Sunny Leonora

Yep, I'm currently in Leonora on a ripper 26.4Kbps dialup line. w00t! So this one will have to be something quick.

I'm here for work, to commission and partake in startup of a new underground drill rig, the first in Australia, and actually the first in the world (apart from the prototype). Things are going really well with it all, but of course there are always a few teething problems.

Commissioning crew nicknamed "The E2 Elite"

The weather has been fantastic for the times that I've been on the surface; mornings, lunch and shift change. Hot and 36 degrees most days, although today it has been partly cloudy.

Gwalia mine at sunset

It's been pretty tough out here, two weeks of pub food and servo lunches aren't a dream holiday and I had my first bout of "what the hell did I eat that for" last night and didn't end up going to site.

I've been doing shifts here and there to accomodate for the dayshift and nightshift operators, coming in to work at 10am, leaving at the end of shift, then getting called out at night when they're ready to drill again. I'm over being called up at 11pm to go in to work, but when I get there, I see that things are going they way they should; it's pretty rewarding.

At the face

I've managed to do a little touring around the place, checked out a little bit of the mine. I'm hoping to scope out the museum one day when we've got some time off in the afternoon. And when I get back to Kalgoorlie on Friday (I think), I'll go to the Superpit.

Gwalia pit

Till then, its business as usual, working hard, eating badly and not sleeping! Glad I have my iPod though... thank god for the technology! but damn this dialup line!

And a funny one for the record

Lunch in the Valley

Yesterday was a perfect day to head out to the Swan Valley to have lunch and some nice wine.

I picked Ben up around noon and we headed out to Sittella Winery where we were meeting up with Julz, Eric, Harry and Aleisha. Of course as usual, everyone was late. This gave Ben and I the opportunity to sample some of their creations.

The 2006 Verdehlo and the 2004 Shiraz were winners and I couldn't help but buy a few bottles. A1.

The rest of the crew eventually appeared and we sat down for lunch. I had the seafood platter. Mmmm, marron. Soooo tasty. We downed a bottle of Shiraz and had some dessert.

Having some lunch

Maaaaaaaate

Time to hit the Margaret River Chocolate Factory to taste some free chockies and buy some of course! Seeing as I shouted lunch, I managed to scab some freebies off Julz. Thanks dude! A little bit of chocolate and chocolate-orange fudge, some chockies, and a mug!

It was great to catch up with everyone, and it was such a brilliant day. Later that night was Scott's birtday party/Trav's housewarming; a nice and quiet one at Trav's house. Good to see some fellow engineer's there too. Happy housewarming Trav :)

Cocktails on Campus

For a night that had so much advertising, last nite, I was actually a little disappointed. At least the event was free. Julz came to pick me up around 8pm then we and a few others drove all the way up to Joondalup (ie: South Geraldton). We waited around for the ever-so-late Harry and made our way in. It was a pleasure to meet his new miss, Aleisha!

ECU Student Guild and Sport and Rec (with the AUG, Australian Uni Games, participants) are joining forces to hold this years most prestigious event, The Guild and AUG Cocktail Night.

We started drinking cocktails from the bottom of the list upwards, beginning with a Toblerone. After then making our way through another 3 cocktails, Toblerone was the absolute worst. I don't know that the red one was, but it was great. So great, that I had dribs of red and orange cocktail still stuck to my ankles the morning after. Ewww.

The thing that really got me about the night, was the severe lack of talent. No good looking people, and the turnout was a bit low. Of the 300+ tickets, people were streaming in and out and a crowd never really developed. The highlight of the night was watching a girl fall off a couch because she was sitting on the top of it. Comedy Gold. Tax-ey!

OMG - I'm wearing lipstick!

Aleisha and Harry

Julz and Me

Eric and Me

We got bored after about 11pm so we all decided to grab some food to ease our hunger pangs. Nothing better than Chelsea Pizza for a late-nite snack. We stuck around eating pizza and drinking beers and being merry well into the night, and Julz ended up with the leftovers.

An Australian First

At work on Wednesday, I was part of a two-man team set to simulate drilling on a brand new underground drilling rig. An Australian first, the only one in the country right now, and I'm also heading off to sunny Leonora on Monday to be part of the commissioning team.

The big rig

Rainer and I were the two in charge; a crazy old Swede that likes to smoke a lot, eat sausage rolls and swear. "What's up Rainer?" "I have no fuck-king idea!" "Oh..."

Later in the day when we realised that I had stuffed up the drill plans he said "I have this fuck-king pain in my head" ie: a headache. He's a funny bloke, really.

We're running the show

The day ended and I was knackered. Not only that but everyone only just remembered that I was off to Leonora and email-less for two weeks so they're all like "oh, can you do this before you go?" I've never been so busy in my life. Working 10 and 11 hour days in an office environment is so wrong in so many ways. I'm actually really looking forward to learning heaps and having a break from the "usual" day to day shizzle. Will try to take some time to take pix when I'm away.

Today I went nuts... no, I went MAD!

Yes, today was the MAD Ride and what a perfect day it was to see about 1000 bikes ride from Shenton Park Hospital to Scarborough Beach.


Check-in was $10 from 9am but I got in about 9:20 after stopping of at the ATM for some cash. Of course, being rugged up in gear means that I withdrew about $300 with my helmet on. The guy from the drycleaners was fully scoping me out like I was doing something dodgy. I swear he had a notepad with my rego number and was about to ring the cops. I hope I don't get a phonecall...


Anyway, the best part of the day was catching up with heaps of fellow riders like Kym and Stu, Lush, Carly, Col, Saf and Jana, Frank, Jeff, Dugy, Dave and Keez, Casey and Ryan, Rebecca, Shrike, Gavin, AhnLong...

So off I go on the ride, waving a honking at kids on the side of the road, getting waves back. The ride wasn't as slow as last year's, with traffic management being a little more organised. Some bottleneck slow spots, but it was riders' faults for making four lines of bikes over two lanes then merging back into one lane. Silly badgers. My bike was well behaved and didn't get too hot.

I saw one small incident where a lady on a cruiser has either ridden into the back of another bike or simply lost footing on the side sloping hill and its gone over. She was fine and I didn't really see the bike; just unlucky I guess.

Pulling up to park in Scarborough was a bit of a nightmare, people all over the place, bikes trying to park on the diagonal. Now the poor girl was getting a little warm... I parked up only to be told by the guy I had parked in that he was about to leave. At least he told me! We swapped spots and I was clear to move my bike for the rest of the afternoon.

I grabbed my jacket and headed to check out the stalls and marquees. I was really impressed with the PSB Girls stall with calendars for sale - WOW only $25 (with proceeds going to MAD), and I'm in it! YES - I'm in JULY 2007! w00t!


Some wicked bikes were on show, and spoke to Aaron from RILUSI. The shop front of RILUSI Motorcycles should be ready for November 4th, and he told me that he'd cog my bike for free if I chuck some promo stickers on it. Hmm, tempting. But still doesn't change the fact that the drags are $40 and are a complete rip. But still, he's got gear coming in and that means only good things.

Heaps of prizes were given away on the day and of course, the Casey Stoner Race Replica CBR1000RR- which I didn't win so move along, nothing to see here.

The ride home was uneventful also but it was good to see so many bikes on the roads today. In all, a great time was had.

MAD 2007...? Hell yeah!

Pre-MAD prep

The MAD Ride is on tomorrow if you've been living in a cave, so it was *finally* time to get the old sponge and Maguiars Gold Class out to give the bike a scrub. And of course, no degreaser to be found. Nor any chain wax. What the hell is going on!?!

So anyway, it was on for young and old with the suds and then it was onto the wheels. I cleaned up the scunge, but haven't gotten around to polishing the rims - I'll have to sneak that in early tomorrow morning.

Nice and shiny

The cibby got a small gift today as well, a touch-up with a paint marker and nail polish and a new decal!

Wheelie girl!

AND if you don't know already: here's the details for the MAD Ride:

SEE YOU THERE!

Back in action

Yep, I'm back. Into fencing that is. I've made a pact with a certain Swedish friend that I'd get back into a bit of fitness routine in exchange for perverse photos! Nah, not really. But I did get that good feeling in Berlin after walking everywhere for 3 weeks.

It's good not feeling puffed after climbing a few staircases. So easing into some fencing over the next two to three weeks should be great. All my friends are there - Chloe, Paul and Nic.

Today consisted of picking Chloe up at 6.20pm and heading over to the gym. We did about 4 laps of the fencing section and I thought I was going to die. I warned her that I hadn't run anywhere in a long time! We then put on our gloves and grabbed a sabre each and joined the faggety foilists in some footwork. It only went for about half an hour and my legs were dead. Like I said before - "ease in".

After that it was back to the oLd SkoOl days where the sabreurs would rearrange their social calendars over chocolate bars and potato chips. Nothing's changed. The only thing is that we're a little older and things are a little funnier.

After all that, I sustained no injuries, did some running, caught up with some mates and bought $12 of grape juice.

Next session is Saturday from 2pm - I'll hope to make it to that one and push a little harder.

http://www.cavaliers.com.au/

Public holiday

It was that time of the year to have a belated Queen's Birthday public holiday - and what a superb day it was.

A quick phone call from Julz got me out of bed at 8am where I got the camera charged up and got ready for the day ahead.

The morning started with a visit to Maccas and the BP down the road for some breakfast and lunch supplies. Which reminds me, that lamington is still in the fridge... A couple of sandies, a bag of ice and some beers and it was all go for the powerlines.

Driving up past Mundaring Weir to Sawyer's Valley, we grabbed the turn off and headed out to the bush.

The track was about the same as last time, but Julz and I weren't so adventurous as previous, for we didnt' have a backup crew; it was just the two of us.

One moment we were heading up a large face, we had the right angle, a little bit of speed... then *scrape*. Julz and I looked at each other and I said, "heaps of room!". We cracked up laughing.

Another funny moment was listening to the new Scissor Sisters song on the radio, something about "I don't feel like dancing no sir no dancing today..." As the bridge of the song concluded with a high pitched squeal Julz says "squeeze those balls" - I nearly lost it.

Lunch was a detour 35km from the end of the track to York, a historical city about 100km from Perth. It consisted of a pint and a pizza at the Castle Hotel, where I actually ate MORE than Julz did. And no Julz, Carlton Black is no excuse for a complete meal :P

The fourby

Maaaaaaayte

A little bit of stagnant water never killed anyone

The course, looking back

A little bit of good ole Aussie flora

Bovines

Julz and his takeaway pizza; YorkYella wifebeater

Meet the family

My cousin Kinga and aunt Marysia have come over from Poland for a 5 week visit to Perth. It was time to catch up with them as I hadn't seen them in 13 years. Last time they were over, I was living in Craigie as an 11 year old. Kinga and I would have competitions on who could hold their breath the longest in the swimming pool. I always won.

Dinner at Pines

Walking around at Scabs

The weather today was an absolute treat and I wished that I had ridden to lunch, but it was a little windy. I saw some fellow riders parked up near the new parking area; I knew they had the right idea...

It was then off to The Saint in Innaloo. I'd never been there before, but I really liked the place and I'll be going back for sure. It was a wicked atmosphere and it felt like a coastal establishment, but with no beach. You walk upstairs, so you're away from the road, the sun was setting, the drinks were a bit pricey, but there were no just-turned-18's there unlike the OBH on a Sunday sesh. It was a little bit funky, and with the warmer weather, it was a sunglasses parade! The food looks pretty good too, so I'll review the place again down the track.