SATURDAY 23 SEPTEMBER     NORTH POINT CAMP

I was now keeping a Register of visitors to the site, on the computer.

BB arrived today – driving himself in his own 4WD vehicle. Think he had been down at Leonora, where the company had some sort of business operation going. Flight details for him came in from HO, so I gave them to him. He was going to be constantly moving between the various project sites, it seemed.

BB, K and two of the engineering firm men, went to RV2 to sort that site out. They were overnighting at the Fly Camp there.

I did the usual range of tasks and administrivia. There was a little less to do today, because HO only worked half a day. And also because BB was not on the office!

Rarely did anyone tell me in advance what buildings or traffic would be arriving on the site that day. I think that often, at this end of things, no one really knew. I would hear the noise of something arriving, and go out and try to figure out what it might be.

The batching plant and machinery that would make all the concrete paths and such, arrived on a very, very long road train. Any traveller who got stuck behind that lot on the highway would have been mightily unhappy. The majority of the engineering company’s staff who would do that work were starting to come in by plane – a few were already here.

It would be a while before they were all set up and ready to start the work. Materials had to be delivered, yet, for the cement, too. Water was an issue, as there was no supply to the site as yet. It seemed that FMG had arranged for that to be trucked from the Wodgina Mine site, on the western side of the highway and several kms from here. That would be an extra cost that would go onto the unexpected extra costs above and beyond the contract – which I was learning were called contingencies, to be billed to FMG by our company.

As instructed by HO, I reminded R that he must fill in the Milestone 2 Progress Report tomorrow. He was using some type of computerized Project Management software – looked very interesting, but I did not get a chance to play with that!

R had not been here long, but he was already getting regular phone calls from his wife – sometimes several each day – that left him hassled. She had just started up a small business and did not seem able to manage it without his input and problem solving! Bit feeble, I thought.

Daily trips to the plane were a reality of John’s life. Sometimes he would do two trips a day, in and out. We could now see why the old bongo bus was an essential piece of the plant.