Just a quick pic I took several trips ago at Yarrie mine site. I was waiting at dawn at the main gate to the site and snapped a few picks like this one.
Just a quick clip I threw together after finishing unloading in the Gt Sandy Desert at Telfer gold mine and the Nifty copper mine. Trailers all hooked up and heading back to Perth, albeit a little covered in dirt.
Well, here I sit in the passenger seat heading north out of Perth to Tom Price in the Pilbara. In the drivers’ seat is “the new boy”, otherwise known as Stewart. Tagging along behind us is two fridge trailers and a dry pan – loaded with a weeks work of supplies for Windawarrie, Brownfields (Jundunmunnah) and a dozen or so pallets for Pilbara Food Supplies.
It’s been a few years since I’ve sat in the passenger seat and this time it’s in a borrowed truck as well. My truck is in the workshop getting a bit of attention so I grabbed the boss’s truck (cleaned his crap out 😉 and set off last night.
Stewart is along for the trip to give him some experience with triples and so he can learn where the various runs go and generally get a feel of how we do things. As soon as he is up to speed on things and we have the new truck on the road he will be chucked into the thick of it on his own.
The new truck is expected to be handed over to us on Friday 28th – only four days from now. I’m going to be the lucky driver getting this one so I’m pretty keen for Friday to hurry up and arrive. We had a look at it yesterday and there’s still a lot that has to be done to it. Someone had better pull their finger out!
I have a 3500 watt 240 volt inverter on order for it – that will power a microwave oven/laptop charger and will even be big enough to power an ordinary kitchen kettle if I want. Expresso machine, maybe? 😉
The weather up ahead of us is pretty bad. Last reports I heard from Karratha are that over eight inches of rain has fallen in 24hrs. The highway between Roebourne and Port Hedland is closed, which won’t affect us but if that weather continues to the south-east we will be in for real trouble.
At present, just north of Paynes Find, it is completely overcast. Meekatharra has had some rainfall. I think Newman has had two inches and Tom Price has already had three inches of rain. This is more than enough to start water flowing over the highway at the floodways so things might get interesting later on today. Wish I’d brought my GoPro camera long.
Ok, I’ve got to get back to criticising someone’s driving skill, bloody hard work 🙂
The joys of transport, I didn’t know they existed. Sorry, in a bad mood. I’m sitting in an idling truck I don’t dare shut off. The problem is all the magic smoke leaked out of the starter motor and now it doesn’t work. Sounds silly but I saw it and it doesn’t work.
However you look at it – the starter motor fried and the only way to get the truck started was to tow start it. Right now I’m quite happy I’m not driving an automatic. As per Murphy’s Law I’m as far from home as possible this trip and its a public holiday and no one will answer their phones.
I do have the truck running after borrowing a prime mover from one person and a driver from another and tow starting mine. I need to keep it running for the next 48 hours. That should see me home and able to fit the new starter motor sitting in the shed waiting.
I can’t help but feel a bit “why me?” because it seems the last few weeks have been one drama after another. Yeah, yeah, things aren’t that bad but they aren’t that fantastic either. A string of flat tyres and blowouts, a sprained ankle, a cyclone, a fire, a stuffed alternator, a blown hub seal, a…well there’s more but you get the idea. All of this has put a dent in my savings plan for my new car and its kind of got me down a bit.
It’s not the end of the world and I’m sure this icy cold Little Creatures Pale Ale will help improve my short term outlook. Now…if I can get the top off…it’s…it’s not a twist top…and I don’t have a bottle opener….Nooooooooo!
Here’s a few pics I took this week on a supply run out to a place called Nicholas Downs. It’s a mine operated by PMI on the Balfour Downs cattle station north east of Newman.
Balfour Downs Map
Leaving Balfour Downs
Talawana Track, goes east to....well, it goes east.
I shot some video on the way out there and will put up another post with more detail and possibly some of that video – when I’ve had time to put it all together.
Just had to share this snapshot with you. I took it yesterday at dawn, as I was turning off the Great Northern Highway onto the Yandicoogina access road – about one and a half hours north of Newman, Western Australia.
While this photo was taken with my iPhone, I managed to swap lenses on my Nikon and grab a few images before the moment passed. I will pick out the best shots and post them to my Flickr page ( link is in the right Gand column ).
Here it is : the embedded video of the footage I shot driving through Meekatharra. I have cut out a few minutes in the middle (where I was refuelling the truck) and trimmed the start and finish, otherwise, that’s it.
When time allows I will try to post a more professional looking clip with titles and using some other footage I have. At the moment though, time is a scarce commodity.
Just had to post this pic I took a month or two ago using my iPhone. It was early morning not too far north of Meekatharra. I really wish I’d had my DSLR with me but it was one of those times when I had no intention of looking for shots-it was just there so I snapped it with what I had to hand.
Thought I’d better show some TLC towards my blog. It’s not that I’d forgotten about it – it’s just that I haven’t been able to find the time! So, to break the dry spell, I thought I would chuck a quick picture or two up here.
First pic is me in the process of dropping one empty trailer before hooking onto my remaining two loaded trailers prior to unloading them at the Packsaddle Camp, Area C minesite.
Second pic was taken in the main street of Meekatharra, Western Australia. I was heading north on a hot afternoon and saw the Pub in the distance and almost chucked it in for the day 😉
Just a quick pic I took several trips ago at Yarrie mine site. I was waiting at dawn at the main gate to the site and snapped a few picks like this one.
TCD's Diesel and Dust 