All settled in

Hi everyone, finally an update from Mt Surprise.

Well, we have both been into work from 1st May

Les has been training with the owner Joe

doing tours to Undara Lava Tubes

Einasleigh and the Cattle Station.

Susan has been continuing with a mix of

reception, cleaning and kitchen hand.

We have now been in camp for two weeks

and having a great time. Learning heaps of stuff

and meeting new people. We still have another two couples coming in for work, one couple will be doing

cleaning and the other couple,

just the husband will be tour guiding.

We had our first fruit and veg run Sunday, Mother's Day

into Atherton which is a five hour round trip,

so we won't be going there too often.

Having said that, now that we are more settled,

we can order groceries through a delivery

service out here each week, so depending on our

four day breaks, (work 10 on and 4 off),

 we may be able to avoid the groceries.

The tours run from here will be most days as the

park will be close to full capacity very shortly.

There is a variety of tours to Undara,

including half day, short trips, full day.

Les has been flying solo running tours

to Undara for a week now.

The tours take in a variety of lava tubes and one

volcano crater which we climb and walk around the rim.

The views from the rim are quite spectacular when

you relise all the hills and peaks around it

are volcanoes of one type or another.

Susan has learnt heaps about the park and running

various aspects, so the experiences we have gained will

be of great benefit to us in the future, (should we decide

to continue doing this past October).

Les will have to decide by end of October whether he

goes back to work for a while/ resigns / or stays on

at Council, that will be a big decision .

Below are some photos of our time to date.

Bedrock Village entrance

There are hundreds of butterflies all around the village

Les in his Tour Guide uniform

preparing to send some customers off on the

Savannahlander train fom Mt Surprise

to Einasleigh, where he will then meet

them again and bring them back to Mt Surprise.

Susan was also sent on the train to allow her

to get a feel for the tour so she

can sell it at the counter.

View through the front of the train

Copperfield Gorge at Einasleigh

The road and rail bridges can be seen in the distance

Einasleigh Pub, "GulpCountry"

Billy Tea beside the Einasleigh River

Entrance to one of the lava tubes at Undarra

Boss/owner Joe with a customer

in the "Wind Tunnel" lava

tube complex

Surprise Surprise

Yes Surprise alright, we are at Mt Surprise and settled.

We left Emerald Sun 22nd and took our time heading north.

Our first stop was at Les's nephews place in Rockhampton to leave the bike to ship back to Brissie.

then left the next day for Mackay, no big travel days

just taking our time.

Then headed for Townsville where we spent

four nights as we headed to the dawn service for ANZAC day then had a look around a bit. Went up to Castle Hill

for a view of the city.

The next day we spent on Magnetic Island nice and quiet

not too many tourists! Mainly backpackers.

Friday we had booked in for hair cuts, colours etc as it would be some time before we got a chance to have it done.

Saturday headed off to Innisfail for the the night, then

off to Mt Surprise on Sunday.

Some great scenery up the north, especially around the tablelands and out from there.

Had a nice lunch at Mt Garnet pub on the way out

Arrived at Mt Surprise around 3.30 met the owners

and a couple of the staff. we were allocated our

site and began getting our home in Bedrock Village

organised for the next few  months.

Here is a selection of photos from our travels and our new home.

Castle Hill

Townsville

Short stop in Mackay

Susans new found friend

Townsville set up, beside the lake, had our own ensuite

Stinger net at

Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Isl

Old Command Post on Magnetic Isl

Built during WWII

This is situated on a 2hr round trip walk we did

This is from the Comms Tower, highest point

we went topless  on the island

Hello again

Hi again from Emerald maybe for the last time from here.

We are heading off to Mt Surprise to commence

work at Bedrock Village by the 1st May.

We are going to take a week or so to travel north, leaving here

Sunday 22nd and going

via the coast and have a look around.

probably be in Townsville on ANZAC Day and for a couple of days

looking at spending a day on Magnetic Island.

We have both been busy with work as usual lots

of activity from the mining sectors, strike action

by the BMA workers yet again.

Two mine sites north of Emerald, Middlemount and Norwich Park

have been or about to be closed due to

non profitability, (both BMA mines - coincidence? you

have to wonder)

We managed to get out for a bike ride last weekend, went

out to Springsure and back via the dam.

Another quaint town which is also involved

in the mining these days, although not to the extent

Emerald, Blackwater etc.

Couple of photos below of Susan in the bike gear

and Virgin Rock.

The rock has been named so because it resembled the Virgin Mary and child.

It is hard to see the detail from the photo, because we

couldn't get any closer as the road out to the

hills was closed due to the recent flooding in the area.

Beautiful 57 Matchless motorcycle on display

 at the local shopping centre.

A shot from the major rodeo event on Easter Saturday

in Emerald, huge event.

The bike in Springsure

Couple of our coaches we use in Blackwater

for some of the mine transfers

Bye for now, will update again soon

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