Mornin' all. The plants and grass will like the rain. Well my drive out to "Girraween" yesterday came with a bit of confusion. "Girraween" is a couple of hundred ks away not too far from Stanthorpe. The enormous site called "Girraween" is past the town of "Miles". So that's why the bosses said it was a 5 hour drive. And yes it was close to five hours. Then when I got there I had an old map with site details that wasn't accurate and so a bloke there had to go driving around looking for "Gate 2" where I thought I was which in reality wasn't the position of "Gate 2". Anyway it all worked out fine thankfully. All that to deliver three pipe fittings that fit in a box on the back seat.
It was great to get out of the workshop. They've asked me to work Saturday and Sunday. Oh fuck.
I love driving for work. Getting paid to see a bit of the countryside, and listen to a podcast / music on your own? Sign me up!
My best effort is still a trip to a mine site outside Roma and back in a day. I think that was ~13 hours of weekend overtime rates to drive to a job I had knocked over in <15 minutes on site.
Sounds like you weren't that far off at ~10 hours return, and probably even less time on site (sans missing gate).
I’ve done a couple of decent ones. The longest was Hervey Bay to Archer River Roadhouse and that was a doozy. That took two full days, from ten am on a Monday, staying overnight in Mackay and Mt Carbine, arriving about 3 or 4 in the arvo at the camp we were living at about ten kilometres past the roadhouse. Others were Rocky to Blackwater, to Carmichael, to Charters, back to Rocky then home. Gympie to St George, Gympie to Parkes and Gympie to Quirindi were others, all with varying degrees of work associated with them.
It’s better than flying. Nothing worse than FIFO and while the flight home is looked forward to, you know you’re flying back again until the project is done.
I was a surveyor in a previous life so long drives were a thing.
Yeah there’s been a couple. The drives match some of the walks, the longest was probably three and a half maybe full trips from Broadmeadow Mine to Walker Creek mine, I think the entire corridor was 160k long by about 50, maybe 60 metres wide. We moved a dragline from Broadmeadow to Walker Creek, on articulated flattops. Great times, especially crossing the electrified railway line. Got chased by a droughtmaster.
Oh I left Redland Bay at 5 am and arrived back at Redland Bay at 4:10. But yeah you know the score.
My longest trip in one hit was from Cairns to Victoria Point. That was a couple of decades ago. I think that was about 22 hours with no proper stops. The ex wife drove for all of 90 minutes. I was rather frazzled by the time I got back.
i hear ya, this is a bit of a me problem, i seem to have the cold go straight through to my bones, i might be one of the few people who has a genuine improvement in life moving to cairns 😄
It’s always an us problem, me hating the heat is the same.
Cairns is insane. It’s humid in the Cape in winter. I walked from one part of Weipa to another, about a kilometre walk in early August and I was fully sweating.
12 Comments
DiaDeLosMuertos@aussie.zone · 6 pts · 28d
Mornin' all. The plants and grass will like the rain. Well my drive out to "Girraween" yesterday came with a bit of confusion. "Girraween" is a couple of hundred ks away not too far from Stanthorpe. The enormous site called "Girraween" is past the town of "Miles". So that's why the bosses said it was a 5 hour drive. And yes it was close to five hours. Then when I got there I had an old map with site details that wasn't accurate and so a bloke there had to go driving around looking for "Gate 2" where I thought I was which in reality wasn't the position of "Gate 2". Anyway it all worked out fine thankfully. All that to deliver three pipe fittings that fit in a box on the back seat.
It was great to get out of the workshop. They've asked me to work Saturday and Sunday. Oh fuck.
trk@aussie.zone · 4 pts · 28d
I love driving for work. Getting paid to see a bit of the countryside, and listen to a podcast / music on your own? Sign me up!
My best effort is still a trip to a mine site outside Roma and back in a day. I think that was ~13 hours of weekend overtime rates to drive to a job I had knocked over in <15 minutes on site.
Sounds like you weren't that far off at ~10 hours return, and probably even less time on site (sans missing gate).
stylusmobilus@aussie.zone · 4 pts · 28d
I’ve done a couple of decent ones. The longest was Hervey Bay to Archer River Roadhouse and that was a doozy. That took two full days, from ten am on a Monday, staying overnight in Mackay and Mt Carbine, arriving about 3 or 4 in the arvo at the camp we were living at about ten kilometres past the roadhouse. Others were Rocky to Blackwater, to Carmichael, to Charters, back to Rocky then home. Gympie to St George, Gympie to Parkes and Gympie to Quirindi were others, all with varying degrees of work associated with them.
It’s better than flying. Nothing worse than FIFO and while the flight home is looked forward to, you know you’re flying back again until the project is done.
I was a surveyor in a previous life so long drives were a thing.
DiaDeLosMuertos@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 28d
Jeepers yeah you've done some pretty bloody long ones for sure.
stylusmobilus@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 28d
Yeah there’s been a couple. The drives match some of the walks, the longest was probably three and a half maybe full trips from Broadmeadow Mine to Walker Creek mine, I think the entire corridor was 160k long by about 50, maybe 60 metres wide. We moved a dragline from Broadmeadow to Walker Creek, on articulated flattops. Great times, especially crossing the electrified railway line. Got chased by a droughtmaster.
Been to some interesting places that’s for sure.
DiaDeLosMuertos@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 28d
Oh I left Redland Bay at 5 am and arrived back at Redland Bay at 4:10. But yeah you know the score.
My longest trip in one hit was from Cairns to Victoria Point. That was a couple of decades ago. I think that was about 22 hours with no proper stops. The ex wife drove for all of 90 minutes. I was rather frazzled by the time I got back.
I mean I wasn't getting paid for that one.
Eyekaytee@aussie.zone · 4 pts · 28d
i hate the cold i hate the cold i hate the cold i hate the cold
stylusmobilus@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 28d
Yeah look, give me this over our awful summers every day of the week ay
I get it, we want every day to be a refreshing, warm spring one just at the end of winter but this is far better than dim simming in an air fryer
Eyekaytee@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 28d
i hear ya, this is a bit of a me problem, i seem to have the cold go straight through to my bones, i might be one of the few people who has a genuine improvement in life moving to cairns 😄
stylusmobilus@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 27d
It’s always an us problem, me hating the heat is the same.
Cairns is insane. It’s humid in the Cape in winter. I walked from one part of Weipa to another, about a kilometre walk in early August and I was fully sweating.
Eyekaytee@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 27d
I seem to be more affected by the cold than others, or at least it feels that way (only one in the office wearing a jumper) etc
If Cairns was just a tad closer I'd love to go up and 'work from home' for a bit to see what it's like up there
stylusmobilus@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 27d
As I’ve gotten older I feel it more. The Mary Valley gets cold sometimes.
I’ve put a fire pit in the back yard which is nice on the cold nights.