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Published: August 8th 2007
The morning Light!
i get to see this every day!Current mood: Twitchier than Cambodia!!
Hey guys! Well its finally Happened. The reason i flew into the northern Territory has Worked out for me and i Have landed a job on Melville island a hundred times better than i thought i would have! There was me thinking id be doing the typical Planting and picking of Fruit that most Backpackers do but instead i have taken a step up the Ladder and onto the steps of Agricultural Planning. Im top of the food Chain Baby mooooooooooooohahahahaha xXx
So abit of a Back track as i always seem to do in a good story hehehe I got the call two days before my flight on the 21st of March initially saying id be flying out the next morning so in a massive panick i rushed out to gear my self out with some Hard Yakka Boots and some Combat bottoms! Its all the rage it seems. After running around like an absolute numbty i met up with tom and Hilke to Have a few pints etc etc as it would be the last time i see Tom in Oz and Hilke too was leaving to do the coast. So after
a few great days we were all sitting about my house having a chilled one before the big day that was to greet all of us!
At 4am i was Politely woken by hilke telling me that i should be getting up after she has just returned from a piss up here self and then got abused by brett on his return from yet another Mad one! So up i got..... had a bite to eat and another great cup of tetleys phoned my Taxi and said my good Byes! (Tom and Hilke i had a great time thanx for staying it was my pleasure to have you both there! My place is yours anytime! Hilke... Bali?!!!?!? have fun chick)
So the Horn on the taxi sounded my call and out i went to begin the next bit of my adventure! I had heard so much about this island and the fact that all sorts of expensive tours go out there having the oportunity to actually live it a little was definately more driven to my liking! The taxi took me to a little franchised airstrip governed by Great southern and Direct airways to be weighed and loaded
onto a little 10 seater prepelled plane that was very new and exciting to me to say the least!
On arriving and sitting waiting for the plane i was introduced to a few people including a guy called Boof (Glen) who seemed pretty sound! We ended up just talking about the plans that may have been in for us regarding work and the likes of that! At 7am we were called to the Tarmac to chuck our bags on the plane and board for our half an hour journey! Gotta say i was absolutely Nackered so the second those engines came on i was gone! No pretty sunrises in the sky for me!
In and out of sleep i fell occasionally waking to see that the sun was rising above the clouds which looked great but cock eyed i was off again until the plane hit the Dirt strip on Melville Island and we were asked to depart the Plane! Greeted by a gang of big wigs and officials we were escorted to our rooms that include a TV and aircon (no Bathroom though) a comfy ish looking bed and a wardrobe! All good. After dumping my bags
a morning sky on route to a Bush walk
Rob shouted across the green to show me around abit which was cool i now felt a little more comfortable knowing somebody influential!
After a fry up Compliments of the Camp (as are the flights to and from the island and all the food you can stomach) I was given two Great southern Shirts so off i went all proud to get into my new gear! Returning to the office we were briefed as to what the job woud entail.
My Position on melville is Catogorised as a Land evaluation officer. This basicly means We as a group Head out to a specific location in the Bush Marked up and chosen from arial Photographs instigating possible stretches of land that can be cleared for Harvest! (Planting of Kacia trees)
Where we come in is we have to take co-ordinates from the Maps and through driving and walking locate these specific points using GPS systems to evaluate the possibilities of planting dependent on Slope in the land, Types of Soil, Size of Area (defined by buffer Zones needed to avoid Creeks and Rain forests) and possible species of endagered
animals that may be within the boundaries!
So the first Job for us would be to go out to the sight and walk a creek line scoping for Rain forest which need to be avoided by certain distances that are later plotted on Computers at the office! We walk between 10 and 20 Km a day Checking for Buffer zones and on return the information is talleyed up on computer Gps reading panels for a return walk!
If after all boundaries are plotted there is still 100 hectares of land left (as a minimum) we then do a Boundary walk taken from the co-ordinates plotted on the computers! On this walk we have to Suss out wether the actual land within the Boundary is good enough to be planted on! Considerations include the type of trees that Grow, Slope in the ground etc etc! If there is still 100 Hectares left after this we do a third walk of the entire block marking out lines with Pink tape so we can say an area is ready for clearing!
The last thing we have our hands in is transects and Trapping of animals within the block! This is
to ensure we are not clearing areas of land where there are any endangered species about. The job includes digging of to many holes in the ground and observing the trees for various nests! Guys How the hell did i get this job hahahaha im scared of Spiders in my back yard i dont even go out there! (Sorry for the boring information)
So Brief over we are all told to go get our Packed lunches sorted and get on the Jeeps! This is where the fun began! The first day i was like a freak! every time a web touched me id squeel and if another green arsed ant runs up my kegs i reckon i will commit a bad deed! I hate them! Rob basicly spent the day teaching us how to use the Gps consoles and slope reading tools whilst he walked ahead pointing out key things to look for! Obviously my mind was on many other things than trees! it was what was in them that bothered me! Ive never seen Spiders so agressive looking! Slowly the rain crept in and we all got drenched! the day came to an end and Rob was grinning
me walking through a spiders web!!
Boof in the back ground pissing himself from ear to ear with the delight that a pommy was suffering! the cruel Bastard hahah cheers son! Day Two was pretty much the same but over to a different site where we would walk creek lines and do some transecting of the land!
Day three and four however very nearly broke me! We had a Creek line to walk as on the maps there were readings of rainforests that needed to be investigated! So off we went in the early hours to have a bit of a walk! Well.... we found the odd bit of Rain forest on the east side of the plot so there wasnt to much to worry bout so quickly we dart over to the west side to be hit by terrential Downpores walking through Swampy marshes and Creeks that clearly had gone mad! the plot on return looked sweet and just north of the original block was another little clearing that we thought we could include to make a massive clearing saving lots of time and money! So the second morning of the nasty two days came!
We went out to find that after a transect of the southern section most of
the land was shit! So heading further to the north we had to walk more creek lines where there was definately going to be plenty of rainforest! Ant after Ant ran up my back... on my face... in my fro... up my pants and every where else we shouldnt talk about in public.... i was a mess! Then we decided to sit down for lunch before the heavens opened saving us from eating soggy sarnies! so sitting down Boof looks at me with a wierd face on him saying 'nik dont move..........' What type of a thing is that to say to a pommy who is in the Jungles of Australia knowing there is deadly shit everywhere! Like a gimp i froze.....! He leaned over and to my horror took my Sun hat off my head revealing the filthiest most poisonous spider ive ever saw! Shit me that was close! So im on edge now like. Then sitting for a while longer i couldnt believe it! A leach!!! yes thats right a Blood sucking Leach Givin it the billy biggen crawling up the out side of my trousers! Flicking it off i jumped up saying ive had a shit full
so for the remainding 20 mins i stood up to eat my food! Speadily didnt the lunch time bell ring but sure enough it came and we were off in search of more rainforest (which look wicked by the way... proper platoon stylee) Walking hardly a meter i felt it! An itch on my shins... your having a laugh!! So like a bullet a grabbed what ever it was through the fabric and pulled it away from my skin! I could feel it wiggling.... the Mother F****R Came back. The leach! I was a mess... a shadow of my former self i tell you. after being laughed at by the lads i cracked on with the walk!! Meter after meter i could feel itching and out of embarressment i wouldnt look at my legs as the lads were saying i was paranoid! After a tickle above the nee though all shame went out of the window and looking down to see two leaches crawiling up my T-shirt i was straight to the legs to investigate! I could have cried! 4 of them.... FOUR!!!!! Whats that about! they got one between them and theres me with more than i can count
on two hands!! Im now Superfly TNT!
The Walk however had to go on to my pity so after removing the leaches from my legs i got slightly ahead of Boof to keep in the middle maybe to try and hide from all of these things that tried to get me that day! Yeah right no such luck!! Still On Paranoiya Avenue i stopped to have a peek at my legs slightly turning around to see if boof was on my tail! Stopping to Laugh at me i quickly tied up my trousers again to get going and as i turned i was walking between two trees! Boiof laughed shouting theres a Web there watch out mate and to my Horror i walked Right into the meatiest Web ive ever had hit me! The bag Came off, the map went into the air and my Hat hit the deck all before my feet hit the ground again!! I jumped up and down like a freek trying to find a spider that would create a web you could swing on!! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh i was done!! Rob could see my face wasn't happy and i reckon he detoured off the path some
to save my pride of yet another Girly Screem! I couldnt wait to get back to the Car! After this point the day was a Blur! I vaguely remember getting some dinner having a shower and falling asleep to Home and Away!! God damb Jungles!
The remainder of the Week got a little Cruisy!! We wernt out in the bush Boundary marking much after that we had Dunnart Traps to prepare and not alot of work on to be honest! So the deal went a little like this! Myself, Boof, Chris, Sabo and Romeo had around 25 holes to dig in Three days!! Easy! so after a brisk walk in the mornings and abit of a dig we were out fishing and swimming in Water holes and catching the odd shark or two!! The week finished off nicely! Towards the end of the last few days i got myself invited with a few people from work on a free flight to a near Island 'Bathurst' where one day a year you do not need permits to get on there! This is because of the Grand Finals in AFL footy (that is like Galic football) I was pleased with that!
The plan is to get back to my house for the weekend to see what the crack is and then fly back early to get over to the match on the Sunday! Ill be sure to post a blogg and a few pics on the events of the day!
Until then i want you all to know im Happy and my Job is awesom! I hope this read wasnt overly boring for you and will try to keep things a litle simpler in the future hahah Not!! These are for me aswell you know!!
Love you all at home and a big Shout out and a get well soon to a Mate from Home called Thumbs who is a talented Musician that was hurt this last week!! Hope you pull through soon Buddy!!!
All the way from Australia
Love from a brummy!!
Niki xx
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neri
non-member comment
happy easter chicken!
wow beautiful pictures as ever.Glad you are tickety boo. Chag Samech from Israel xxxxxxxxxx Happy Easter xxxxxxxx