Sunburnt Suburbia

In the Pilbara

This afternoon I returned from a trip to a Rio Tinto mine in the Pilbara, Western Australia. I have had an intense experience over the last 3 days. There were many hours in jet aircraft, first from Melbourne to Perth on Tuesday night, and then from Perth to the mine's airport on Wednesday morning. A 30-minute bus trip took us across typical Pilbura landscape - a rolling, rugged semi-arid area. 

The Pilbara has huge bodies of iron ore, and many mines. I visited one of Rio Tinto's to kick off a project to improve it's safe work procedures. In mines the machinery can only be maintained or repaired when it is in a known stopped and safe state. Bringing machinery into such a state, and returning it to operation, always involves a rigorous process that revolves around permit documents and safety tags.

This business process consumes effort and has a risk of error, that in turn risks injury. I went to plan a project to trial a software system to improve the efficiency of this process. 

Our host at the mine gave us an informative time. We had a tour of the mine facilities to see both what machinery exists, and how the safety processes work. The mine sits in a beautful land; a big and empty one. 

After two days at the mine, I take a jet back to Perth, and then this morning returned to Melbourne. The time at the mine was great. It filled my head with memories, and reminded me of the years I spent working on oil platforms. I look forward to an interesting project there. 

Easter hike - scrambling up a spur

Sunday provided the most challenge of our Easter hike. We had to climb up an untracked spur out of the river back to the fire track we walked 2 days before. Again we had plenty of time, and so we set off at 9am climbing the spur directly out of our campsite. 

This forest suffered a major fire a few years ago, which made for generally sparse undergrowth and easy walking. Three keen men, including me, took the lead to break path and navigate. I had a great morning as we worked well together and found an easy route with no hint of bad navigation. Philip led the way, finding the easy route, while Andy used the compass to keep him on track. I then checked the contours and other aspects of our surroundings against the map to ensure that we were not slowly drifting off course. 

As we climbed and the day cleared, we got great views of the Buchan river gorge. 

We arrived back at our cars by early afternoon, and headed across the high plains to the Little River falls. The unique beauty of these high plains stunned me. There were rolling fields with stands of trees mixed through, and little creeks weaving across. We had never seen this country before, and were enchanted. I would like to come back. 

On Sunday night we camped by the Bruthen-Buchan road at Boundary Creek, just south of the Seldom Seen Creek. The place had no lack of firewood, so we had a camp fire around which we ate cake, drank wine and told stories. 

Easter hike - scrambling down a river

Day two of our Easter hike started peacefully. The sun tooks its time getting into our campsite, so we pottered around waiting for it. We wandered upstream to look at fords and gorges, doing nothing in a hurry and taking some rests - like Debbie, one of our group. 

Once the sun hit the river, we began our day's hike - down the middle of the Buchan river; well not quite. Walking in the river proved much easier than breaking a path along its side, so we weaved to and fro looking for smooth walking in ankle-deep water. 

Walking down a river goes very slowly, so we only travelled  about 4 km in 5 hours. However we had plenty of time, and with the warm day we had a particularly memorable time. 

By late afternoon we arrived at our campsite. Being in the middle of the untracked bush, the grass clearings were small. This spread us out with 1 to 3 tents per clearing. Susan and I had a cosy location off to the side of the main groups. 

Easter hike - early start and ridge walk

We started our Easter weekend hike at 3am with a 5-hour drive from Melbourne to the Snowy River high plains. Getting up so early hit our systems hard, but the driving was bliss.

We arrived at our hiking group's campsite around 7:45am, ready to start the day's hiking. However our leader Bob drove us to the top of Mount Seldom Seen for views and photos. 

By 10am we had started walking the ridge north from Mount Seldom Seen, enjoying the easy conditions of a fire track. We were hiking in the State Forest around the Buchan river, just east of the Snowy River National Park.

After lunch we descended down a seldom-used fire track to the Buchan river to our campsite. Balmy weather and a sheltered location resulted in a comfortable night. 

Stretching out our vacation

Our last day of vacation, back in Brisbane, continued the relaxed feel of the cruise. We had to rise at 6:15am to allow sufficient time for a large breakfast, and disembark. We were off the ship and taking the ferry up the Brisbane by 8:15am.

We got to the Queensland Museum at 9:30am to spend the morning there. This museum presented well different aspects of Queensland, including some reconstructed skeletons of dinosaurs dominating the gallery space. One gallery included a display covering the 2011 floods in Queensland - a good idea, as it shows visitors how history continues.

The museum also had a small display telling the story of three Australians who won Victoria Cross medals in WW1. I found one letter very moving.

One VC winner was Private Patrick Bugden, decorated for a series of heroic acts, one of which included rescue of a captured corporal Alex Thomson. Thomson wrote a letter describing the episode. He tells how he got separated from his unit and captured by three German soldiers. One of the young soldiers was about to execute him by pistol to the head, but an older soldier talked the young man down. Moments later Private Bugden attacked, shooting the older soldier and bayoneting the other two, to rescue Corporal Thomson. This episode shows clearly how in war 'there are no good guys'.

Our day moved onto a pleasant café lunch and a wander through GOMA to view some contemporary art - as always some works engaged and some irritated. We did some present shopping and then headed off early to the airport for our return to Melbourne. Flight delays meant this journey took over 6 hours, but we got home feeling particularly relaxed after a memorable holiday.

Cruise fantastique - day seven

Our last sea day and last cruise day passed in a similar relaxed pace to the day before. We rose late, breakfasted and strolled around the top-most deck. At 11 am we enjoyed a salsa class, learning a short routine that we might remember.

Learning to dance together pushes our relationship. We learn dance steps at different rates, and have different levels of mental stamina. Future consideration of dance lessons as an activity to perform together remains an open issue. Immediately after the salsa lessons I went off the play pool volley ball. Though a swimming pool with its own wave crossing to and fro does not make for long rallies, it does act as an equaliser of abilities and leaves plenty of opportunity for fun. After the volley ball Susan came up for a swim, and that led into a late lunch.

The ship's crew organise plenty of activities while the ship is at sea, with the action of the ship turning shore-based sports like volley ball, table tennis and putting into games of random fun. 

Our afternoon passed with a siesta and quiet reading in our cabin. We had to pack our bags early and that consumed some more afternoon. A final promenade and our final dinner led into one of the musical highlights of the tour.

Each of the musical acts performed in one long concert, mixing up artists across the different bands and groups. This led to some excellent performances - I particularly liked Junie and Junes performing with Hit Machine - the two women and two men singers achieved marvellous harmonies together. That was an act we could have listened to all evening.

I found out that on some occasions, my voice can carry to cause me some slight embarrassment. I was pointing out to Susan a woman passenger, an attractive blonde in her mid twenties, and wondered whether she realised that her appearance was clichéd and TV synthetic. Susan noticed that she heard me.

Cruise fantastique - day six

Thursday was the first day of our 2-day voyage back to Brisbane. The ship can actually cover the distance in about 1 ½ days, but P & O leave some slack for weather delays. Our days at sea go at a slow pace. We sleep in to late, and by the time we have breakfasted and taken a stroll around deck 14, we have reached mid-morning.

Today we went to the library for some quiet so Susan could finish her German homework, and I sorted out photos. We then took in a swim before lunch, and had a late lunch in the Promenade Restaurant. The staff here always sat couples and singles at bigger tables with strangers, encouraging them to mix with other passengers.

We then had an afternoon rest, reading and listen to our audio book. At 4pm I went to the whiskey tasting. I learnt a bit more about Scotch whiskeys, and got a guided taste tour of 4 whiskeys I had drunk before. By this time we had to prepare for the cocktail evening and our special dinner.

At about 7 pm we went to listen to Junie and the Junes in one of the bars. These were two talented young women performing covers from the last 60 years. They sang harmonies well, and chose songs that suited their voices and acoustic guitars.

Next we watched the Motown Tribute show, which the 10-person show troupe performed for almost an hour. They did a great job too, and put us in a good mood for our special dinner in the 'Salt Grill by Luke Mangan.'

There were three levels of eatery on the ship. The buffet café we only frequented for breakfast, as it's atmosphere was too industrial for our comfort. The main restaurant was silver service at all times of the day, which we got used to for our evening meal. It provided excellent food, sometimes memorable food, every evening we ate there. The Salt Grill by Luke Mangan required an extra $40 per person, but the food quality went up to top notch. The flavours and style of this restaurant was the best we have experienced.

Cruise fantastique - day five

After Lifou the Pacific Dawn sailed overnight to Port Vila, Vanuatu. We docked at about 9 am, and our relaxed start took us on shore about about 10 am.

All the town's taxis gathered at the dock to tout for business from passengers. As we walked out, one in a crowd of taxi drivers managed to capture our attention, and negotiated a day's hire at about 40% the rate on the schedule of rates sign. I didn't haggle. I don't like haggling with street vendors and taxi drivers in developing nations. I know their lives are harder than mine, so I don't need to drive a hard bargain. 

He took us to the Cascade Falls park. A local tribe owns the falls and surrounding land, and charge a high price for access. However they do use much of the income to maintain the park and path to the falls in excellent condition.

We had fun on the walk up to the base of the falls, with the last 100 m requiring a scramble through a series of pools stepping down from the base pool below the falls. In the tropical climate walking through the pools gave relief from the humidity. 

The final 100 m scrabble up to the base of the falls could never exist as a managed space in Australia. If falls like the Cascade Falls were easily accessible to the public in Australia, that area would be fenced off from access, as the threat of litigation to the land owners (probably a State government) would be too high.

After a snack, our driver Colwyn took us to Hideaway Island for some snorkelling around a coral reef from a beach of dead coral. Being in the Port Vila harbour the coral itself was mostly subdued colours and low in density, though some brightly coloured stands did exist. The fish though exceeded Lifou in diversity, and possibly in number. We were getting to recognise some of the more common species, and had time to get an inkling of their behaviour.

Our day tour of Port Vila finished with a walk around the town centre. Though the town centre of Port Vila is much smaller than Noumea, it is much more vibrant. The place feels like things are on the go. In contrast, Noumea feels like France sucks the blood out of the place. The holiday resort feel lingers around the town, as two island resorts sit visible from the main market. 

The locals do have concerns about the level of Chinese investment in the country, but I suspect that the Ni-Vanuatu people also do not have the attitudes necessary for an efficient commercial culture. That though appears on the change with the younger generation.

The ship left Port Vila in the late afternoon, providing a wonderful experience of watching a tropical paradise receed from a comfortable deck lounge with tropical drink in hand. 

This evening's dress theme was, surprise surprise, island costume. Susan had bought a floral headband to go with her Zhosa dress, and looked lovely. However the sunset looked lovely too. 

Cruise fantastique - day four

Day four of our cruise had a relaxed start while the ship anchored offshore from the village of Easo, on Lifou island. Lifou is one of the Loyalty Islands, part of New Caledonia but geographically separate from the main island. The crew ran a shuttle service of ship's tenders to ferry passengers onto the jetty 800m southwest of Easo - a little adventure in itself.

For those on foot, Lifou offered a beach with white sand and palm trees, a tiny market of locally produced souvenirs, a walk to the chapel on the point, and a coral-filled bay good for snorkelling.

We walked up to the point for some wonderful views over the bay and a few photos.

We then walked down to the snorkelling bay and enjoyed an amazing diversity on fish among the coral. The coral itself was mostly brown, though there was the occasional bright blue stand. The number and diversity of fish provided real delight. I really didn't expect such splendour of fish.

We swam for a while and then rested for a snack. We returned to the ship in mid-afternoon, and enjoyed our late afternoon wandering the ship listening to different live acts.

The quality of the live acts onboard also exceeded our expectations. Each group of performers had a specific niche and filled it well. They all performed covers, or pleasant jazz, which is what people want on a ship. I enjoyed listening to all the acts, giving each about ½ an hour before some other activity attracted.

This evening had a pirate dress theme, so lots of passengers joined in and the ship's show troupe presented a pirate pantomime. The show troupe too were great.

Cruise fantastique - day three

Today's cruising again packed the day full of indolence, well at least the morning. We passed the morning on the Lido deck reading and listening to audio books. That deck gets crowded, and so seats in the shade were rare. These seats increased in value once the rain started.

At 12:15pm we did a basic Salsa lesson and has some fun with that. The ship docked at Noumea on time at 3pm. The clichéd welcome of Melanesian dancers turned up - all a bit embarrassing I think. However the scene inside the docking terminal was chaotic, reminding me of the dockside scenes in old movies.

Noumea has about the same population as Geelong, but looks particularly run down. The city centre contains only a collection of cheap, rough buildings. Outside the town hall there was a Kannak independence gathering. Given that it looks like New Caledonia suffers from poor government, and a lack of investment, that an independence movement exists should not come as a surprise.

We resisted the many over priced tours on offer, got a free map and started walking towards the beaches. We wanted to view the museums, but the ship arrived too late for that. Our walk did leave an impression. Noumea reminded me more of Auckland than any Australian city, but with many more apartments and a more frayed at the edges.

After about 2 hours walking we got to Anse Vata, a recommended beach, by which time the wind had risen to an uncomfortable speed, the clouds closed in and rain hinted. As night fell we caught the public bus back to the centre of the city, did some supermarket shopping for snacks, and returned to the ship.

We were surprised at how expensive goods were in Noumea. A bar of chocolate that in an Australian supermarket sells for AU$4, in a supermarket in Noumea sold for AU$8. I saw a pizza billboard ad quoting equivalent of AU$26 for a single medium pizza. However one lesson learnt about the currency exchange business was that P&O provided the best exchange rates, not the Noumea banks.