g'day mate!
righto, finally the semester started again i have to be back in perth, but the
semester break was "allright": 2 weeks field trips into the goldfields and then
a week up north to pilbara on my own.
on the geo field trip the first place was kambalda, 500km east of perth, 50km
south of kalgoorlie. during the day we enjoied sunshine, emus and rocks, in
the evening sitting at the camp fire trying to warm us with a beer (it got cold
like 0 C and below at night and we stayed in tents..). the town itself was
really strange: you could see mainly man and man-like women in the working
uniform of the same mining company shopping the supermarket. they all looked a
little bit strange when a bunch of young students came a long into their small
town (maybe 2000 people small).
it was topped by a visit into a working underground mine in the second week.
after we picked up some students in kalgoorlie and lost some students on the
way, we continued to darlot gold mine, 300km north of kalgoorlie, in the middle
of nowhere.
the drive to that place was over the flat area of the yilgarn craton, an area
which hasnt experienced much geological changes in the last years. so to say:
it was flat as a pancake, only strange shaped mountains sometimes broke the
line of the horizon, which showed the present of more mines (mainly gold and
nickel).
you had the impression the sun was circling on the sky since eons and nothing
changed there in the bush. kangoroos and emus running through the bush. the
presence of man was only visible by the street and some towns every 200km on
the road (and the mines) and all the kangoroo-roadkills on the street.
we stayed in the camp of the gold mine, which had for around 300 people
quarters, again mainly men, but 2 or 3 younger girls were on that camp site,
too. (i reckon they had there fun!) i think the miners were quiet disappointed
when mainly guys arrived with our geo-course on that spot! the company tried to
make the spot as bearable as possible: gym, tennis court, free internet, a pub
with free pool table.. live for the miners would be 2 weeks working on the
site, 2 weeks off in the city, flying in and out by the company. but you had to
show up in the morning at work with no alk in the blood, so there wasnt any
heavy drinking in the pub, last round was at 21h30!
we had to map a tunnel while in different areas of the mine work continued.
huge trucks moved around in the narrow tunnels. it was simliar narrow as in a
parking house, but 400m underground. quiet impressive if you sit there in your
small landcruiser-jeep and a 100 tons heavy truck shows up in front of you! so
drive reverse 50m into the next small spot and give way for the heavy vehicle..
inthe 5 days we were in the mine, we saw 2 specles of gold, and it was a good
mine! its already economical when you got 5 grams in 1 ton of rock, so a cubic
meter of rock (ca 3 tons) would just give a small coin of gold!
some pictures:
www.geocities.com/no_cuchara/midyear/goldfields.htm
back on perth for the weekend i just got to pilbara after, only a 22h bus ride
up north to karatha, a big port for iron mining and the arrival point ofr a
underwater gas pipeline, so i got there out as soon as possible! i tortured my
pocket to get out some money for a rented car (ouch!) and got away. its funny
up there: you drive on the street with 150km/h and you still dont arrive much
faster, because the distances are so big. all 250km is a gas station, if the
street is busy.. karijini national park is quiet nice, but to many german
tourist arround;) and it was school holiday too. just have a long on my
picktures..
www.geocities.com/no_cuchara/midyear/pilbara.htm
great landscape and again, some ancient rocks.. (sorry cant get arround of
explaning whats about them;) the mine i visited was also quiet impressive big,
like all opencut mines.
but the best part was waiting for me, when i took the unpaved road through the
outback on the dirrection to millchester park and staid overnight at a camping
place owned by a farm. the street was one of those red gravel ones going to the
horizon, just exactly, how i imagined australia. some kangaroos and emus (big,
stupid birds, like the african ones (strauss..)) on side of the street, not
only as roadkill;) just some bushes and trees to the horizon and all pretty
dusty. the same impressive landscape for 100km. no, it doesnt get boring,
because you still try to keep the car on the gravel road at 80km/h sliding from
side to side..
on the farm i heared they do some mustering (viehtreiben) the next day. i was
too curious for that, so i got up at 4h in the morning to ask them if i can
join them as a tourist. so imagine this: all the area which i drove through,
was the backyard of the farmer, 300.000 acres (something like 50km along the
road). mustering means catching the cows, sort them and sell them. so these
were modern cowboys using motorbikes, jeeps and a helicopter to find them
(though no lasso). i sat with the craziest driver in a buggy; the windscreen
was protected by a metal fence and he had his rifle across the steering
wheel..he went arround trees, over bushes and in the end over trees, nearly
falling out of the jeep while trees and pieces of wood came through the side
window.. a rollercoaster was nothing compared to that ride in the woods!
so we wnet through the vegetation, "chopping wood" with the car while chasing a
bull at one time, which was mad enough to attack the car. it felt like a
safari, i can tell you.. what a pitty i didnt got my camera out it that moment!
on the fotos you only can see some quiet cows with some more dust and
motorbikes around them.
after that the millchester park was just another tourist place: a nice oasis
with some palm trees in the bush.
back in perth its all really green, cold and wet.
uni started today. grmpf..
but i could finaly move to my new place! closer to uni and instead of 2 messy
girls 2 messy guys, but better a party place than the old one.
20 rockton road
nedlands 6009
western australia
australia
home:+61863890157
as i'm nearly never home:
mobile:+61401542012
cu,
sven
there is no spoon..
www.geocities.com/no_cuchara
(
geocities.com/no_cuchara)