Christmas Surprises!

Christmas Day

Christmas 2013 was certainly an unusual Christmas for Team Stack. This is the first year we have been away from home, the first time we have celebrated on the beach and the first time in 8 years that Chris has only eaten one Christmas dinner!

It didn't really feel like Christmas in the 40 degree heat, so rather than try to keep up with our old traditions, we set about creating some new ones! On Christmas morning we woke up at around 5am....the first time I've not had to wait for my sleepy (usually hungover!) brothers to get up before opening my presents! Chris and I swapped parcels then headed to City Beach for a boozy breakfast. First new tradition....champagne on the beach!! Second new tradition... BBQ bacon!

All Our Pressies!

 

Guess what we got each other!

The beach was packed! People had brought BBQs, picnics, Christmas trees and lights to set up on the beach! Everyone was wearing bikinis or boardies with santa hats! We had a great time in the sea and got some fantastic photos.....until a pesky wave decided to steal my new camera! City beach has some seriously big waves and I managed to get dumped by the surf loosing my new GoPro camera in the process! Little did I know that losing the camera was ruining Chris's plans for later in the week! Fortunately I managed to buy a new camera the same day so only a few photos were lost!

City Beach

Christmas Jumpers (Not worn for long, we were roasting!)

Later on we went to the Wager-Sheps for Christmas dinner. The Wager-Sheps (also known as Andrew and Amy) are a lovely couple we've met here in Perth and were kind enough to invite us over for Christmas dinner...vegetarian style! Andrew also introduced Chris to Jura whiskey so I took home a rather gizzoned Chris!

At home we managed to Skype the Greenwoods and the Evans' and had another fun pressie opening session! We got spoilt by all the cards and gifts people sent...THANKYOU! Luckily some Old traditions remained, we still had the awesome stockings, unfortunately due to quarantine regulations, we had plastic fruit!

Some old traditions never die!

 

Plastic Fruit!

Mmmmmmm

Boxing Day

Boxing day started with a trip to our local electronics shop to pick up my new camera! Finally Chris started to relax....I still wasn't sure why he was so stressed about the camera!!

We decided to test the camera out by going on a mountain bike ride. Chris and I have signed up for a 7 stage MTB race in Alice Springs so we wanted to get some training in. We planned to do about 50km of  MTB-ing, but as usual...we got a little lost and ended up doing nearer 60km. The ride started off fairly easy and Chris went flying off ahead....he didn't realise we were on a slight down hill with a massive tail wind....until we had turn around!! We cycled 30km down hill only to have to climb 30km against the wind! Chris nearly died and in 38 degree heat, he nearly melted too! Fortunately about 15km from home we stumbled across a gorgeous lake where we could cool down with a swim and an ice-cream!

Lake Leschenaultia - Near Chidlow

Engagement Day! (Totally showing off I know! :-D)

Chris had asked me to keep Dec 27th free because he had planned a surprise date for me. He told me to pack my new snorkel gear but wouldn't give me any other information! All I knew was that there were some secret phone calls going on! I guessed Chris had hired someone to show us some of the good snorkelling spots in Perth, however I became quite confused when we drove inland from the coast! As we were driving along it started to rain (rain??? in Perth???) and Chris got another secret phone call. When he came back to the car he did not look impressed. The weather meant our trip would have to be delayed or possibly cancelled. So to pass the time Chris pulled in to the nearest café...and would you believe it was called "The Spud Shed!" Most people who know me will know that my least favourite food is the spud! So far, I was not impressed with my surprise date!

The spudshed! Going well....

Eventually after another secret phone call, we were given the go ahead. By now (After studying the map looking for clues of where we were surrounded only by an airport and aviation related businesses, sat next to a table of pilots, another of flying firefighters and a few flying medics) I had guessed that we were going scuba diving and we were going to learn how to do it in a swimming pool!!!!!! As we drove along past all the flying schools, flying ambulances, flying fire bombers and air-strips, it still never occurred to me that I had guessed wrong (I'm usually a very good guesser!!) and rather than diving....we would (in case you hadn't guessed by now) be flying! I even said to Chris "If I hadn't already guessed we were diving, and didn't know better I would have thought we would be flying!!!" Finally as we pulled into a car park for Rottnest Air Taxi I realised my guessing wasn't as good as I thought, and Chris' ability to keep secrets had improved!!

 

Our Little Plane

Our pilot came to collect us and we walked over to our little plane. It was tiny, just enough room for me, Chris and the pilot! We had a beautiful flight over Perth and then headed across the sea to  Rottnest Island! Since going to Rottnest earlier in the year, it has become one of my favourite places. I didn't realise our last trip had been a dry run for today's surprise!

1st officer Naomi

View South along Perth coast towards Mandurah

View North from Fremantle up to City Beach, Scarborough, Hillarys...

Coming in to land at Rotto

Looking down at the Plebs in their boats!

We landed at Rotto then set off to hire some bikes and go for a picnic. Once we collected our bikes, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day! We cycled round looking for a nice picnic spot and managed to find a completely empty beach!

Porpoise Bay - Not a bad little spot!

 

As we sat down, Chris pulled out another present for me, it was a photo book called "Naomi and Chris: The story so far..."

By now I had guess the plane ride wasn't my only surprise! At the end of the story, Chris got on one knee and asked the question and gave me my beautiful ring! Of course I said yes, but we couldn't remember which finger the ring went on!! Chris then pulled out the champagne and we had a lovely picnic, although, with the nerves, we had both lost our appetites!!

 

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon snorkelling and taking lots of pictures with our new new GoPro camera! After the Christmas day wave incident...I wasn't allowed to wear my new ring!

 

 

 

 

Later on in the afternoon, the pilot came to pick us up and take us back to Perth. Chris had one more surprise organised. We headed to Cottesloe, one of the best beaches in Perth and had dinner at Indiana, a restaurant right on the beach. We got there just in time to watch the Indian Ocean sunset! He couldn't have timed it better!

For when one burger wont quite do! (Appetite had returned)!

Mmmm yummy pasta and Margaret River Wine!

Cottesloe Beach - Indiana is the building you can see in the centre of the shot

After dinner we headed home to Skype with the family and share our exciting news!

Thanks Chris for the best day ever!

28th

The 28th was Chris' Birthday and we had an amazing time with loads of friends over crammed into our tiny house for a BBQ, celebrating the recent good news and Chris making it to 27 without going too bald!

The day was also spent with phones, facebook, emails and Skype buzzing constantly with so many lovely messages from everyone at Home as well as new friends here wishing us the best. We couldn't reply to everyone as our fingers would have dropped off, but they meant a lot to know people were thinking of us even when we are so far away so thank you!

Anyway best get off, got some wedding planning to do! We are heading down south next week on a road trip so keep checking, we will try get another post up to keep you updated!

Team Stack!



x

Spring update - Team Stack are back

Hello!

So its been a while since our last update, don't worry we have not been eaten by crocs or sharks (although we have had close calls...more on that soon).

So I (Chris) have been busy at work back up t'north in't outback, not a lot to report on there still lots of red dust, big machines and its chuffin hot everyday. We are now heading into cyclone season so there may be some more excitement to post on in the next couple of months.

We had one road trip from work on our day off which was fun. We headed North from site to a town called Nullagine. It is the largest town for around 200km with a population of approximately 7 people and a cow. Anyway we heading into the local store and they kindly gave us a hand drawn map to follow to some watering holes. This covered approx. 200km and had instructions such as turn left at broken down tractor, or bear right at oil drum... really glad nobody got around to fixing the tractor!!

It turned out to be a pretty accurate map and we found a few really old mines, a few termite mounds and some cool swimming spots along the way.

The Map

Old Mine

Me and my mound

 

So that's life in the outback covered, Naomi has been equally busy sampling EVERY café in Subi, and the greater Perth area. She has also become slightly addicted to avocado, which has earned her the new nickname of the avocado aficionado. She has also been busy fixing people in her spare time, but mainly eating cake, drinking matso's (an amazing mango beer from Broome) and watching films at the rooftop cinemas.... Slacker!

 

Anyway on my week off in November we headed for a short break over to Rottnest Island, or Rotto as it is known to us Sandgropers (someone from WA).

 

Rotto is a small island approx. 10km x 5km just off the coast of perth.

Naomi had been desperate to come here since reading about it 12months ago online. Rotto is (apart from a small park on the mainland) the only place in the world where you can find Quokkas. These are small marsupials that have been named the happiest animals on the planet.

Other than the quokkas, Rotto is also home to some of the most incredible beaches I have ever seen. The whole island is closed to cars, and so we spent 2 days cycling around,

 stopping off at all of the bays around the island. At each beach we were pretty much the only ones there, and you could step straight into the water to see some incredible reefs where you could snorkel.



On Rotto and on the mainland we also met a couple of new friends native to the country

A Dugite snake, seemed quite friendly to pose for photos as we cycled by but can give a killer bite.

Monitor Lizard - Pretty big, this was about 1m in length, but can grow to nearly double. They are all out of hibernation now and a regular site at work.

Bobtail Skink - See a lo of these when out biking, if you get too close they show you there blue tongue as a sign of aggression.

Huntsman Spider - Look pretty nasty, but actually a good ally to have around as they eat all the nasty spiders like redbacks, and they are pretty harmless to humans. They have been known to cause serious injuries though, as they like to hide behind the sun visor in the car causing people to crash when it falls on their head!!!

 

So up to December now... my break in December fell a bit Naff as Naomi had to work for a lot of it, but she did manage to organise one day off which was good, so we planned a fun day out...

Last week I decided to sign us up for Ingkerreke mountain bike race. It is a 5day 7 stage race around Alice Springs in May. In preparation we decided to head out training up to Kalamunda in the Perth hills to hit the trails.

 

I should explain, we decided before we went to rotto to get a go-pro camera (hence the underwater photos), and they are also great for capturing mountain biking footage.

 

So we had done the majority of the ride and were just commencing the last down hill when a rock jumped out at me and threw me off...

Unfortunately for me there was no way I could disguise this for a tactical topple, it was a full on stack and the go pro captured everything! (see bonus footage below)!

 

Well after a bit of dusting down and Naomi laughing we managed to finish the loop and head back to the car park. It was only then when trying to wash myself down that I found a nasty gash to my elbow... the prognosis from Dr G wasn't good... although I would survive it would need stitches!

 

So on Naomi's day off we headed into Charlies Hospital, luckily having a private Doctor we jumped to the front of the queue and Naomi set about her work, with me receiving a bit of stick from some of her colleagues, asking if I needed gas!

 

After lots of anaesthetic, poking around, scrubbing, 3 stiches and a tetanus jab I was all good to go! Well done Dr G you passed!

 



 

Bonus Video!

 

So that is all for now guys, I need to get to the airport to have a couple of weeks rest at work! We have a few fun adventures planned in the next couple of months, including beach Christmas so keep your eyes peeled!

 

Oh nearly forgot about the close calls... so we have recently found out that WA is one of the worlds most dangerous places for shark attacks according to National Geographic, and there have been a couple of fatal attacks in the last few months. Luckily there is a chopper spotting sharks that patrols, and the beach had to be shut the other day as I was leaving as a 'pointer' was spotted. Naomi also had a close call at rotto with a fish that was at least 2 inches long that she insists was a shark!!!!

 

Bruce and Shiela / Team Stack!

 



 



Working in T'Outback!

Working up t'North!


So you have had Naomi's Geeky Doctor Post! Now its my time to bore you with Engineering stuff!

So I started work at the End of August for a company called Ertech based in the Northern Suburbs of Perth. After a few weeks in the Perth office it was time to head to site to get a job started.

The job is around 30km of new roads... the catch... its a 1300km commute!! Its what is known in Australia as a FIFO (Fly In - Fly Out) job. The roads are being constructed as part of a new Iron Ore Mine Development (Roy Hill Mine) near Newman, WA.

 

So the flight was a fairly painless 2hours up to site, and luckily the site airport had just been opened so we were saved the 120km drive up from Newman, instead having the luxury of landing just 10km from the accommodation camp.

 

Now my expectation of the accommodation camp was pretty low, I had visions of tents, or snake infested portacabins, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice brand new en-suite room with FoxTel, internet and an actual bed!!!

 

The camp facilities weren't too bad either, small gym, fairly decent food (all free and as much as you can eat) and a decent little bar. Again I was pleasantly surprised to find out these were the temporary facilities and the new ones open next month include a swimming pool, cinema and indoor driving range!!!

 

So after settling into the camp, it was time for work the next day. We were setting up a temporary office at the old exploration camp, an old abandoned set of buildings used by the geologists when locating the iron ore areas within the mine lease. First impressions...not a bad view from the office!

 

 

Second impressions........ S*%t Snakes!!!

 

So after setting up the offices it was time to have a look at the job. The main bulk of the works was to divert the Marble Bar Road around the mine area. So before I show you the photo, time for some context.

The mine is located in the Shire of East Pilbara, the largest Shire in the world! It has an area over 3x that of England with a population of just 10000!!! Heading North from Newman (the shire capital) are the two main roads serving this vast area, one is the Marble Bar Road. The other road to heading further west is the equivalent to the M1 so I guess this is the A1.........

 

This is actually a good patch..... imagine following a road train kicking up dust, dodging graders that casually dig up the road in front of you to repair the road, with the odd stray cattle, horses, emus and kangaroos jumping in front of your car, and not a single little chef in site!

 

So luckily for the locals, we are actually replacing this with a sealed road, so should make the journey a little more comfortable!!

 

The hours on site are long, start at 6am... (and we are one of the latest starters), the bonus is having a site meeting every morning at Sunrise, often joined by roos and emus! Not really a bad way to start the day.

 

 

 

We then get to play with massive big toys all day, although mine is a bit smaller (a Hilux UTE)

 

 

 

 

 



The swings are long, 3 weeks on at a time, however we have one day off mid way through. We were quite excited about having a day to escape the camp and visit some of the local national parks including swimming watering holes and bbq spots, however unfortunately the night before a pickup following a road train managed to crash into 3 cows on the main road. Although the road train took the brunt of the impact, this put restrictions on our driving meaning we all had to travel in one bus.

 

So the one day we had off resulted in a trip to Newman, a thriving metropolis of around 5000ppl 120km south of site. I would put up loads of photos of the sights of Newman, however the only one really was a musical public toilet!!! It was nice to get away from the camp through and have a nice pub lunch, which was actually a really nice steak! On the way back the beer had kicked in and we all needed to stop at the service station for a wee stop

 



 

 

The day off gave us the opportunity to explore a bit around the camp when we got back and I managed to find a really nice running route up the hill overlooking camp. It was a nice change to the gym and running laps of the camp, not a bad view for sunset either!

 

 

This run formed the basis of my Freo half marathon training, and also got me a couple of new Strava course records!!!

 

Anyway after 3 weeks of early starts, hill runs, trips to Newman, no clouds and 35degs days, it was time to head home for a weeks R&R.

Just time to check into the airport terminal (similar to T5) and start the 2 hour journey back to rain and civilisation!