in the bush

greetings from the field! or as the aussies call it, the bush :)

ive only been out since monday but i feel like a lot has happened so i wanted to cram it all on the blog before i forgot everything. my memory is completely shot, not quite sure how that happened, but if its this gnarly at 26 i can only imagine what a space cadet i'll be when im 80. my friend shannon mentioned this the other day, but why is that we can remember lyrics to songs that we havent heard in years, but when it comes to retaining vital information, say like, your phone number or bank account, its like doing rocket science and we're completely inept? rambling....where was i?

so we have to fly in on a charter plane to our work site. we landed in a remote area in the pilbara in the northwest portion of australia. when we landed it was the craziest feeling. it was super bumpy and rough and everyone on the plane was holding on for dear life. i was thinking something terrible had to have gone wrong (like an engine blew up or something, you know, like what happens in the movies?), but as it turns out we were just landing on a dirt and gravel runway. things are booming up here so much that they are chartering their own flights in, but they cant be bothered to pave a runway for a plane. lol wtf? silly aussies.

my irish friend tony told me a story about the pilbara before coming up here. he said, "whun i got off de plane it was so hot that aye figured aye was near de engine so i took a step foreward. turns out ets just that bloody hot" (yeah, im typing in irish again. i like it. it makes me happy). i kept that in mind as i got off the plane, and sure enough, the heat practically punches you in the face. its been hovering between 100 and 115 degrees everyday. however, coming from utah which has some gnarly deserts that get quite hot, i didnt want to seem like a pussy and start whining about the heat, so i kept quiet (but was silently cursing the horrific temperatures).

the mine supplies us with work vehicles. seems only appropriate that we roll around in tricked out land cruisers with roo-bars. see?

not sure what i was expecting as far as the mine camp, but i was pleasantly surprised when we arrived. it was like a mini city. except sort of army looking with its bland color metal buildings. i guess this camp has been around for 6+ years and since the mining industry is so competitive here, they have to have decent camps or else folks will quit and go work somewhere else that has better accommodation. this place has a giant mess hall, a gym, a cinema, a lap pool, a regular pool, and a grassy oval.

my first day out in the bush i learned a couple of things.

1) keep long sleeves rolled down! remember how people got all riled up over aerosol cans and how they were eating a hole in the ozone layer? well, turns out there is a big hole over australia and most of new zealand and the sun will kick your ass if you arent on your game.

2) re-apply sunscreen 5x a day. not even joking. im a brown kid and it takes a lot for me to get burned. yeah NO. not here. i was bordering on crispy/well done by about noon the first day.

3) face bug nets are ESSENTIAL! the flies here are worse than those people in vegas that pass out porn fliers on the strip. they go in your ears, and up your nose, and in your eyeballs. i was about to throw an agro fit of rage until one of our fieldies handed me a net. thank you cheesus.

4) aussies roll in style. all vehicles are equipped with giant coolers (or eskies as they're called here) and ice-filled water coolers. never in my life doing survey or excavation have i been afforded the luxury of putting mayo on my sandwich (without worrying about heat-induced ecoli or rikitzies disease) or having ice cold water in my nalgene ALL day. spoiled for life.

the pilbara is an interesting region, its like every part of its being is trying to kill you or make you leave. the temperatures are ungodly hot, they have something like 9 gnarly snakes in the area, 4 of which can kill you (1 of which is in the worlds top 10 deadliest snakes), crazy spiders of death, monitor lizards that can run straight up you and cut you open, flash floods, and several poisonous plants. lol what are the hazards at your work? jammed copier?

but, it IS very beautiful and has some neat archaeology. i have to give it that

i was told a neat story of the area by a traditional owner (indigenous australian....turns out they dont like to be called aborigines) who works with us. it goes something like this...all indigenous peoples are known by a skin color (best i can figure is its analogous to clans for native americans), and certain skin colors are allowed to marry and others are not. this keeps blood lines mixed and avoids any potential incestuous relationships. its also tribal law that nobody is allowed to marry outside their designated skin groups. well, as it happens, two people from forbidden groups fell in love and ran away together. since this was against the law, a feather foot was sent after them. a feather foot is like an aboriginal law enforcer/hunter/sorcerer/tracker. he eventually found the lovers and as their punishment, turned them into hills. the man telling me the story then pointed to two hills off in the distance. it was pretty cool.

i also gathered that the traditional owners dont like working out in the bush much past 4:00 pm because thats when the spirits get active, and they like to give them their space. its so surreal to be chucked into all of this for me. its like things ive heard about and read about, but never thought id experience. definitely soaking it all in.

and today i got a really cool treat...the fellas (i guess white-y also used to call the aborigines "blackfellas", and since its incredibly racist, it sort of morphed into just "fellas". they dont take offense to it, and its just another term, like dudes) caught and killed a goanna~! they found it down in a creek bed and killed it with a big rock. i got to hold it. check out this bad boy!

after debate of cooking it now, or storing it in the eskie (omg can you imagine anything worse than a rank goanna in an eskie left overnight in these temperatures?), it was decided that it would make a tasty lunch treat. after pulling out most of its insides (which apparently arent tasty), its front legs and back legs were tied up, and a fire was started. they dug a pit in the dirt and put the goanna in, leaving the head and the tail exposed (anyone? anyone?...handles!...to pull it out of the pit when finished. brilliant!). they put a thin layer of dirt over the goanna, and then pushed the hot coals from the fire on top of it to cook.

i had to try it. i mean, how many opportunities am i going to have to eat goanna cooked in the bush by indigenous australians? turns out, it tastes a lot like chicken with the texture of pork. not bad. all i could think of after i ate it was thank god i got my hepatitis A shot at the travel clinic lol. it was definitely a new one for me. im loving the new experiences. but right now im loving the idea of my bed and going to sleep. hope ya'll are having a great thursday.

loves to everyone at home. you know who you are. i miss you all terribly.

xoxo

j