December 2017

01-17 December 2017

As with November, this month is flying by thanks to our 6 days of a 12 hour working day (which start at 5.30am), then a few drinks on the verandah at 6pm when the work stops, before a quick meal, shower and as much sleep as we can get.

Bruce Rock Camp

Our small campsite here at work. The boss next to us in his caravan.

It's hard to believe but we are almost finished work for another year. What started out as a possible flop of a grain harvest has turned into a relatively good one. The farmers are all pretty happy with their yields (some up to 4 tonnes per hectare) so the flow of grain into the site has been relentless. Last year our biggest day was 3,589 tonnes but this year we reached 4,915 and had many days over 3,500 and a number over 4,000. The site holds around 110,000 tonnes and as of writing we are at 95,000 tonnes, so yes, we have been busy. And on top of the grain coming in, we have outloaded around 8,000 tonnes to ensure we had enough space right to the end.

Unloading

Another 50 odd tonnes coming in.

But it has not all been hard graft. One of our farmers was diagnosed with brain cancer earlier in the year so a number of us donned the pink skirt for some photo's of encouragement as he spent time in Perth undergoing treatment, while friends harvested his crop.

Brain Cancer

Selena, one of our new workers with me as I model the latest Pink Skirt fashion accessory.

And our resident Willy Wagtails were nesting up in the framework of the elevator again this year. Producing two lots of chicks mum and dad took turns to come down and chat with us as we worked, grabbing some of the bugs at the same time and often giving us a little chick protective swoop as we climbed the ladder and past the nest as we to go up to the gantry that runs the length of the G-type storage shed.

Willy Wagtails

With some of the other staff already having left, we will be here to just before Christmas, and we might come back for some clean up work but if not, we will be back on the road again after some family time in Perth.

31 December 2017

With Christmas over we headed back to Bruce Rock and straight into the clean up week, even with one farmer still delivering. Cleaning involved removing all grain, husk and other debris off of and out of all elevators, gantry's, conveyor belts, trippers, roadways, bulkhead struts, and of course the dreaded boot pits at the bottom of the elevators.

Leaving site for the last time this year, and with 105,000 tonnes of grain in storage, we made our way to Mandurah to celebrate the end of 2017 and the start of 2018 with good friends Kim, Carolyn, Bob and Julie. As we have done for a few years now, we took some food, drinks and chairs down to the water and enjoyed our time together waiting for the 9pm fireworks, before heading back to Kim and Carolyn's for coffee and then bed.

Mark Twain once said "...years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do that by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - and so we will.