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.

I didn’t know road trains came this big…….

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.

There seemed to be trenches dug everywhere

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.

John at work

FRIDAY 22 SEPTEMBER     NORTH POINT CAMP

John finalized the setting up of a spread sheet he would use to record his ongoing expenses for site stuff.

I did the usual daily faxing. Made up files for each of the sub-contracting companies. Was beginning to get my head around these, and what part of the project they would be working on – it was really quite complex and required all sorts of specialist skills.

Prepared Airbags of paperwork that had to be sent to Darwin and Alice Springs, from K. I wished them luck deciphering anything he’d had a hand in! John would mail these from Hedland PO.

John had been asked by wife of BB – boss lady – to take photos of the site as was and virtually every day, so there was a photographic record of the progress and work.

The construction site. The two cleared rectangles at rear would be two pods of bedrooms; in front of those were kitchen foundations. One building in its permanent place would be the first aid centre. Note the stacks of roofing iron – scene of a nasty incident to come….

In order to take  proper over view photos of the site, John was raised up high on a forklift!

My office, from on high. Satellite dish for my phone, internet, fax. Our Truck, with its mandatory orange flashing light mounted on the roof rack. The bongo bus.

Another task he was given was to list all the plant on site, with identifying numbers and mileages, hours etc. This was to be done twice a week. Was not as easy as it sounded, not the least because at any one time, some of said plant was in use on various parts of the site. As he got to know which machine was what, it got easier.

I typed up some material related to Heritage matters, that was to become part of the Induction process.

I still did not have a toilet on site – and had taken to sneaking off behind or in between the delivered buildings in the lay down area. At least this was away from where most of the work activity was happening.

I was working out the building identifications and functions, gradually. The bedroom portables were obvious and easy. But there had been some structures that appeared on site early on – before I was taking notice – that I had no idea about, and could find no paper work for. They were basically just a floor and a roof, with some supports for same, and framing to brace same in travel. Eventually, I was to realize that the big kitchen and mess building, and the wet mess (bar) building, would be made up of a lot of modules – called floors – ultimately joined together.

So the six funny structures I was fretting about – and trying to identify for HO – were the six floors for the wet mess. The kitchen and dining mess would have sixteen floors! Some of the buildings had belonged to the company for a while and had been used in other places and projects, like the movable camps for the construction of the Darwin railway, so their identifying marks or plates were inconsistent or missing. It didn’t help!

I had a run-in with a FMG man who came out here to take photos. He went straight out onto the site, without reporting to the office or to K out on site. He came back again to fetch his camera, which was when I spotted him, and told him that he needed to wear a hard hat on site – and also report in on arrival. It was apparently his third visit to the site, so he should have known better. John had put up plenty of signs – which he found in a container of company equipment – at the entrance, about all visitors reporting to the office, etc. He argued the toss with me about wearing a hard hat, but eventually put it on. I was about to call K for support in dealing with him, when the latter appeared and took him out onto the site. Arrogant man!

We had a supply of hard hats and high vis vests, for visitors, in the office.

The site work that was being done today was digging trenches for the communications lines, and setting up the foundation frames for the kitchen building.

Foundations for the kitchen/mess building