Day off. We just lazed about, did the washing, read the papers that John had bought in town yesterday.
N drove BB and wife to RV2 today. A big step was achieved there today, apparently – their kitchen modules were now installed.
S and N would be permanently down at RV2 now. Bet she was pleased to see the end of the cleaning and revert to office work.
Fly Camp wild life
The putting together of the camp office building was done.
The site admin office
Earlier on, I’d been surprised to see a separate gym building on the plans. Thinking about it, I supposed that the camp residents, confined to such a place for several weeks on end, might need some diversions apart from work, eat, drink. So the recreation facilities that were starting to take shape, made some sense. Today, two “floors” for that building arrived and were unloaded from the truck.
Eight more modules were moved south to RV2.
N left in BB’s Landcruiser to drive to Leonora, to pick up BB and boss lady. Occasionally, over the past weeks, I’d heard references made to Leonora – which I couldn’t figure out. To me, it was a small town with some historic interest, in the arid country north of Kalgoorlie, so I could not see any relevance to what we were doing here. Turned out that the company had acquired a property there and was turning it into a short stay accommodation facility, to cater for the recent upturn in mining activity in the region. Smart idea.
I guessed that BB and wife had flown in to Kalgoorlie, and someone from Leonora had collected them so they could inspect work there. Today it was our turn. Hoped N liked driving – it was over 1000kms from these parts to Leonora and then he had to come back again.
It was very quiet in the office today. I got the Document Register up to date.
I went out and did the serial number checking on the SPQ’s in Pod 2 – the first 20 buildings. That took me over two hours and was very sweaty work. Inside each room, had to get down on my knees to find the serial number of each fridge, then that for the inside part of the air con. The room key number was listed too, then it was around the back of the building to get the serials for the outside part of the air con, and the donga’s hot water service. Seventeen serial numbers per SPQ donga! Times 20. That was 80 times prostrated down on my knees in front of a fridge. I was exceedingly grateful that M and S had done this work for Pod 1 when they were cleaning and setting it up.
One of the many, many, fridges I had to open and kneel before……..
John had a quick trip to Hedland to fetch the repaired axle for the bobcat excavator. He then set off with another load of rubbish in the truck, but came back after going about 10kms because the stuff was blowing off, all over the road. None of the men was very willing to help load rubbish on to the truck, even though it was as essential as anything else. John managed to get the load secured and took the load to the tip.
The word was about that the 13th was to see the completion of Stage 1, as far as FMG and the Spotless people were concerned. That would mean that Spotless would be able to move in and start setting the place up for residents. I suspected that may have been the original deadline, before the delay in starting the project, but I found it hard to see that – essentially – all the main building work would be completed by then.
The main switchboard was delivered about 8pm last night.
John filled all the power generators, using the 200 litre drum and filling it at Fly Camp. According to the meter there, the drum took 528 litres!
Tonight’s meal was a little better – chops, potatoes, vegies. Why did we not get salads any more?
A Port Hedland company was sub contractor for all the electrical installations and they’d had a couple of men working on site since the start of October. Today they were working on the kitchen/mess electricals. The generator company could make no further progress on their installations and hook ups because no switchboard had arrived yet. But, apparently, it would not be long before the place was powered up.
A big event today was the final connecting up of the bore. A genset was put up there for power and…… – it pumped 17,000 litres of water today. At last!
Camp water came from bore, several kms to east of here – that way………
Veranda construction had now moved to Pod 3. The cleaning, setting up and making of the “punch list” of things to be rectified had now moved to Pod 2. Cement block steps were being placed outside each room door in Pod 1. So that was what all those cement blocks were for!
On the quiet, H drove a load of rubbish to the Hedland tip, in the Acco. There was no charge, because the tip people didn’t know what to charge! They would work it out before the next lot.
The unpacking of Pods 2 and 3 was creating massive amounts of extra rubbish. The mattresses and bed bases came wrapped in plastic, fridges in packing, likewise the air-con sections, venetian blinds for each room, and so on. Huge amounts of cardboard and plastic.
Four modules arrived that would form the site administration office for Spotless, and were put into place, close to the end of the kitchen building. Being brand new, they would not need repairs, painting or the like. It seemed that there were no air conditioners supplied with these, so there was some discussion with HO about this.
John had a Hedland trip.
John had been at work, putting up safety mesh
Eight more modules were moved south to RV2.
I was instructed to fax off acceptance of the fencing quote. And to order some more fire extinguishers.
A sudden whirly in the afternoon knocked over and damaged the laser level that was being used on site. It threw sheets of roofing iron around the place. Bit dangerous, those whirly things.
N and S had their day off. They went exploring and later told us about a lovely pool on a river, south or east of here. They were a bit vague. Their photos looked great and I resolved to try to find it on a day off, soon.
Fly Camp meals had been deteriorating, since there had been a change of staff a week ago. Tonight’s meal was a tasteless assortment of stews, with rice.
Sunrise at Fly Camp
John was put up on the forklift to take aerial photos of progress to send to HO. The scale of the place was such that this was the only way to obtain a clear idea of progress.
Infrastructure being established – water plant, gensets near it, sewer plant centre rear
Watching John on high
8 more dongas were moved south.
Loading up with buildings for RV2
S and I had a discussion, requested by HO, about Xmas and timing in relation to workers flying out for their break over that time. She intimated that she and N might not want to return after the Xmas break for the rest of the RV2 project. I thought she was finding the conditions hard – and having to do the cleaning work. She certainly did not like having to associate with some of the men – I didn’t blame her there! I said that we could fly back and do the last few weeks, if necessary, as long as we (a) were home for Xmas, and (b) got the van out before any cyclones. We would not be prepared to leave it here over the holiday break! So, she now knew all that and could use it in any discussions she night have with her friend, boss lady. However, I did think that N was quite keen to come back though – think he was finding the work interesting. I wondered who would prevail. He had been sent to RV2 to help down there all day but had to come back at night, partly due to room shortages down there and partly because there was no way S would stay alone here at night.
I had to send an email to HO for John. He had discovered that the meter on the FMG provided fuel tank at the Fly Camp was very inaccurate – like out by 80 litres in 200, and not in our favour. Since the company was being charged for fuel used for its vehicles – and ours – this must be addressed.
The quote came in from the fencing people and I forwarded that to HO. I also had to organize a quote from a fire safety service company – the only one in this part of the Pilbara – to come out and check and tag the fire extinguishers that were on each of the buildings, in the kitchen and around the place in general. That was a lot of fire extinguishers! By regulation, it had to be done. They would also need to supply more of same.
My son phoned about 5pm. Was great to hear from him. They had just bought my grand daughter her first school uniforms for next year – she was growing up fast.
High 30’s and humid.
I had to phone the council in Hedland to find out where the tip was, and what their charges for use were.
The South Point Camp was full. R was having to juggle when people went down there to work, because of lack of rooms. BB and wife were expected to be there on Sunday. They would have to sleep in the room set aside for N and S down there.
My site office. Ice machine in temporary use for our staff – filled from cooler bottles!
John went into Hedland. He measured how far it was from here to the tip – information we would need to work out the extra charges to be levied for having to take site rubbish to the tip. It was 106.6kms. Thus, a 213.2km round trip, each time. I didn’t know what the company would charge for the use of a vehicle, plus driver (probably John!) time, but it was not going to be a cheap exercise. Would have been so much easier all round if the rubbish could have been dealt with on site.
Seemed there were some problems in the Darwin Office, and the way the guy who was filling in for R, was running it. Just something else to worry R.
No buildings were moved from here to RV2 today – the drivers had a day off.
The team…….
Yesterday’s rain had cooled things down and today was only about 37, but it was really humid.
It seemed that R was under a lot of pressure from home, with his wife regularly on the phone, and often upset. With the pressure he was under here, he certainly needed support from home, not this.
The ground was still muddy today. There was some more rain in the afternoon, but not as much as yesterday.
John had a Hedland trip – had to take BB’s Landcruiser tyres to be fixed, and the Acco wheel. He took BB to the plane – the Landcruiser was to be left here, as BB would be back soon, with wife.
I had to phone the fencing company and get a price for them to install a fence around the loading dock end of the kitchen – chain mesh, 1.8m high, 120 m around and with a set of vehicle gates. There was to be one for each Village – ours to be built by the end of November, RV2’s by mid December. Hmmm – that gave me an idea of the relative stage the latter was at, compared to our site.
Another 8 buildings were moved to RV2.
The fence around the bore was completed.
A serious fence around the bore
R’s weekly Milestone Progress Report showed that Pod 1 was 99% complete, Pod 2 95%, Pod 3 60%, kitchen 95%, other huts 40%, inground services 95% complete. It was amazing what had been accomplished in six weeks. At the same time, I thought that there must still be a lot to be done that I was not aware of, or else we might be finishing up here sooner than I thought.
Inside one of the laundries, after installation, before cleaning. There were two laundry dongas in the centre of each accommodation pod – 6 in all – equipped with rows of washers and driers. Dirty work, building a railway……..
Yesterday, work had started on putting the verandas onto the Pod 3 dongas, cleaning the kitchen/diner, and fitting out Pod 2. The hole for the swimming pool was dug. The water pipe from the bore to the village was being laid, in the scrub beside the road.
During today, 8 SPQ’s were moved from RV 1 to RV2, and another 5 arrived directly from down south.
A lot was happening at RV1 now. The kitchen, Pods 2 and 3, the ice room and the first aid room were all areas of work.
John had a trip into Hedland for supplies.
The Acco got another flat tyre.
R was busy on the phone in the morning, trying to track down the errant truck with its load of steel, that had been supposed to be on the road from Darwin yesterday. Truck was still in Darwin. Its driver had spent Saturday night in jail – drunk and disorderly! The Darwin manager bailed him out yesterday – and then he had to sober up before he could drive. R was really steaming! Not only did we not have the steel, but we were a truck short for moving dongas to RV2. Decided I did not want to be within earshot when Brickie finally arrived!
News came through that the first swimming pool had been fabricated – in Alice Springs – and the second was under way. Both pools were expected to be installed in mid November.
In the late afternoon, there was a massive hail and rain storm, with quite strong winds. The building site got really muddy – nasty red mud. The track back to Fly Camp was very wet, with water over the road. There was even a little puddle in the river channel – one small pool. When we got back to camp, after work, found that in the strong winds, the small tarp on our van was torn and the bigger one on the other end was blown off. We took them both down. Inside the van was all dry – lucky really, because we’d left the back window of the van open, under its tarp. There must have been just enough protection….
BB turned up, late in the evening. He had been expected earlier, but had two flat tyres on the Landcruiser, on the way up from RV2, where he’d been to check on progress there.
40 degrees and humid – again. Looked like this was the norm for now. I hoped it would not get any hotter.
We had now been here for six weeks. Hopefully, we were more than half way through this project; given the speed at which the work was progressing, this was quite likely.
The trucks that were on their way up from Perth yesterday went direct today and delivered the first six buildings to RV2. Yes! They were 4 SPQ’s and 2 laundries. I wondered if anyone on site there would be doing the recording of building numbers?
It was our day off. I did the washing. Read papers that John had bought for me in Hedland, yesterday.
John changed the wheel bearing on the van – on the door side – the one that was getting a bit hot when we were coming down here. I felt some concern about this, because that was the wheel that we damaged on the way home last year. In theory, all the bits in there should have been new, and fine. If we did finish up getting to drive home before Xmas, we would be crossing the Nullarbor in really hot conditions – and would not want a breakdown then.
Our friendly camp reptile
Sometimes, I felt vaguely guilty because we were not utilizing days off to go out and about, sightseeing. But it was so hot out there! And after the busy weeks, all we feel like doing is hanging out around our camp. Given that John was driving so much through the week, he really wasn’t keen on it on his day off.
When I started work at 6am, the comms were back on again. But later, the comms man came out from Hedland and replaced some sort of switch in the modem, anyway.
John had two trips into Hedland today, once for supplies for the building work, and once for an airport run.
There was work on a number of fronts – on the kitchen and Pod 2 verandas, plumbing up Pod 3, digging water lines, the sewerage company working on that system. Two SPQ’s were delivered.
Dinky little machine!
News came from HO that BB would be here on Monday – driving in. Then he and wife would be around the following week.
There was a major development today. The head honcho for FMG in Hedland came out to deliver the news that we could now have truck access to RV2 via the BHP road, starting Sunday. There were lots of conditions, of course, but it meant that work there could now proceed properly.
FMG had to arrange for there to be traffic controllers on duty at the corner of the RV2 track with the BHP road, because that corner was in a dip and near a bend. That was really going to cost: the traffic controllers would have to come from Hedland, daily – some 250kms each way. There would be two people sitting there through the daylight hours, waiting for trucks! Of which there may not be any; over the distance from Perth, it was impossible for exact arrival times to be known. It wasn’t as if there was even regular traffic on the BHP road, either.
So R had to hassle around, organizing for trucks to move buildings from RV1 to 2. He managed to get a message to Capricorn Roadhouse, for the truck that had just delivered SPQ’s here, to turn around and come back. There were two trucks in transit from Perth with buildings; the transport company head had to get a message to them to stop at the Marble Bar turn off and wait for instructions – definitely not to go any further without approval from R.
Any of our vehicles using that road were supposed to have orange flashing lights on the roof, which we all already had, including our Truck. But they also had to have company identification signs, numbered, on the sides. John had to get these made in Hedland – in a rush. We certainly were injecting a lot of cash into the Hedland economy with this project.
In her cleaning and setting up of Pod 1, S and M had discovered that there were many missing or broken door locks. Something like fifty sets had to be gotten from the building companies. I was not sure who would pay for that – HO could sort that one out.
The company semi driver, B, was supposed to be bringing the company semi down from Darwin, with a load of steel urgently needed for something or other. R got me to phone the Darwin office to find out if the truck had left the yard there, yet. It hadn’t. R was not pleased. When that truck got here and was unloaded, it too could be used to move buildings to RV2.
The late afternoon skies and sunsets were fascinating me – always different, but consistently beautiful. In fact, I was starting to see a quiet and unobtrusive beauty in this whole area. Sometimes I felt that it was criminal to be digging up this so ancient area and shipping it overseas. It was not too great a stretch of the imagination to feel the pain of the land.
FRIDAY 27 OCTOBER NORTH POINT CAMP
It was very humid today, and about 40 degrees.
Our men worked on the kitchen set up, the Pod 3 verandas, and at the “poo farm” site.
Water tank and water treatment plant
Three more SPQ’s arrived. The delay in access to RV2 for trucks was really creating a ridiculous situation.
John went to Hedland for supplies.
A mechanic came out from Hedland to try to fix the broken down bobcat, the repair of which was very urgent. Without it, trucks could not be unloaded.
Another man came out from Hedland and removed the virus from R’s computer and at the same time hooked it up to print directly on the office printer.
The phones went out, from about mid morning on. I was able to get John, who hadn’t yet left for Hedland, to contact, from there, the comms company. I wondered if it was somehow linked to S’s stuffing about with the systems yesterday.
The Acco tip truck got a flat tyre. The repaired forklift blew a tyre.
The cementing company’s excavator was brought from RV2 to RV1.
This Adventurous Age 