The new SPQ’s were installed at RV1. K couldn’t source concrete needed for work there.
Two of the men went out on break, after which they would be deployed to other projects.
John went to Hedland – airport run with the two workers going out on leave, then to RV1 with purchased supplies, then back here. He had picked up fire extinguishers in Hedland, and then installed them here.
Some of the plant was loaded onto the semi, to go south.
I’d completed serial number collection as Pod 3 was unpacked and set up, and spent time now getting those records in order, and completing Variation Orders. I still had to finish matching donga serial numbers with locations on site – hot work out in the open – and getting all that information into proper spread sheet format. It had not been done at all, back before Xmas, so I had to start from scratch. So there was still paper work to keep me busy – in between phone calls sorting out problems!
Most of the activity was at RV1. Four more SPQ dongas were delivered there. The sports court markings and setting up was finished there. Their power had been out again for a while yesterday. The cook reported that the oven was burning a hole in the kitchen floor! I phoned the fire services man to go out and fireproof the oven area. These days, I was regularly wondering what totally unthought of hiccup was going to happen next! They were also unhappy with their water quality – not our problem, for once.
Two new ice machines were coming, from Perth, to be installed at each of the Villages. Maybe these would work better than the old ones – or were they just to supplement the old ones?
K came from RV1 to here, to collect things needed, then went back. He could have asked John to drop the stuff off, on his way past. But I was coming to the conclusion that he just didn’t want to be working on site, in the heat.
The FMG head honcho and I signed off on Milestone 5 for both the Villages – in theory meaning all was done. I wondered how many millions of dollars my signature on that piece of paper was worth?
John did eight hours work around the site with the bobcat – filling in trenches, levelling the ground, tidying up. He was a happy man – kid with a new toy! He then took the Acco and bobcat to RV1 and overnighted there.
John doing “proper” work….
H finished here and left for Leonora with his caravan. It was feeling distinctly lonely here.
With the camp heavily occupied with workers associated with the railway building, plus Spotless staff, there were maybe a dozen or so other women here now. This had happened back at RV1 too, last year, and I found it more comfortable to not be the only woman in camp, as I had been at times at Fly Camp. There were some women workers called “peggies” – they drove mini bus loads of workers to their allocated points along the rail route and kept their crib rooms that were out there, clean and tidy, then brought them back at the end of the day.
The Wodgina Mine manager phoned me. That had been where we had been getting water for the cementers, last year. He wanted to know if we had a record here of the water loads fetched for RV2, last year? I had not sighted any such record, which was not surprising. All I could suggest was that he use the RV1 records as a guide. Those did exist – because I had made sure of it at the time.
I phoned the Shire Inspector to arrange another round of pool inspections. They would not make a date until absolutely every little oddment had been rectified. Fair enough – it was a long trip for him. Arranged with the pool installer to send depth markers and other required signage, from Alice Springs, by air bag. There were lots of grumblings from camp residents about off limits pools.
Off limits swimming pool!
The Spotless boss at RV1 was fed up waiting for the electricians to do the defect work – said he was going to arrange it himself. Good luck on that! But I could see his point – they had held up so much work.
There was a very large invoice from the fire gear company. Still more work to be done by them, too. I reckoned the size of the bill would make someone blow a gasket, at HO. But there was no other company in the Pilbara that did that sort of work – and it had to be done.
John did a tip trip with the Acco. Whilst in Hedland he bought paint to smarten up the old Fly Camp donga that was in place here. He had a slight accident. I recorded: “Heritage Red boots, jeans, Acco, paperwork, ground.”
K went from working at RV1 to Hedland to buy some stuff they needed. He didn’t think to phone John, who was in Hedland, to do that! I was still amazed by his constant disorganization. Or maybe he just wanted an easy day?
Four of our men went to RV1 to work on the new SPQ’s there, including K.
John went to Hedland with the bobcat up on the Acco, for repairs. He was asked to make coffee table tops for the wet mess. For some reason, there were frames but no tops.
The various types of these reptiles that lived around the area continued to fascinate me
The fire services company told us that the make of smoke detector installed in the SPQ’s was very sensitive to dust, humidity, heat, temperature changes and air conditioners. We had kind of already figured that out!
Things were tailing off enough now for us to have a day off.
It was a very hot and dusty day.
We slept late – a luxury. Stayed in our cool rooms, reading – me, watching TV – John. I did go and do our washing. Usually, I washed our work clothes every few evenings, after tea, along with most of the camp! I saw the point of all those driers in the laundries.
As it happened, part way through the day, the concrete mixing attachment blew some hoses, so all the men knocked off for the rest of the day.
The men worked on concreting around the new SPQ’s – and re-doing the Pod 3 area that had been wrong.
John and another of the men drove the two Accos to Hedland tip.
Rail access road; BHP railway to the left
I heard there were ongoing power outages at RV1. I wondered why their power plant seemed to not work as well as the one here. I knew that RV1 was fully occupied and we were not here, yet. But my memory was that these issues at RV1 were happening way back when there were only a few people in residence.
I certainly hoped that this camp’s power stayed reliable, as it filled up. It was too hot to be going without air-con in the rooms.
The FMG boss from Hedland was here. He wants all our company’s original works here finished by 22/1. Three days away!
He also brought out an environment officer to do a report on the rubbish pit fire. It was BHP who reported it. Typical!
We would hand over Pod 3 to Spotless tomorrow.
The communications system was completed and tested.
K discovered that six air con “bottom” outside sections, that had still been in their original boxes, were missing. He thought they must have gone walkabout during the Xmas break. We had a bit of a laugh at the image of the thieves trying to make them work, without the inside section of the split systems! Clearly, whoever took them didn’t know how split system air cons worked and one could draw some conclusions from that.
John took another tip truck load of rubbish to Hedland.
Two more SPQ units arrived. Of course, having buildings trucked in again meant that the traffic controllers had needed to be re-activated, to sit at the corner all day, waiting……
Traffic contollers would sit all day looking out on this…..
Two of our workers went to RV1 to do repairs of assorted faults there.
Other workers were digging up and removing the wrongly placed cement spurs in Pod 3.
John took the other Acco load of rubbish to Hedland. I set up a new Variation Order for the tip trips – thought I’d seen the end of that, last year.
One of the workers decided not to return after his break. He’d found the heat too much.
Whilst FMG may have received Heritage approval to dig rubbish pits, they did not have an excavation permit to dig one at RV2. The pit dug at RV1 was shut down because it was not fenced. Talk about red tape.
I was well into a routine here, now. Early to bed, of course, because of the early start in the mornings. Up at 5am, into the work gear, over to the mess for breakfast. I usually had some fruit, then toast and marmalade. The toast was DIY, on the big rotating toasting machine. John often had a cooked breakfast, but that was not for me. After a cup or two of coffee, I would pack my lunch crib – salads, cheese, sometimes a piece of frittata or quiche with that, or some cold meat. Then, to work at the office at 6am. Fire up the genset if one of the men had not already done it, hoping that someone had filled it!!
Do needed reports and other paperwork in peace for about three hours – until it was business hours in any places I needed to contact, and especially it was when Head Office fired up, and the first of what would usually be several emails and faxes per day, hit the desk.
I usually ate my lunch at my desk. It was too hot to venture out to my room, most of the time, and I only had half an hour anyway. I did have to trek back to my room if I needed to use the toilet though, and it was a fair way between office and room, although not as far as it had been at RV1.
Work finished at 6.30pm. Back to room. Shower. Put on casual clothes. Replace heavy work boots with sandals. To the mess for dinner. Back to the room. Wrote diary, read, wrote letters on the laptop. Drink a scotch and water night cap. Bed by 9pm.
We were back to getting buildings delivered again. That was fast! The company must have taken a bit of a gamble, way back before Xmas, that these would be needed, and commissioned the building company. Four new SPQ units were delivered and placed in position. This could be done by our men because they were positioned at the ends of Pods, so the forklift could get there without damaging any path work. It was found they were missing beds, so sixteen of those would have to come up from Perth.
New dongas in place at end of Pod
Brickie arrived in. He “somehow” lost the window for the office partition “somewhere” on the way from Perth. How could you just lose a large, rigid item that big, without noticing? Poor packing by the maker? Poor loading on the truck? They would replace it – eventually. That had been a saga. When I left in December, the partition was being built in Perth, to A’s specifications. The building company promised delivery within a week or two. That obviously had not happened. So P had built a rough partition that had been doing the job. Now K decided he would install the ordered one here!
RV2 was filling up fast now.
John took one Acco load of rubbish to the Hedland tip – a long round trip for him, in the heat, with no air con in the truck. Given the distance, and the time taken, that was really going to cost FMG in Contingency fees!
About 6pm there was a dust storm with strong winds. Light rain fell during the night.
Today’s communique from FMG Hedland – no more fires were to be lit at the temporary dump point. I wonder why! They wanted a timetable for when the new SPQ’s at both Villages would be installed. Over to HO on that one!
The men started doing the layout for the new SPQ’s on Pod 1. Presumably, having to do these extra installations would push back the finishing date for our company at the project.
One of the men cut a finger – quite deep. K drove him to Newman for a tetanus shot – he jumped at the chance to get away from the place. That trip took them several hours.
I heard back from the ice machine company. They suggested running the water through a coolroom first, or installing a chiller. Not much help there!
The temperature of the water coming out of the kitchen cold taps at midday was 38 degrees! It got hotter later. No wonder my post-work showers were not enjoyable.
Both the Acco tip trucks were full of rubbish from the unpacking of Pod 3 fittings. No more burning – so now what?
John took the bus to Hedland to get the new tyres fitted.
BHP ore train near RV2
Cloud had built up through the afternoon. About 5pm quite a strong willy came through – dust, debris flying about, then rain. The latter showed that the surface of the sports court was definitely not flat!
This Adventurous Age 