New Year

Here it is, New Year's Eve at Auski, and I have absolutely nothing to wear! Actually, if I am wearing pants and a shirt, I am probably over-dressed.  There is going to be a shindig over at the manager's house, which will probably be a replicate of Christmas- getting drunk and eating.  Not that I have a problem with that, but I think I might go to bed early tonight, as lame as it sounds.  There is good reason though.

With all the rain lately, the weather has been quite bearable and only peaking in the mid-thirties, with the mornings being almost pleasant.  I have been hiking a bit more and I think I have found a route up Mt. George to the south.  Since I don't start work until 3 pm on New Year's Day, I was thinking that it would be an excellent opportunity to give it a shot.  It is only about 400m of elevation gain, but quite steep.  Nothing worse than what I climbed in the Mackenzie mountains this summer, just a lot hotter.  If I set out at 6:30, I should be able to make the summit by 8 and be back to the roadhouse in time for a nap by noon.  Don't worry- I will take extra water and a first aid kit and such.  The great thing is that there are no bear worries out here.  I didn't realize how much that was a part of my psyche while outdoors until I didn't have to think about it.  The deadly things here are all rather small and unlikely to be up in the rocky hills anyway- it is a nice change.  

Happy New Year Everyone!

-A.

Nobody puts Baby in a corner

I have had one of the most interesting Christmas's of my life.  I woke up bright and early at 6:30 and went for a hike into the hills behind the roadhouse- the weather was overcast and only 25 degrees, so I felt a little safer venturing out then the last time I went.  The Hamersley Range starts rising a little over a kilometer out and as I reached the first hills I saw a little kangaroo hop by.  On the other side of the hill was a few caves and some really cool rock formations.  I climbed about half way up the more major hill in behind before heading back.  I had been told there would be a champagne breakfast at 9 and I didn't want to be late.  

Turns out breakfast wasn't until 10:30, but that was okay because I had a chance to clean up.  I then had a solid 3 hour nap and then went out to the staff patio for a beer.  10 minutes later the rain started.  It can only be described as monsoonal.  I have never seen such heavy rain in my life.  The parking lot turned into a lake in about half an hour and the ditch that cuts across the property, ironically titled "Arthur's Creek" actually turned into a creek.  Woz, one of the yard guys, who has been working here for over two years says he has never seen water running in that ditch the whole time he has been here. 

The rain trickled away around 4, just before supper, which consisted of prawns and crayfish (lobster), oysters, salads and cold meats.  I still hate oysters, but I tried one again just to confirm this.  All the staff got $30 vouchers for the store from our manager, Sandy (short for Alexander), and various chocolate awesomeness from Therese.  She works on front counter, like me, and is absolutely Christmas-crazy.  She did all the decorations and table settings and has had carols playing in the shop pretty much since I got here.  

After dinner most of the staff proceeded to get drunk to varying levels, with Woz winning the top prize after falling asleep in his chair and eventually falling out of the chair to get more comfortable on the floor.  Not really in the mood to get totally smashed, I went and watched Dirty Dancing with Therese and Francis, the German girl who works in the kitchen, while the sober guys watched Robot Chicken.  No matter how many times I watch that movie I still get sucked in- it's like dance crack for women.  All in all a very satisfying Christmas, despite the lack of snow.  

-A.

Cyclone Christmas

I had grand plans to get to bed early last night and actually get a full night's sleep before my 5:30 am morning shift, and actually managed to fall asleep by about 9.  At 9:30 I heard this strange staccato rhythm in my head and remember thinking that I must be dreaming.  I opened my eyes in the darkened room and realized that the sound was coming from heavy rain beating on the tin roof.  "Big ol' fat rain" to be exact.  I opened my blinds and saw one of the most spectacular thunder storms I have ever seen.  The air was heavy and hot like I was in a greenhouse and I could barely open my door because the wind direction blew the fat droplets right into my room.  I hurriedly pulled on a t-shirt and pants and ran outside and danced around in it for a bit.  I think there are a couple people here that may now think I am a little nuts, but it was totally worth it.  It's hard to explain how wonderful the rain felt- it is so dry here all the time that you begin to forget what proper rain feels like (and I have only been here two weeks!)

Cyclone Billy, inching up to Category 3, looks like it won't actually make landfall which is good, but there should be some serious wind along the coast- hopefully nothing too damaging.  Being 260 km inland we just get the wonderful benefit of moisture.  Best Christmas present I could have hoped for.  Now if I can just survive the heat in January, I'll be smiling!  I get Christmas day off so I think I will spend Christmas Eve having a nice glass of wine and relaxing in the blessed humidity.  

Maybe two glasses of wine :)

-A.

Wittenoom 'Roos

Wittenoom is an abandoned town about 40 km from the roadhouse that was gradually abandoned during the late sixties and seventies.  There was a huge blue asbestos mine their and eventually the government figured out that it was hazardous to the locals' health.  It was planned to move the town over to where the roadhouse is now, but the residents of Wittenoom either refused to leave or left for far off places.  The town had thousands of people  and was one of the major commercial centers of the Pilbara until the mine closed.  The current population is 3 people.  

Yesterday I went with a bunch of the staff to Wittenoom for a barbecue put on by an Austrian fellow named Mario, who has been living in the abandoned town for 18 years.  His friends from Austria, Herb and Joe were also there so we effectively quadrupled the population just by showing up.  As the chops and sausage were cooking, I went around the corner of the shed, and there, standing in the grassy field where a neighborhood used to be, were 3 medium sized kangaroos.  Tentative at first, they slowly came closer as I stood still, trying not to scare them off.  They came within about 10 ft of me before deciding I smelled funny and took off.  Very very awesome.  

Later on, my friend Adam took me for a drive down into Wittenoom gorge and I saw the coolest banded-iron formations.  Okay, they were probably only cool to me, but still, anything that is 2.8 billion year old deserves a little respect, hey?

I am still working on getting some pictures loaded- I need to convince my boss that I am trustworthy enough to not load the computer with viruses if I get the password to access the hard drive.  I'll keep you posted.

-A.

Death Hike

I have decided to give up on my attempts to run out here because unless I get up before the sun rises or run in the dark at night, there is no way I am going to get a decent amount of exercise without taking the risk of heat exhaustion.  Today I tried an hour-long hike instead.  

At 9am I set out in the same general direction I had ran two days earlier- heading west down the dirt track past the rubbish tip to the airstrip.  For the first half of the hike I mostly followed the track, cutting out into the bush land once in a while and picking out some very cool rocks to take back.  By the time I was about a half-hour away from the roadhouse, I was beginning to feel a little off.  Despite the fact that I had a hydration pack with 2 liters of water and head covering, I was noticing that my body was getting very angry with me for submitting it to the elements.  My fingers began swelling to the point where I had to remove my ring and I had sweated through my tank top at all the points that were in contact with my pack.  The rest remained dry because the hot wind evaporated it before it had a chance to saturate.  My hike was only an hour long but when I got back to my little air-conditioned bubble, I felt like I had been gone for half a day at least.  In 1 hour I had completely emptied my hydration pack and drank more from my fridge.  

I checked the weather forecast for the nearest town when I got back and it was 32 degrees by the time I ended my little trek.  The high today is 43.  I know I talk about the heat a lot, but it is such a major factor in my life right now and the strength of it astounds me.  In Canada, even when it is really hot, relatively speaking, most people wouldn't consider "wasting such a beautiful day".  Here, +40 weather is almost equivalent to -40 weather back home.  It is really inconvenient and entirely uncomfortable and it is best not to venture outside or drive unless you absolutely have to, in case you end up trapped outside.  

Tomorrow I will start on morning shift, which runs from 5:30 am to 1pm.  Perhaps an evening hike will  be more successful?  There are some gorgeous rock formations that don't look like to far of a walk and there will be much more shade available.  I don't know what I am going to do in January when temperatures can spike to 50- stay inside my air-con bubble until it cools off, I suppose!

-A.

Running in the Oven

I went for a run this morning, finally- I have been meaning to for days but if I sleep in past 8am, then it is way to hot.  I made it out by 7:30 and even that was pushing it.  If I can drag myself out of bed tomorrow I will give 6:30 a try.  The sun is just up and shouldn't bake too much.  It will be easier when I go on morning shift.  Though I will have to be at work at 5:30, I can run in the evening, which is usually my preference anyway.  

It certainly is a change from the gravel road at the farm.  While still gravel, the rocks are much more jagged and larger; the road is a deep red cover and the center is overgrown with spinifex grass, and it feels like you've kicked a cactus when you accidentally step on it.  I saw some weird tracks, one of which I am 80% sure was a camel (Australia is the only place in the world where dromedary, one-hump camels are still found in the wild, having escaped various pack trains and expeditions over the years).  The other track could have been a large rabbit or a small kangaroo, but I have no idea what a kangaroo track should look like, so I hesitate to make a proper guess.  I still haven't seen a live kangaroo either, but I am sure that once I can get out on a couple hikes, the wildlife will come out of the woodwork.  

Hope the snow isn't too deep!

-A.

Welcome to Auski (sounds like AUStralia, not AUdi)

I am now a productive member of society again.  My job equates to glorified gas station attendant/waitress/hotel clerk but it is actually pretty fun.  You get some very interesting folk coming through in a place like this.  Between the miners and the tourists and the truckies, one is never bored with the clientele .

I have my own little room with a TV and a bathroom and private entrance.  It kind of reminds me of what I've heard of hotels in Japan.  Exactly enough room to have a bed and walk to the bed and bathroom with no space wasted.  The view makes up for it though- being next to a national park certainly has its perks.  I will have to wait to do some actual hiking, as I work every single day 8 hours a day right now, but I can ask for a day off in a couple weeks, which is better than when I was working up in the arctic and days off were not an option.  At $18/hr I am making more here than I was at 2 of my last 3 geology jobs.  Scary, hey?  After three months I should have enough for a beater car and some gas money and maybe by then the mining industry will have picked up a little.  

Once I figure out this old computer I will try and post some pictures tomorrow.

Cheers

-A.

Into the fire!

I checked the weather forecast for the town nearest the roadhouse I am going to and the high for today was 41 degrees Celsius. Keep in mind that December here is the equivalent of June in Canada. I wonder what early August will be like? Bring it on baby!!!

My train leaves for Perth in about 2 hours or so and this time I am going to leave plenty of time to get there. It is only 31 degrees here today, but I have a feeling that any running with my full pack may cause me to pass out and die.

Everyone here seems rather sad to see me go, which is touching, but may have something to do with me being female. I have been helping out with tidying up around the hostel and today I assisted my Syrian friend Belal with his resume. I am also generally the sober one who gets sent out for beer runs- with appropriate alcohol compensation later, of course. Despite the roughness of the town, I think I really am going to miss it. I am sure I will be praying for the pool once I roll into that 40+ weather. Yikes.

-A.

JobJobJobJobJobJobJobJob!

As you might guess from the title, I really and truly have a job! It is in the outback working as a desk clerk at a "Tourist Village", though the map describes it as nothing more than a roadhouse, so I guess it will be a surprise! It is $18.50/hr plus free accomodations and food. I am halfway between Port Hedland and Newman, for those who feel like looking it up. The best part is that it is literally across the road from this amazing national park chock full of gorges and waterfalls.

The owner said he hired my because of my computer skills and lack of experience in the hospitality industry- all the better to mold me, so he says. I have never gotten a job due to lack of experence before. I leave Kal on Monday and will take the, ahem, SEVENTEEN HOUR bus ride starting on Wednesday night. There is the posibility of applying for a receptionist job at one of the mines about an hour south of here, but as my mom suggested, I am going to go for the sure thing, not to mention the kick-ass adventure of it! I am so relieved right now that I have been walking around all day with a slight little jig to myself. I was a week away from having to move my return flight to December. YEAAAHHHH!!!!!!

-A.

Gold Rush

This has probably been the most interesting few days of my trip so far. I showed up at the train station to catch the 7:15 to Kalgoorlie with about 3 minutes to spare, as I had marginally slept in and had to take a different, much slower bus than I had anticipated. The trip was uneventful and I still haven't seen one live kangaroo. I got to Kalgoorlie and checked into my hostel which looked mildly ramshackle owing to all the corrugated metal paneling. Turns out it used to be a brothel. Hmm. The only other hostel in town was more expensive and looked to be in about the same state so I have stuck it out here.

There are 4 active and working brothels across the street and down, but it is the quiet season at the mine, and thus the quiet season at the brothels. Apparently this is something they tolerate in Kal because it reduces the amount of bar fights. Go figure. My hostel is full of people who look like they came from my home town, which is somewhat comforting, if a little annoying at times, thanks to the occasional un-PC comment. I was told the other day that my figure was better than that of the girls at at least 3 of the 4 brothels. The fourth one is a very high class establishment, apparently. To be fair there is only one guy in the place who I can actually classify as rude and obnoxious. The others have sort of adopted me and pledged that anyone who messes with me will have to talk to them first. It's like having a whole building full of big brothers (I am one of only 2 girls staying here and the only single gal). The other benefit of staying here instead of the m0re backpacker friendly place down the road is that these guys have connections with the mines and other types of work that involve rocks and not serving trays. My little buddy Rory has already brought my resume in to his boss to see if there is anything at the Super Pit for my skill set.

The Super Pit is the largest open pit mine in the world and by the time all the gold is extracted, it will be over 5km deep. Right now it sits at a measly 2.5km depth. I have decided that Kalgoorlie is like Yellowknife, just hotter. Anyway, my coin-operated computer is about to run out of time so I had best sign off. Cheers.

-A.