The Pilbara Life - living the dream - no longer

Ahh yes Ive been inspired by Billy http://www.50years50countries.com Al and I have finally left the Pilbara. Wow! some journeys taken. Al spent 7 years there and myself 4 or there abouts! Me uploading my life in Melbourne and putting all in the back of a red ute to drive across the Nullabor and up the coast of W.A. - I friggin hate that ute...... Working for the Evil Empire (BHP Billiton) taught me many things. I've learnt about BIG machinery, reclaimers, stackers, ship loaders, conveyors, transfer stations, Ore stacking, ORE, the sample process for big business and what that can cost (financially and mentally) if it gets stuffed up, berthing and sailing of vessels, tight lines!!!, documentation of manuals and procedures and WIN's, dealing with many GREAT people, that people think I laugh "like a hyena" (thank you Munn Chew), that my nick name can be twisted into Arsie (thank you Rod McD and Jack) dealing with racists (black and white), dealing with Management, dealing with stupid people, managing risks that don't need to be managed - I mean really if you can't work out how to put on a life jacket you should be taken out of the gene pool; Training and Assessing and SAFETY or "BHP safety". Till it is no longer safety and its just a joke that we have to put up with at 6:20am every morning. Trying to remember something random that has happened that we can talk about and bullshit our way through to make the pointy heads happy. Hows that 3 legged dog Pete? I think this is him at 6:41 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF44L1YXBIE"> Have posted the link separately as it wasn't working on here when i uploaded this. I've made loads of friends who I miss already. You know who you are. :) I hope to see you on the east coast soon. As most of you know I was a ship Loader Operator/ Production Tech/ Team Leader/ CDO Crew Development Officer if you don't know what I did or where I lived take a look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh3_tgeoTk8 Again - Have posted the link separately as it wasn't working on here when i uploaded this. This gives you an idea of the scale of what continues to go on up there. Don't let the media fool you into thinking that the boom is over. Al was working for Jan De Nul (still does) they did most of the dredging for PHPA in the habour. If I ever get motivated to make a video on my times there I will, but until I do here's one that someone else made. So no, I don't know the people in it but the pics are fairly accurate and the music is completely fitting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTH6790jUCI"> and again! Have posted the link separately as it wasn't working on here when i uploaded this. Oh and at about 1:54 you can see a large building - thats Lawson Apartments where we lived the whole time! great views of the sunsets, cyclones and distantly out to Fini Island. Pity about the industrial Aircon blaring at us the whole time.... So hence we never sat on the balcony. At 3:38 you get a vision of SL4 (ship loader 4) I know how to drive that big girl! What did I lose in Port Hedland? Pretty sure I sold part of my soul to BHP. I came to realise (and maybe I grew up and realised how the world really turns) that there is no point fighting THIS particular environmental destruction. Lets face it, its a desert. There's not much out there except for really expensive dirt, the Kimberly is something to protect, its already been going on for the past 40+ years, its helping the Australian economy and at the end of the day, even hippies like to have the lights on and put steel structures into their homes or sheds or fences. If you are truly an environmentalist you would do no harm at all, to anything. Yes I'm talking about you - environ ranting meat eaters, not that there are probably any reading this. You'd have no car, phone, electricity or any type of worldly goods and then most probably be living in a cave with no clothes. I've had one person say to me they didn't want to rape/ pillage/ dig holes in the earth as they posted a picture of them stating that they just got their excavator ticket and needed work to pay for it....... the mind truly boggles sometimes. Yes, I am hoping to become more sustainable when I get to Tassie but that's a yarn for another time. Anyway I'm getting side tracked - What did I lose in port Hedland? -I lost my Jeep keys once when I was at the supermarket, that was not fun and it was expensive as they were the only set I had. I also lost my motivation to exercise, do gardening or anything outdoors, WHY? Cause its too fucking hot. Hopefully I can find that again. On occasions I felt like I'd lost my care free life. I know thats def how Al felt. Stripped bare of anything you remotely once loved because its no longer at your fingertips. That's when you know a place aint working for you any longer and its time to GTFout. What I also gained - Ive loved my days off with crew, trips to 80 Mile, drinking games with Arthur, Point Sampson, Broome, Exmouth, Coral Bay, & Perth for some sanity. Having that time on shift to enjoy work make friends have a laugh while doing your job and being able to leave it at the gate when I clocked off after 2 days and 3 nights of 12.5 hour shifts. Reading and enjoying time to read. thats pretty much it in a nutshell. I have to thank all I worked with its being a pleasure. Also to BHP for training me up. So, in April Al came home and said they are either sending him to Brisbane or Dampier.

We thought Dampier would be the obvious choice as he was already in the Pilbara. But being that he was originally employed as a FIFO from Melbourne and they regard him highly, they decided on Brisbane. It was good for us because it gave us our get out of hedland card. The journey has been massive. We spent a lot of time working on the apartment and hopefully its rented out very soon and for a long time with good tenants. Fingers crossed. All our gear arrived Tuesday and I have made it through 6 out of 19 boxes so far. Both cars - Goldy (potential blown head gasket) and Blue velvet (gearbox and general wear and tear) need some mechanical loving. So what now? Well, Al's hard at work extending the runway at Brissy Airport. Thats a funny thing isn't it- people are cracking it about the barrier reef being dredged for coal extensions but everyones happy for it to happen to make their plane fly on time. Me, Im just getting our new little pad sorted and looking at returning to School/Uni/ online? to do my Dip of Hospitality. Time to start working towards our goals not some big business'. Al reckons we can afford it. Bring on the wine bar in Tassie. Peace Love and Mung beans baby!