Tuesday, January 20, 2009
fannie bay
the water may look inviting but you could die if you go in...! (crocs or jellyfish one of thems gonna get you!)
We then had to get an early start for an early flight to our next job. It was a small flight which took about an hour to take us to a remote destination in the middle of nowhere…! The views were amazing and it was really exciting!! It was a pretty rough landing.. almost missing the runway entirely and Michaels not mad keen on flying.. but I was happy enough..! On arrival we were allocated our new home.. a nice little airconditioned house with 2 bathrooms which would become our little home for a while.
It is basically a base for oil rigs, pearl farms and goodness knows what else where people fly in and fly out from to their remote destinations and Michaels job was to build a new aircraft hanger extending from the last one.
So the first few days was lots of measuring up and drilling of holes for the foundations where I held the tape measure lots!
Then cutting the metal bars and making boxes to make the concrete cubes (yeah I know I’m technical!!) and I used lots of cool machines (circular saws and stuff) so cut the bits..
I wasn’t so great at the concrete stuff.. but I did try with my shovels of concrete equaling about 5 of Michaels!!
Then Michael gave me some lessons on the front loader and I could transport the concrete over to then to shovel out which was easier!!
The food was amazing with a chef who gave us 3 choices for breakfast, smoko, lunch and dinner.. I think I doubled my body weight in a week!!
After work each day we headed out to the wharf fishing.. I caught some mangrove jacks which was exciting!!
Michael catches the bait by swinging the net out into the water in this cool way and then appears with lots of small fish!! And the sea eagles sit by and hope you might throw then a fish or 2!!!
So all in all its an awesome spot! I learn how to weld but mostly hit the “slag” off and sprayed the things that Michael was welding but as the job progressed there was less for me to do so I made friends and went for a drive with Kae and we went for a swim in these waterholes.. she was just saying “Shall we skinny dip as we stripped off to our undies” when Benny drove past outr private little waterhole in a crane and tooted his horn at us.. hmnn perhaps not.. better keep our undies on..! As I’m swimming around there are these enormous tadpoles about 10 times the size of normal ones.. why it everything bigger and scary in Oz!!!?? and then of course we had to watch out for freshwater crocs which Kae reassured me were harmless and not to worry myself.. oh well not a bad place to get eaten… (you have to check whether water is fresh or salty first.. stay out of salty and saltwater crocs eat you.. freshies only nibble..
Then unfortunately the next morning the new boss (they had changed shifts) knocked on my bedroom door and told me I had to be out within the hour for “inappropriate behaviour” (?!) apparently relationships were not allowed as this was a single persons camp even though the original boss had known that we were.. admittedly we had been ridiculously lovey dovey but still.. he was really mean and said I had an hour to pack and that he was sending me out on the first flight out .. so I went to find Michael who was at the top of the crane in the cage.. (I had slept in because there wasn’t much for me to do while they were using the crane) and I shouted at him to come down.. the boss was also standing at the bottom of the cage so when he came down he wouldn’t let me speak to Michael and took him aside to tell him the news. Michael said he was going to leave too but I made him stay.. what’s a week in the grand scale of things? So a hasty packing later and hugs and kisses goodbye there I was on a little pearling flight out.. and there I was in Darwin. Benny actually flew out with me and his girlfriend Georgia met us at the airport. Benny had said it was cool for me to stay at theirs while I waited for Michael.. so when I got their I thanked Georgia for having me to stay.. when she said well actually she didn’t want me to stay.. Benny had a habit of inviting people to stay and she felt it was a strain on their relationship having people in the house constantly.. and once people were here they overstayed their welcome and they couldn’t get rid of them and they had, had trouble from previous guests.. well right.. okay.. so I said cool drop me off at the backpackers.. and then Benny wanted to know why “what was wrong with his place” and got all upset.. so I was a bit stuck in the middle and getting upset.. I was tired, hot and a tad emotional… so Georgia dropped me off at the YHA.
The YHA was nice.. I slept and swam in the pool and explored central Darwin. It was so ridiculously hot that is was hard to explore so admit I hid in the cinema for a few hours in the airconditioning and watched “Bride wars” (scary how brides get?!)
I got the bus out to the markst on Sunday morning in Nightcliff and Rapid Creek which were fantastic.. it was like being in Asia.. all these sights smells and foods I had never even seen!
So the stall holders let me stare, test out and photograph and buy all these exotic fruits which was great!!!!
The backpackers was nice but very quiet it being low season and everyone there was coming off tours or going on them and it was like a little meat market.. but I ran around enjoying the monsoon season were in watching lightening storms and being glad I was on the bottom bunk when the rain started coming through the ceiling… so as you can see with how well I’ve caught up with myself I have hid in airconditioning a lot and gone of the internet!!
I also caught the bus out to the museum to see Sweetheart.. this enormous croc who got accidently killed who was about 18 foot long or something!! And to learn about Cyclone Tracey which came through on Xmas Eve 1974 and destroyed Darwin.
But obviously I couldn’t sit back and relax nicely waiting for Michael and I was short of cash so I arranged some couchsurfing which is an hour on the bus out of town.. Mick organized to leave his key hidden for me and me to make myself at home until he made it home from work.. its amazing how trusting people are.. so I chilled out lay about in his hammock reading and then we spent the evening chatting, me counseling him about his girlfriend who sounds a lot like me 7 or so years ago…
A great big cane toad appeared at one point do he poured some chemicals on it and whacked it with a hammer just to make sure it was dead and then I made it pose for photos.. Came toads were introduced to eat the sugar cane beetles but have since caused wide devastation throughout Australia and are poisionous so its every aussies duty to kill one if you see it.. ooh speaking of killing I forgot to mention when Michael and I’s car hit a roo.. I had been watching them run around and him slow down constantly to avoid them as they can cause big damage to cars and if they come through the windscreen kill you.. when one silly one ran back out in front of us.. there was this sickening thud and I was really quite shocked.. yeah I know I’ve killed roos and all that but I kind of wasn’t expecting this one.. it was kind of like.. oh right.. um.. we also hit an own or 2 but when your driving those kind of distances its hard not to..
So anyway I had every intention of not leaving Micks house at all today.. I was going to sit and use his computer all day.. but I couldn’t get the damn thing to work so have headed back into town to finish off getting up to date with myself online!! (a hard task!)
I am staying the night again at Mick’s tonight and then in the morning I am heading to the airport to meet Michael off his plane.. Mick says we are welcome to stay at his for as long as we want but we’ll see.. I want to go camping in the National Parks and stuff! But we might stay a night or something…! We also have to meet up with another friend of Michaels and go fishing and pop down to Katherine..
It is basically a base for oil rigs, pearl farms and goodness knows what else where people fly in and fly out from to their remote destinations and Michaels job was to build a new aircraft hanger extending from the last one.
So the first few days was lots of measuring up and drilling of holes for the foundations where I held the tape measure lots!
Then cutting the metal bars and making boxes to make the concrete cubes (yeah I know I’m technical!!) and I used lots of cool machines (circular saws and stuff) so cut the bits..
I wasn’t so great at the concrete stuff.. but I did try with my shovels of concrete equaling about 5 of Michaels!!
Then Michael gave me some lessons on the front loader and I could transport the concrete over to then to shovel out which was easier!!
The food was amazing with a chef who gave us 3 choices for breakfast, smoko, lunch and dinner.. I think I doubled my body weight in a week!!
After work each day we headed out to the wharf fishing.. I caught some mangrove jacks which was exciting!!
Michael catches the bait by swinging the net out into the water in this cool way and then appears with lots of small fish!! And the sea eagles sit by and hope you might throw then a fish or 2!!!
So all in all its an awesome spot! I learn how to weld but mostly hit the “slag” off and sprayed the things that Michael was welding but as the job progressed there was less for me to do so I made friends and went for a drive with Kae and we went for a swim in these waterholes.. she was just saying “Shall we skinny dip as we stripped off to our undies” when Benny drove past outr private little waterhole in a crane and tooted his horn at us.. hmnn perhaps not.. better keep our undies on..! As I’m swimming around there are these enormous tadpoles about 10 times the size of normal ones.. why it everything bigger and scary in Oz!!!?? and then of course we had to watch out for freshwater crocs which Kae reassured me were harmless and not to worry myself.. oh well not a bad place to get eaten… (you have to check whether water is fresh or salty first.. stay out of salty and saltwater crocs eat you.. freshies only nibble..
Then unfortunately the next morning the new boss (they had changed shifts) knocked on my bedroom door and told me I had to be out within the hour for “inappropriate behaviour” (?!) apparently relationships were not allowed as this was a single persons camp even though the original boss had known that we were.. admittedly we had been ridiculously lovey dovey but still.. he was really mean and said I had an hour to pack and that he was sending me out on the first flight out .. so I went to find Michael who was at the top of the crane in the cage.. (I had slept in because there wasn’t much for me to do while they were using the crane) and I shouted at him to come down.. the boss was also standing at the bottom of the cage so when he came down he wouldn’t let me speak to Michael and took him aside to tell him the news. Michael said he was going to leave too but I made him stay.. what’s a week in the grand scale of things? So a hasty packing later and hugs and kisses goodbye there I was on a little pearling flight out.. and there I was in Darwin. Benny actually flew out with me and his girlfriend Georgia met us at the airport. Benny had said it was cool for me to stay at theirs while I waited for Michael.. so when I got their I thanked Georgia for having me to stay.. when she said well actually she didn’t want me to stay.. Benny had a habit of inviting people to stay and she felt it was a strain on their relationship having people in the house constantly.. and once people were here they overstayed their welcome and they couldn’t get rid of them and they had, had trouble from previous guests.. well right.. okay.. so I said cool drop me off at the backpackers.. and then Benny wanted to know why “what was wrong with his place” and got all upset.. so I was a bit stuck in the middle and getting upset.. I was tired, hot and a tad emotional… so Georgia dropped me off at the YHA.
The YHA was nice.. I slept and swam in the pool and explored central Darwin. It was so ridiculously hot that is was hard to explore so admit I hid in the cinema for a few hours in the airconditioning and watched “Bride wars” (scary how brides get?!)
I got the bus out to the markst on Sunday morning in Nightcliff and Rapid Creek which were fantastic.. it was like being in Asia.. all these sights smells and foods I had never even seen!
So the stall holders let me stare, test out and photograph and buy all these exotic fruits which was great!!!!
The backpackers was nice but very quiet it being low season and everyone there was coming off tours or going on them and it was like a little meat market.. but I ran around enjoying the monsoon season were in watching lightening storms and being glad I was on the bottom bunk when the rain started coming through the ceiling… so as you can see with how well I’ve caught up with myself I have hid in airconditioning a lot and gone of the internet!!
I also caught the bus out to the museum to see Sweetheart.. this enormous croc who got accidently killed who was about 18 foot long or something!! And to learn about Cyclone Tracey which came through on Xmas Eve 1974 and destroyed Darwin.
But obviously I couldn’t sit back and relax nicely waiting for Michael and I was short of cash so I arranged some couchsurfing which is an hour on the bus out of town.. Mick organized to leave his key hidden for me and me to make myself at home until he made it home from work.. its amazing how trusting people are.. so I chilled out lay about in his hammock reading and then we spent the evening chatting, me counseling him about his girlfriend who sounds a lot like me 7 or so years ago…
A great big cane toad appeared at one point do he poured some chemicals on it and whacked it with a hammer just to make sure it was dead and then I made it pose for photos.. Came toads were introduced to eat the sugar cane beetles but have since caused wide devastation throughout Australia and are poisionous so its every aussies duty to kill one if you see it.. ooh speaking of killing I forgot to mention when Michael and I’s car hit a roo.. I had been watching them run around and him slow down constantly to avoid them as they can cause big damage to cars and if they come through the windscreen kill you.. when one silly one ran back out in front of us.. there was this sickening thud and I was really quite shocked.. yeah I know I’ve killed roos and all that but I kind of wasn’t expecting this one.. it was kind of like.. oh right.. um.. we also hit an own or 2 but when your driving those kind of distances its hard not to..
So anyway I had every intention of not leaving Micks house at all today.. I was going to sit and use his computer all day.. but I couldn’t get the damn thing to work so have headed back into town to finish off getting up to date with myself online!! (a hard task!)
I am staying the night again at Mick’s tonight and then in the morning I am heading to the airport to meet Michael off his plane.. Mick says we are welcome to stay at his for as long as we want but we’ll see.. I want to go camping in the National Parks and stuff! But we might stay a night or something…! We also have to meet up with another friend of Michaels and go fishing and pop down to Katherine..
New Mangroves growing
the best fishing is among the mangroves and that is where the crocs hang out too.. Michaels always telling me off for sitting and chilling.. He did actually see a croc cruise on my and check us out and I saw it when kae and i went down for a walk
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