Hey world,
I don’t think ive ever
had so much interest in these write ups that I do. Im only basing this on the
messaging ive been getting requesting more which is awesome but the lack of
internet access really does cripple the idea of being able to update every time
I want to. That said I will be sure to try my best to keep things up to date
and im glad people are reading them.
Very rarely do I ever
feel like I am in Melbourne when im here at camp but the speed in which weather
goes from good to bad and bad into good, it really has had that feel to it
lately. The main difference is when it gets cold here its not so much a little
cold but a lot cold. I realise that I am like a human heater and the cold very
rarely has any impact on me, but the past few night certainly have taken longer
than usual to get used to, which for anyone who knows how I treat the ‘cold’ at
home will appreciate how cold it really has been getting.
Trying to form a
cocoon with my blankets at night is not the only thing the weather is having an
impact on. It has slowed down precamp to the point that I think people have
been feeling a little pressure throughout the staff. It is less than a week
till we have 150-200 people arrive (the rest of the staff) for orientation and
at the start of today there was still a lot of work to be done on cabins, still
only 4/15 tennis courts done due to the rain making it impossible, and still
all the seemingly minor things that add up to make the place look like we have
too much work to do and so little time. The saving grace that we have is that
precamp staff numbers are out of control with it getting close to 60 now – I
think - and they are all willing
to do what it takes to get the job done. By the end of today there was great
progress from what I could tell with the cabins and now the tennis courts are
up to roughly 10 or 11 done. I have no idea how they did so many so fast but
kudos to them. Usually I would be part of this, and be in a great deal of pain
thanks to the courts if the first few sessions of it are anything to go by, but
so far ive been needed elsewhere.
My job has been much
the same with me driving the truck – ute – around camp with my list of jobs
plus what ever else everyone thinks up as the day goes on. The main job they
have me doing is supplying the wood needed to the two construction areas. This
would be all well and good but the wood is located at the back of the barn,
which is right at the very back and furthest point from anything at camp.
Construction site one is chief row, which is front right area of camp. And
construction site two is lower quad – which is the right left area of camp.
Even with the truck this isn’t a small camp when everything is spread out, so
keeping the supply high enough to meet demand can be challenging sometimes
especially when little side jobs are thought of as im making the trips back and
forth.
While it may sound like im complaining I assure you that if given the
choice between truck or tennis courts I would definitely pick the truck. Given
how tedious the courts can be I think I’d choose stepping on a nail over doing
them some days actually. Today I did discovered the down side to carrying long
awkward planks of wood around all day though. It was about half way through the
afternoon session when I realised that I had scratches all over my wrists and
the inside of my forearms from trying to manoeuvre the wood which I hoped
wouldn’t raise any concerns. As it turns out im not the only one and by
comparison the others have it much worse than I do.
new day…
I realised that what I
had been writing was much more informative and that usually means its boring so
left the rest of this blog to a new day. Obviously I upload it all at once and
you didn’t need to know that but I don’t care.
So in a recent night
out to the rig – near by bar – it would appear the run I had of not drinking at
camp was broken. While im sure there is some of you out there that are sad you
missed this given the occasional effort to get me drinking in past years, it
just goes on the list of reasons you should of come back. In celebration of an
upcoming birthday there was shots to be taken. 20 mins and 5 shots of ** later
I made my sister proud with drunken text messages, which some may already know
about thanks to her telling the world about them via facebook. While I admit I
did it I still wont take full responsibility since it was the biggest night of
the summer.
In a completely
unrelated note, I think im running out of animals left in this area to see this
year already. So far ive seen carlos, or at least a close relative if its not
carlos himself, a deer, snake, bald eagle and of course, endless spiders and
chipmunks. The deer ran out in front of us while we were driving back to camp,
which was a bit of a shock in the dark, but I think the snake popping up near
my shoe before I noticed it took me by the biggest surprise. All I wanted was
to get more planks of wood and got a little more than I bargained for.
Animal kingdom aside
things have been going really well, a lot of work got done today and im fairly
certain that we are on track in time for orientation to start on Tuesday. There
has been talk of a staff bowling night, which if its anything like last years
will be amazing fun. Personally I hope to replicate the form I showed at my end
of season bowling night for work that took place before flying out to here.
Another run of 3 or 4 strikes in a row would definitely go down nicely! The
likelihood of this happening obviously is not as high as id like it to be but
hey I need to have something to aim for!
After the long write
up from last time it is only natural that this one could not live up to the
length and craziness that it consisted of. In my defence there really hasn’t
been anything out of ordinary going on here lately its just been work by day
and movies or relax by night. Overall I think people are of the mind set that,
with orientation around the corner, this could be some of the last time we have
left to be able to sit back and take it easy. And they would be right.
Orientation can get quite busy and the excitement of new people usually causes
a fair bit of excitement, but it has nothing on the start of camp. There isn’t
much that can make life busier than kids everywhere you look and working from
wake up through to 9pm everyday. But there is a lot to get through before that.
For now its just get the jobs done and continue to love life doing what I do.
Take care all
^^my arm healing from the damage the wood has been doing^^
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