Hello again

Hi everyone, yes finally updating.

we haven't had too much to talk about so haven't

updated here.

Some two weeks ago, Emerald and surrounding areas copped quite a bit of rain and subsequently, we were flooded yet again.

This time on the Thursday, it had rained so much

during Wenesday night, we couldn't get to work in Emerald,

or go the other direction towards Blackwater either.

This only lasted the day so by late Thursday arvo,

we could at least get into Emerald, but

they were only letting local traffic move around.

Because the water hung around the whole area including

the coal fields, we couldn't drive the miners and

contractors out to the mines, so we were doing

shuttles around Emerald and taking them

to the airport, where the mining companies

had hired light planes to fly the workers

out to the mines and bring them back to Emerald.

This continued for three days, the money involved

out here is just incredible!

This the recent flooding, there is a bridge under there, even

when the water drops we can't use the big buses as they

place a 9t limit till they can inspect it,

it causes a few dramas for jobs around town

for the mining runs.

This is from the first session as we arrived in Emerald.

See there is a bridge.

Over the last weekend we  had a night in town,

stayed at a motel Sat night, went to dinner

at the Irish pub, had a few drinks and back

to the motel, very relaxing night.

Sunday, we did a day trip out to Sapphire and Rubyvale,

"the gemfields"

Very interesting places, found a great caravan park

in Sapphire of all places, worth a stay at some time.

There are many gem shops in town, locals

trying to sell their finds and their own

jewellery mostly all hand made and the gems are

generally mined in the area also.

Didn't try any fossicking, ran out of time, but

will go back there at some time.

Rubyvale had a very nice gem store and a great little

country pub, had lunch there.

Great food, great service.

These towns are a must see, really eye openers.

Main office at Sapphire caravan park,

no grass, but very well set up and packed during

the winter months of course.

Very friendly staff, place was spotless.

This is the camp kitchen, great set up.

Rubyvale Hotel

Hello again

Hi again everyone,

well, a few developments over the last few days.

Susan has resigned from the pharmacy, just not working for her.

Having said that, Susan started work at the local Foodworks store today,

it will be four days a week, so it will keep her

out of trouble most of the time :)

Couple of the photos from the pharmacy before it was ready, Susan spent

most of the time putting up shelving and stocking them,

she came home quite exhausted every day.

Les is still working 6 days a week, the mine sites

are plentiful around this whole area,

the sites Les has been to so far include

BMA Blackwater, Wesfarmers Curragh,

Ensham, Kestrel including a new extension,

Crinum and Crinum East, Clermont.

We don't see each other a great deal after Les finishes his morning

runs, which is a mine run, then lately he goes straight to the school run, he usually has a nanny nap, then lunch and back to work

in the early afternoon. Then he doesn't get home till 8.30 - 9.00pm, then it's shower then have tea, off to bed.

We only have five weeks left here before we head off north, time goes

very quickly here.



The next weeks news coming to you from Emerald

Well another week has flown by, we have both been very busy with work, Susan started

at the pharmacy and has been flat out every day getting stock in and setting up shelving

etc, chasing stock and meeting new staff of the pharmacy.

The shopping centre opens this Thursday and will no doubt cause some

traffic hassles in Emerald, which they generally don't have problems with.

They have two ne wsets of traffic lights being completed as part of

the centre's opening.

The intersection for the centre is on the Capricorn Hwy so

the road trains are constantly using the road and their refuelling

point is oposite the new centre, so that will

cause therm some headaches no doubt.

Les very busy with work, visitng a variety of mine sites taking workers in and out,

some of them are very particular about visitors if you haven't been

inducted, (means having to go to seurity each trip and get a

visitors card then hand back etc etc).

Below is Wesfarmers Curragh Mine at Blackwater.

This is one of the mines we service, morning and afternoon.

Two/three drivers have to travel from Emerald to Blackwater each morning

(4.15am start) and each after noon to run these services.

Round trip to/fm Blackwater 150k's then use the coaches

located in Blackwater to do a 50k round trip to

the mine sites.

Well that's all for this week, the weather is starting to

cool down at night, and the nights are crystal clear.

The days are still warm but not too hot.

Yes, finally our update from Emerald

Hi everyone, sorry for the delay getting this updated

We have been quite busy during our first two weeks in Emerald

We arrived on the Saturday afternoon, with Susan’s back still

Not good and probably being aggravated by having to

drive for two days towing the van, she did a great job.

BREAKING NEWS! We were successful with our applications for the positions at Mt Surprise in Nth QLD starting early May, very excited, can’t wait to get up there and learn all about the area. Les will be doing tour guide as part of the Savannah Guides group and Susan is working at the reception office and some cleaning. We anticipate being there till possibly late Sept. The Park we will be working from and staying at is the Bedrock Village Park, where the tours operate from. Check thier website below.

Bedrock Village

We will leave Emerald around end of April and take our time heading north.

We set up camp at the Emerald Cabin and Caravan Village

In Opal St in town.

We were to meet the new boss on Sunday morning

at 10.00 for a coffee and a chat about Les’s new job.

Unfortunately, Susan’s back was quite bad Sun morning, so we headed to Emergency at the hospital. They were very good and thankfully not too busy. The doctor gave Susan an anti-inflammatory injection to try and settle the spasms and some pain killers.

By this time, Les had to go and meet the boss, Murray, so left Susan at the hospital for a while to settle the back.

Les met with the boss as planned. Learnt all about the company, family owned, have some 26 drivers, Murray and Noela, the owners, with Kim, their daughter, the Manager of the business. Also the ops manager and the pay lady.

Murray gave a run down on the operation, the area in general and the mines in the area which they service. There are some 20 mine sites around the area which we service, including out to Blackwater, Middlemount and in between. We run a variety of services for the mining companies, and also for some contractors who do repair and maintenance work on various machinery such as the drag lines.

Susan immediately started work on looking for a job. There are numerous jobs around town, including Woolies who are constantly chasing people and more so because there is a new shopping centre opening on 15 March which has BigW and woollies and other stores.

Susan had already been for one interview at a local motel for a cleaning job. She has also been for an interview for a pharmacy job which is opening in the centre also. Susan then also had an interview with Big W to do night replenishment of the shelves. She then had a call for an interview with Mitre 10.

Since all this Susan has been offered the pharmacy assistant position and then also was offered the Big W job. The local Foodworks managers are staying in the area we are staying and had offered Susan and one of the other wives of one of the other drivers a job also.

Sooo, Susan starts with the pharmacy in the new shopping centre Mon 5 Mar on a full time basis. She then found some clashes with Big W in the first week already. Subsequently, Big W job is on hold for now.

Les started with Emerald Coaches on Monday 20^th and was thrown into it from the start. Murray took him and another new driver out on the road in a 50 seater coach for some familiarisation. Talk about the deep end, Les had advised Murray he had only driven the 22-25 seaters previously, but that didn’t worry Murray, he just said, you'll be fine.

Murray drove out along one of farm roads and then threw John, the other newbie in the drivers seat for a while. He then stopped and said it was Les’s turn. After a short run, Murray directed us back towards the depot, but kept going into town to tackle some roundabouts, wasn’t that fun! Managed reasonably well getting used to the gears and the size of the coach were the biggest things.

Emerald Coaches has 26 buses in total with the majority being coaches. Murray has just received another two coaches also.

From there Les was rostered the next morning for a 4.00am start with John to learn one of the runs out to one of the mine sites, some 50 k’s away, then the return pick up is 12 hours later, so generally a split shift, but usually do other jobs during the day including the school runs they are contracted for.

Murray just said check with ops and jump in a different coach and go for a drive to get used to them. That also meant travelling to Blackwater to drive a 50 seater with a crash box back to Emerald, been a little while since

Les has driven crash boxes, so that was another experience again.

Work is usually work 6 days a week as they are very busy. They employ many travelling people such as ourselves and have some drivers come back more than once. Les was in Blackwater for three nights till Wed doing another mine run for day shift and night shift. This job is purely for a contractor who is responsible for the shut down maintenance of the drag line at Ensham mine.

This site is some 70 k’s from Blackwater back towards Emerald and has been running since approx. 1997.  A couple of weeks ago, the rain caused some flooding around Emerald and also this mine site, particularly Nogoa River,

which runs through the area. To overcome this, the mining company set up a large flying fox over the creek when it was flooded so the workers could still get to and from the site, talk about money spent out here!

Sat 25^th we moved from the caravan park in Emerald to an agricultural type depot 6 k’s out of town as it is $60 a week cheaper than in town and has more space to set up. Two of the other travelling drivers are also set up out there so we have company.

We have had  storms and rain on and off, which has been a nightmare for Susan as Les is usually at work at night when they hit.

We have power and dam water on tap with rain water tanks for our drinking water. The toilets/showers aren’t great and a bit of a walk, but seems okay for now. We have had some issues with the power here, hopefully

sorted soon.

Photo below is one of the coaches parked up at Blackwater.

This one below is the mini bus I took out on the first "real" job.

This is a real “wide load”.

Plenty more and bigger where this came from.

Took up the whole of the bridge into town.

One of the jobs last week was out to "Ensham" mine

taking day and night shift contractors out for shutdown

of a particular drag line machine.

It's an eye opener that's for sure.

This is an open cut coal mine.

For those who haven't seen cotton growing and being harvested have a

look at these photos

Below is the harvester

Here the cotton is being poured into the press, it is compressed very tight

and then comes out in a "cube" and a the yellow tarp is placed

over it till it is taken to the "gin". The cotton gin is where the cotton is processed.

Well people that's all for now, more to come as we discover new

things around here. Cheers

The big smoke of Emerald

Greetings from Emerald

Further to our trip from Dubbo to Vic Pt,

we had a small matter with fuel.

On the Newell Hwy somewhere just around

Moree, after we had passed two huge

Harvesters on the way, Susan let me know she

wanted to pull over. Susan advised the fuel light

had been on for some time and the fuel gauge was

nearly on E for "enough".

At this point we had about 6-7 k's to Moree.

Threw in the 10litres spare from the back.

pics for proof

Our Goondiwindi stop

On the Newell cruising

Sunrise at Gundy park

Morning at Monto free camp site

We had quite a good trip to Emerald via an overnight

stay at a free camp just outside Monto, on the range.

Nice little hideaway off the road with basic toilet

facilities. We ran the genny for a couple of hours

to keep the fridgemate running.

The battery power in the van worked well.

Some 6k's out of Monto, the bike ran out of fuel,

used the spare 10 litres knew it was close,

just didn't quite make it.

Plenty road works on the way, including a

longer stop on the Blackbutt range as they

are re-aligning the road over the range, so

was a longer stop.

Generally, the run up was good Susan has handled the car and van very well for the whole trip and has become

quite good at the towing and listening in

on the CB to check what is happening around.

Once we got onto the Capricorn Hwy, we encountered

the triple road trains and a very large

bulldozer on a lowloader with cop pilot.

Had to pull of to the side of the hwy.

Getting very hot on the bike by the time we got to Biloela

and beyond. Emerald very hot, around 36 today to creep

up to 38+ in the next couple of days.

Pic of our set up at the van park, not a

tree in sight at this new area of the park

and getting to 36+!

PS Air con running 24/7

Susan's back has got worse in the last couple of days,

so much so, we visited the hospital on Sunday morning.

The doc gave her an anti-inflammatory

injection and scripts for Panadeine Forte and Diazepam

to try and settle things. Left there better then when we went in.

Whilst Susan was at the hospital, Les had

an appointment with his new boss at

Emerald Coaches at 10.00, so

had to go and see him while Susan

was at Emergency.

Emerald Coaches is a family owned business

operating since 1981 and have 24 buses/coaches.

The boss, Murray, is a great bloke, spent some

hour and a half with him.

Les starting work Monday doing some familiarisation

and training with Murray and the others.

They have contracts with a variety of mine sites, school runs

and local runs to/fm Springsure, Clermont, Blackwater.

Not sure what jobs Les will be doing yet, will

wait and see what pans out.

Susan will be checking work situation

during the week, plenty of local jobs,

Woolies, local shops etc, so shouldn't

be a problem.

No word from the job up north QLD as yet,

hopefully by the end of the week.

On the road again

Well this update, while being late, brings some news.

We have now left Dubbo, heading to Emerald.

Currently in Victoria point till Thursday or Friday.

Said goodbye to the mushies last Thursday as

Les was offered work driving buses with

Emerald Coaches. They do a variety of work

including runs out to the mine sites taking employees

out and back, school runs and also out to Blackwater.

Susan will chase up work once we arrive.

Susan put her back out on Sunday morning

as we were packing up at Goondiwindi

She has been very sore with limited movement over

the past days. Susan also has a specialist appointment

in Cleveland Tuesday.

As we had taken the bike back to Dubbo after

Christmas, Susan was driving the ute and towing the van.

We had a mostly unspectacular trip back to Brissie, thankfully.

Susan is an old hand at towing now and has a couple of stories

about fuel and a certain B Double driver on the Newell Highway.

Talk about numb bum on the bike, we were stopping

every hour or so, usually in a town for a break, so Les could

get off the bike and stretch.

So, the next leg of our journey begins shortly on the

trip to Emerald, anothe 900 odd k's.

We have applied for a couple of positions at a caravan

park in north QLD at a town called Mt Surprise.

It is inland from Cairns and Townsville on the Gulf Development Road. The owners/operators conducted a phone

interview with us Saturday afternoon just after

we arrived in Gundy.

Les has applied for a Tour Guide position there with

the owners, who operate the tours around the area including

the Undarra Lava Tubes and the Savannahlander motor rail.

This also includes driving buses and taking the

tourists around and explaining the history of the area.

Susan has applied for a reception/cleaning job at the park also.

She may have a couple of options at the park, so we will hear

more by the end of February.

The town is some 300k's from Cairns so is a bit remote

and has 65 permanent residents.

We will update as we know more on this and other

news as we get into Emerald and settled.

Cheers fo now

Hello again,

Another quietish week at the mushies, having said that

we did work this morning.

Had a variety of weather this last week,

Thursday was a high of 18, showers and cold!

We had to dig out some cold weather gear, crazy.

Then it was back to 29 the next day and fined up

enough to take the bike out for a run.

We visited a very detailed and working railway model

of a Swiss town ship, with houses, church,

playground, mountains, ski lift, buses and trains running

etc etc. it was an amazing exhibition.

We then visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service education centre

at Dubbo airport. A very interesting and informative

place. They have two of their own planes based here,

it also has a small souvenir shop, a collection

of old equipment etc.

They also now have a computerised

mapping system of their service area,

displayed on the wall in real time,

which shows where each of their planes and Broken Hill's planes are, and includes the air ambulances.

The park owner has a Honda CB1000r and has been

wanting to go for a ride with someone for a while

now. He and I went for a run out to Wellington

and out along some back roads and back to Dubbo

via a small country pub on the way back for a beer.

Here at town called Ballimore where we stopped on the way back.

Mick's bike

Mick cruising the back roads.

Someone sent this map of Aust, pretty close at the moment!

Made friends with a couple in the park, (Gordon and Maree) 

 who have been

here working for 10 months now.

Maree works at the park here and Gordon is involved

with disassembling of machinery but then

pack into containers and ship to China for

reassembling. They have finishe one contract late December

at the local meat works, Fletchers.

He is waiting for his business partner to return

so they can start o the next project again at

Fletchers. If this happens shortly, Les will

get some work with him for couple of months.

In the mean time we have applied for various jobs

around here and further afield and also registere with

a local job agency.

All for now cheers to all :)