I wonder if anyone actually noticed that: I'd not been out of Australia for some EIGHTEEN MONTHS - a new 'world record'!
The volunteer organisation I was with functioned with government financial support. But government decided that supporting three organisations was counter-productive (or something) and asked the volunteer aid organisations concerned to submit tenders and one would be chosen. The upshot was that the primary organisation I'd completed 60 assignments for lost the tender and, consequently, any government support. The organisation is still functioning, but it took some time to revamp the logistics, develop a new modus operandi and find clientele. SO: they now provide business volunteers: but the customer pays to cover the costs of overheads and the volunteers': medical, travel, accommodation, etc....
SO, during the 18 month hiatus, I:
* Produce a monthly e-newsletter for a Business Advisory Bureau (circulation 8,000+) and provide them with other assistance (such as supporting letters for visa applications to attend the international Women Economic Forum in Perth), etc....
* Had a flat tyre (tire in the U.S.) and while lifting/twisting the spare out of the boot (trunk) I felt a vertebrae go 'clunk'. I was in rather a lot of pain that a physio could not alleviate, so went to a chiropractor who was also basically unsuccessful. The chiropractor suggested an x-ray (result: I'd compressed a lower vertebrae by some 70%) and, after a bunch of tests, a decision was achieved: I have osteoporosis and have a jab of Denosumab every six months for what's left of 'life'. All pretty good now: so long as I don't tempt fate.
* I put my Kindle to regular use - I receive a list of free and/or cheap books from two organisations each week and I get free copies of books to review from Hourly History and Captivating History - clocked up a total of over 2,000 book reviews on Amazon (generating 50,000+ views) as at June this year .... and not paid a cent for any of the books!
* Been doing my morning walk - out the gate around 04.30 and return around 05.45, if I don't stop and chat to too many folks - to total around 50km (about 31miles) per week.
Then - the opportunity arose to lodge an application for another volunteer assignment. After being selected, I needed to top up my vaccinations, and that included: polio, tetanus, typhoid, plus influenza, and $90 for anti-malaria medication.
I was originally booked to fly out of Perth to Brisbane at 11pm on a Friday (4.5 hour flight), hang around the airport for 3 hours, then another 3.5 hours to Port Moresby, wait again and then 3 hours to the island where I'd be working for a month...arriving (knackered) around 4pm the next day. Objections were lodged and I was booked at a hotel overnight in Brisbane, before proceeding. Just one of the drawbacks of living in 'the most remote capital city in the world': Perth!
As I was negotiating customs/immigration leaving Brisbane, I was 'selected' for a full body scan. Now: I love doing this bit: they noted an area the scan highlighted on my chest and aggressively asked: "What do you have in THAT pocket?" "Nothing - that's a metal heart valve." "Oh, sorry." The lass doing the scan was a trainee and she leaned forward to frisk me. A guy with a 'Monitor' badge told her to "Stop - what are your doing wrong?" She looked confused and the monitor said: "You cannot touch a person of a different sex." !!!!!
So after an overnight in Brisbane: another flight to Port Moresby - which was with Virgin Airlines, but contracted out to Alliance - with about 25 passengers on a Fokker 100. Then a coach transfer from international arrivals to a small 'lounge' to await the 3 hour (with a stop-over) charter flight to Lihir island.
My title on this assignment was: 'Business Hub Establishment Advisor': helping set up a business advisory office on the remote island of Lihir off Papua New Guinea, which is dominated by a huge gold mine. We were limited to assisting local people only to help them get work from inside (and away from, the mine itself), improving existing businesses, or starting new businesses - with the ultimate aim of setting them up to carry on life when the mine plans to close in around 30 years time.
The infrastructure is astounding, apart from the substantial mining operation itself, there's: housing for the 5,000 staff in camps and houses. Plus: roads, electricity and water to multiple towns and locations, sewage treatment, etc.... They have over 300 vehicles, from small buses to sedans, apart from all the heavy duty trucks and associated mining equipment.
As with all mining sites: they are very security and safety conscious. You can only walk on particular pathways; everywhere a vehicle parks it must be reverse parking; on arriving at our office every morning, we had to blow into a breathalyser and could only be admitted with a reading of 0.00 (first time I'd ever been breathalysed).
We needed to drive around the island placing signs on boards at strategic locations promoting what we were doing, and the lass driving me kindly took me to the mine site - naturally: we could not actually access the site without specific passes; but it was interesting to see the long lengths of conveyor belts, a huge floating generator they had towed in from Japan, etc. BUT: the most amazing sight was the amount of steam streaming out of multiple fissures in the ground....it made one wonder at just what was going on under one's feet! The mine harnesses the steam to power generators for electricity, but still need diesel generators.
Lihir island is 900kms north-east of Port Moresby and is only around 22km x 14km in size. Before the mine (in 1980) the population on the island was around 8,600 - now there are around 18,300 Liherians, plus 15,200 non-Lihirians, around 33,500 people!
Lihir Island is a little piece of paradise in a country where there are some areas where it's just not safe to even walk the streets. I'd wander to the Mess in the dark for meals along what could be a quiet, western suburban street - the silently gliding large bats added to the 'atmosphere'! The mine culture dominates the island and that has, quite probably, contributed to the inhabitants' friendly attitude. Walk past anyone and you get a "good morning' or 'good afternoon'... There's no razor wire (it's banmned), the men don't carry a meter long bush-knife like they do in the Highlands, there are guards at key point, but no guns....
The great majority of the mine staff are FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) on rosters like: 12 days on / 9 days off - or: 2 weeks on / a week off. And they work a 12-hour day when 'on duty'.
The pattern every morning was to go to the Mess Hall for breakfast - but: the first action was to get a 'crib' for lunch by choosing from a range of options before they close at 06.15. Then have breakfast from a wide choice of options. Lunch at the office (from the crib selected at breakfast); dinner (another wide choice) at night. Watching the amount of food the locals can devour is mind-blowing, plates piled with a mountain of food .... ask for 'one' of something and the servers look at you as if you are crazy. The accommodation (for us anyway) was in western-style houses, en-suite bathroom, serviced 6 days a week - they rest on Sunday.
Some 500 catering staff prepare some 50,000 meals weekly. The quantities of food include: 16,000 tonnes of pork; 20 tonnes (20,000 birds) of chicken per month; 12 tonne of beef and 6 tonnes of lamb. 180,000 eggs per month and 1,250 kg of fish per week. Some 6.5 tonnes of flour for bread, rolls and pastry; 4,100 tonnes of white rice and 900 kg of brown rice is consumed weekly. 500 kg each of carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, eggplant, and celery are consumed weekly. Some 1,000 kg of eating bananas, and 300 kg each of pineapple, paw paw and watermelon are supplied weekly.
There were two others from the same volunteer organisation on site at the same time, hosting a series of workshops, followed by one-on-one mentoring. We were sitting in the mess having dinner one night - as usual: looking rather obvious as the only ones among hundreds not wearing PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) of orange shirts and trousers with reflective tape around the legs. I was looking around and commented: "I think I'm probably the oldest person in this room." The retort was: "Bevan, you are the oldest person in any room."!!!!
Due to the FIFO mentality and to accommodate getting around a 30-day visa (cost: US$250) , I had to travel home after a month - and the travel took 23 hours from door-to-door. Home for a week. Then I fly all the way back again for another month to continue the assignment.
A touch of 'excitement' while at home. I'd been out and was home for a few hours before going out again. So: I'd left the garage door open and the door from the garage to the apartment closed, but not locked. I was upstairs in a back bedroom (my office) when I thought I heard a noise. I walked out the door to the 'office' to see a strange man standing in my upstairs lounge. My reaction was the scream at him: "What the **** are you doing?" He shot down the stairs and was gone in an instant - with about $500 he'd found in a bedside cabinet!