakfast and there were a couple of the guys that had just finished night shift and were sitting in the wet mess (Bar) having a couple of beer’s they called me over and asked if I wanted a drink! It was 6.20AM!!! but for these guys it was the end of their shift. Sounds strange hey, to be having a few beers first thing in the morning!

At each session I run, the guys have to sign an attendance sheet, I had a laugh today when I read the sheet, the group were all contractors that worked for a drilling company here are some of their names

• Jonno
• Matty
• Kenny
• Stevo
• Danny
• Billy
• Tommo
• There was also a peter, an Anthony & a Gerard but they just don’t sound as good!

Ok folks, my second last Blog from Prominent Hill.

Speak to you all soon

James