Well, another day, another 5am start. Today started with another bowl of Nutri Grain, followed by making my crib, and off in the bus back to town. We started this morning with a Fire Course then CPR and First Aid. I have to say, I struggled to stay awake, aside from not long completing very similar courses, again it was spoon fed, and again I was astounded with how many still struggled. Not sure what is going on here, I can see why the spoon feeding is there, the pass rate would be about 5% otherwise.
After that we were off to the Corestaff office, meet our local contact, and had all our certificates copied onto our files. Then off to manual handling. I was surprised here, I had prepared myself for another snooze session, and was greatly surprised. This course was not only delivered very well, but I learnt a lot. Seriously, most people are aware that lifting incorrectly could cause potential harm, but I never realised how seriously easy it was to do this, plus all the non manual tasks (for those of you who sit in a chair all day) and how badly they can cause the same problems!
So that came and went, without to much trouble and another course passed, another certificate issued. Smashing them out now. Finally I got my first closer look at the main Mt Isa Mine. Visited the Kinetic Health Centre and did another drug, alcohol and Blood Lead Level test. Flying colours once again (even if I did have to pee whilst a security camera watched, seriously, that’s difficult no matter how bad you need to go) and FINALLY got my Mt Isa Mines security card. Now for the serious stuff, I can finally enter the mines!
Yes, I feel like a little kid at Christmas, tomorrow I finally step foot into the biggest sandpit I’ve ever seen, complete with real life Tonka Trucks and Dozers, that weigh over 400 tonne! Mostly everything about this trip stills feels surreal and hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I think being on site and seeing some of this stuff up close will truly help that. From the quick views I have seen of things driving around, the enormity of everything is amazing. I have my sites set on a photo of me on top of the large Haul Trucks that I can frame and put in the trophy room (Note to self: Build trophy room). Anyway, tomorrow is above ground only, got more inductions to do before I can go below. Also my last day with Paul as he starts work on Thursday. Will be navigating solo underground (aside from the other 1000 people working below there anyway).
And so we come to tonight, again, food was amazing, I have had roast for 3 nights now, my wife would kill me if she knew. Such a selection, really need to start working to work it all off. I have heard it is a lot hotter underground (I think George Fisher Mine goes 1.5km down? Will get confirmation soon) and also more humid so that will probably help, not to mention not sitting in a chair all day, it was driving me nuts after only 2 days. Finally gave in and bought a beer from the wet mess to enjoy whilst writing this. I really don’t need it, think I drank enough on my last day of work to last me quite a while. FYI, the beer comes from the "Wet Mess", it is open from 7-8am, and 7-9pm. It sells beer (and spirits), as well as smokes, basic items like toothpaste, sunscreen etc, and also softdrink. There are two pool table as well as a big screen in there. Next door is the Rec Room, it has a big screen, lounges, coffee and tea facilities, and a full gym setup. It's open all the time. Also, I apologise for the lack of pictures today, unless you wanted to see a classroom nothing really interesting happened. Hopefully tomorrow will make up for this.
So once again I leave you with some interesting facts of the day:
- Cheapest beer in QLD at camp, $2 cans of XXXX Gold.
- 25L/sec on water is pumped into GFM, 70L/sec are pumped out, the extra water is ground water
- The Mayor of Mt Isa just lost his licence for DUI.
- 3500 current opportunities exist in QLD mines due to the boom, there are another 38,000 expected to open in the coming years. Visit opportunities.qld.gov.au (I just saw the ad on TV alright)
- There is 1 TV station here (can’t remember which), that instead of ads, just shows footage of Isa and the local area. Weird.
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