Denver was Coloradical

10 February 201513 February 2015 / travellingross / Leave a comment

Saturday 24 January 2015 to Tuesday 3 February 2015

Landing at the Denver airport Saturday night 24 January I was met by my friend Matt who I work with and will stay with him and his pregnant wife for the next 10 days. First task was to talk to the lost baggage people to see if my missing suitcase was at the airport as planned. It wasn’t. I suspected it wouldn’t be based on conversations I had leading up to this moment. Instead of Denver, it’s at London Heathrow terminal 5. hmmm. But the guy at Denver airport has been very helpful. And Matt has listened to my suitcase story so many times that I’m surprised he still let’s me talk about it!

Matt lives in the suburbs and went to a lot of effort to make me feel welcome. His wife is a great cook too. Nice change to be in a house rather than a hotel on my breaks. And have someone play tour guide and driver where everything is organised and planned for me. We did a lot during the ten days.

Highlights Reel

Golden: 9/10 on the travellingross-o-meter. Mainly so high ranking cause it was my first full day on break, in Denver, and with a great mate. We did a tour of the Coors brewery which was free and included many tasters. Went up to the lookout where buffalo bill is buried and looked across the broader Denver area. Not a pretty town in this season with everything brown or grey. Day ended when I took my hosts out for dinner.

Australia Day: 8/10. My fav holiday and this time in the US of A. I cooked BBQ, we played pool in the basement, Frisbee at the park with Matt’s friend (unsurprisingly I suck at throwing a Frisbee when aiming for a basket), I bought a Fosters t shirt from Target, we drank a bottle of Jameson and streamed the triple j hottest 100. The latter made little sense to anyone in the room as not even I know the songs or listen to triple j. But it’s the thing to do on Oz day. It was also the day Matt and Katie found out they’re having a baby boy. Celebrations all round.

Winter Park ski trip: 8/10. The reason I brought all my ski clothes and things back from home was for this. Now they are in that stupid missing suitcase. So we replaced the essentials and headed up the Rockies to one of Matt’s fav ski resorts and only 1.5 hrs from home. Scenic drive up there through winding roads and watching the temp gauge drop. I hate the cold but with the right clothes and for the right reasons (i.e. Skiing) I can tolerate it. The hotel Matt booked was perfect and right on the edge of mountain – no need to carry skis for miles each day like in Japan!! 2.5 days of skiing is tiring, especially with the evening outings, but it’s fun and I enjoy it. The slopes here are diverse and many runs to choose from. My fav was off the Sunny Side lift called Edelweiss. Unfortunately no big snow falls during our stay but clear weather was also nice. I still haven’t had a ski trip in big powder so must go again until I get that. Plus next time I want to take lessons to get better at turns and general technique. I just do it for fun and don’t want to be brilliant. Matt has been skiing since a kid and very good so I’m glad he was patient to go on the medium runs with me. Only once did he try kill me. On Parsons Bowl steep slope, trees and bumps where travellingross had a bit of ski anger cause it was way beyond my skill level. At this point I did not enjoy snow, the Rockies, skiing, or Matt. Thankfully I ended with a few runs on Edelweiss and a shot of jager to bring back the fun travellingross.

Superbowl Sunday: 5/10. The highlight of this day was the 6 inches of snow that fell overnight so when I woke and looked out the window there was such a different landscape than the day before and it was surreal for me. Never seen before. We picked up some booze and headed over to Matt’s uni friends place to watch the game. I have no idea how the game works so just enjoyed the ads, half time Katy boobs Perry show and beer.

Denver HQ: 6/10. I had the morning to myself before meeting Matt at our work head office for lunch. It’s in a sterile ‘tech centre’ and made me glad I work on site. It was good to see the head office after hearing about it for a decade, and catch up with work colleagues I’ve not seen in years, but not a place I’d rush to work at.

Shopping: 7/10. Finally, on last full day, I got a chance to replace some of my missing belongings by heading to the mall. We finished in downtown so Matt could get some “party favours” (novelty items u take to parties or farewells to give to people…yeah right) for his last rotation in Suriname. For final night, I once again shouted dinner and it was one of the best meals I’ve had. Even though I was in a borrowed dress shirt from Matt that was 2 sizes too large, but he says I chose the most expensive in his closet!

Random Observations & Rants

Getting searched by customs when I arrived in Miami was the most intense luggage search I’ve had. I must’ve looked suspicious and no one in USA can comprehend that I work in Suriname, a place they’ve never heard of.
I woke up to a blood nose on the ski mountain – high altitude.
The checking of ID is excessive at restaurants, bars and anywhere that sells alcohol. I got refused a drink twice. Once cause I forgot my ID (at the top of a ski mountain!!) and another cause they wouldn’t accept my foreign drivers licence as ID. Absolutely absurd. And people say Australia is a heavily regulated country. Colorado has legalised marijuana, clearly cause they need to chill out some more.
Coloradical was a sticker on a car I saw.
Having a waiter ask u “how’s everything” 6 times during a meal is so irritating. I get that American wages are driven by tips but the constant intrusion on your table to ask how the meal is, whether you need anything, how’s your day been etc etc drives me nuts.
People are so friendly here that at times I felt like saying “Do I know you?”. When they ask you where you’re from, how you got here, where you work, your blood type (ok maybe an exaggeration but you get the point)….all in the 6 minutes to ride a chair lift up the mountain.

So many of them. and this is only half of them.

Complete with flag cape and sticker tatts

Our hotel is to the left – prime location!

My room. 2 bed room apartment

Up on the ski mountain

I had to stop mid ski to take this. so scenic. not well captured by the camera but an amazing view and i was all alone on the slope.

Told you Karyn

This store terrified me with so much choice, so much crap.

2 Rotations and a Christmas

7 February 20157 February 2015 / travellingross / Leave a comment

Wednesday 19 November 2014 to Friday 23 January 2015

Work and life has got in the way of me updating this website as often as I would like, but sitting on planes for hours on end gives lots of time to type the words and sort the photos so here’s a snapshot of the last couple months…

Named Myself Employee of the Month This Rotation

Arriving back in Paramaribo from Curacao on 19 November 2014 (with a cheeky stop over in Trinidad to collect more passengers that I was unaware of) I checked in and headed straight to a bar to meet up with people. I’ve embraced the social side much more than when I would come in and out of Accra, Ghana. Various reasons but above all is that Paramaribo is a city I feel much more comfortable in compared to the unpredictability and challenges of getting around Accra.

Overall, I’d give this rotation a 10 out of 10. I arrived back to site and met up with my friend Ryan who I worked with in Ghana. Surreal to see him here. And then Madison came in. Another person I worked with in Ghana and have stayed in contact with the most. A truly awesome person and makes me happy. I like to think I make her happy too, although she would never admit that. A realisation this rotation was that I don’t laugh enough anymore. The last years have been serious and humour in everyday life was harder to find. But I’m pleased to say it’s back. I have laughed so much at this job that tears roll and that’s a rarity these years. Especially at work. I enjoy the team and the balance.

Memorable highlights:

Setting up the hydroseeder to revegetate cleared areas with grasses and getting covered in green mulch
Getting positive reviews for my work associated with the CEO visit. Always a boost to get a genuine pat on the back.
Having significant wins on the recruitment front as I assemble my team that will represent my leadership in the next few years. One of whom is someone I’ve worked with at Boddington and excited to work with again.
Man, I’ve never had boots do that to me.
Huge ones. Still not seen a sloth though.
End of year company function / Christmas party. Interesting experience.

Perth Christmas

Coming home for Christmas on 18 December 2014 was important to me. Spending time with family after working in Ghana last Christmas was a perfect way to catch everyone in one sitting. Plus after a couple rotations, I had a long list of things I wanted to bring back to Suriname.

It was all good, got my appointments done, socialised, enjoyed the summer weather, saw in the new year with the Bri where we plotted out our resolutions and reflected on our 2014’s over some champagne just like old days.

Montreal, Lost Luggage and Hectic Work Days

Departing Perth 4 January 2015 I arrived in Montreal where it was -20C compared to the Perth max of 44.4C. What a variance! I was in Montreal for a work meeting for 5 days. The journey there was first time in all my travels that my suitcase didn’t make it. It didn’t make the short connection in Jakarta. Getting it delivered to me should’ve been an easy task but for intensely frustrating reasons that I am so sick of talking about, it didn’t and everyday I was given the impression that the bag would be delivered so I didn’t buy more clothes or a jacket. Particularly upsetting cause I had a lot of stuff in that case that I was purposely bringing back to Suriname. To think u would never see it again was depressing. $4k worth of stuff. But the monetary value is of limited concern. I just want my things! The bag is now supposed to be at the Denver airport waiting for me. I type this on the flights to Denver. I have minimal hope but haven’t given up just yet.

This and other personal things came together to make my 3rd rotation less enjoyable than the high of the last one. I haven’t been this busy at work in many years and many tasks in my personal life have taken a back seat. I’m one who pride’s keeping on top of everything so when I’m not, it annoys me and gets me down. Given the time in Montreal and working extra time last rotation meant my site time was shorter. I crammed 3 weeks of work into less than 2. January is always busy with budget updates, systems, planning the year ahead etc. With my high standards, there was a lot I wanted to achieve.

I ticked most of my tasks and still managed to have some fun times. Got to know people better and there’s always new people starting which I like that dynamic nature of construction. And I was finally able to transfer money out of my USA bank account to Australia, got my last year’s tax return for review, watched a brilliant movie ‘Gone Girl’, got 3 extra staff signed up to join my team next month. Looking forward to that. So that’s all helping to get back on track with my “be more positive” NYE resolution.

The best thing about flying a long distance out on break is you have solid time to decompress and unwind from work. I’m excited to see where my friend Matt lives in Denver, go skiing, explore that city I’ve heard so much about over the years since it is headquarters of the company I’ve worked with for 10 years. Stay tuned for that update…it’ll be quicker this time.

a couple missing and more to be added in 2015

yummy

Flew into my office

The Suriname town of Moengo has lots of 'art'

A wooden Mickey

This has become a routine…better beef up my muscles.

Airport leak in Montreal waiting for taxi

Home of Curacao Liqueur

15 December 2014 / travellingross / Leave a comment

Friday 14 to Wednesday 19 November 2014

Curacao. Yet another country I didn’t know existed and a name I pronounced entirely incorrect (it’s cure-a-sow not koo-rac-o). But a country that has intriguing character, great people and many turquoise bays to explore. And to be fair to myself for another geography failure, it is a country that only became official in 2010 when the Dutch Antilles were separated under the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Getting to Curacao from Fort Lauderdale I became trapped in a terrible traffic jam of gridlock hell that amplified frustration when trying to get to the airport for a 10:50am flight. I roared into the rental car return, raced to check-in and then I became one of ‘those people’ trying to cram 4 bags into 2 to meet the TSA requirements of only 2 pieces of hand-luggage. All along I was worried they’d weigh my bags but instead it was all about the number of items. Rejected by the TSA security, I was against the wall between the water fountain and the toilet stuffing souvenirs, food and belongings into my back pack and then kneeling on my carry-on suitcase to zip it up. In the end I got to the gate only to be told my suitcase was now too fat and would have to be checked. Free of charge. $25 saving, a lot of sweat and a bit of stress. Next time I’ll know better. This could be the first and last attempt at carry-on only.

3 hrs later and I landed mid-afternoon in Willemstad, the capital of Curacao. In Fort Lauderdale the night before, and under the influence of some beers, I booked the Marriot beachfront hotel through an app on my phone. I have a policy of not staying in Marriot’s because they tend to be the ones targeted by terrorists. But the Hilton was booked and the Marriot had the beach hotel vibe I was chasing for 5 nights ahead of my return to work. Getting to my room and any concerns about expense or being blown up washed away literally with the waves outside my room. I love these kind of hotels and have always enjoyed these vacations whether it be in Zanzibar, Turks & Caicos, or Broome. The check-in process was the best I’ve experienced anywhere.

The sea water here is perfect temperature. It rained a fair bit though and was cloudy 70% of the time which meant it wasn’t really hot enough for me to feel like beach weather. People smoke on the beach which annoys me. I used the steam room everyday. I’ve added ‘steam room’ to my ‘Dream Home’ list.

Other highlights included renting a scooter for a couple of days and cruising around the island to the Sea Aquarium, along the coast to some truly beautiful bays and out to the factory where the Curacao liqueur is made. It’s a brief tour here, but interesting to learn how this orange flavoured blue drink originated and is now the component of many cocktails around the world. All because of importing Spanish oranges that suffered in the hot Caribbean climate to generate the famous liqueur that now comes in many colours but blue is the most recognised. Wandering around the two sides of Willemstad was enjoyable. The harbour inlet separates the two sides but is joined by a mobile pedestrian bridge that opens for ships, tug boats etc. Very relaxing to sit at one of the waterside restaurants with beer in hand watching the ships go by. Ahhhhhh island life.

Websites Used to Make this Trip

Booked the scooter through www.curacaoscooters.com

On a rare clear day

Marriot

Cloudy a lot

Seal time

love these fish

They’re real

Dolphin gets some height!

Animal cruelty can look a lot like fun. Riding dolphins.

has had better days

Who would’ve thought i’d find Japanese here.

Appropriate spot to sit under that sign

I’ll be back

Road Trip to Space

18 November 201418 November 2014 / travellingross / Leave a comment

Monday 10 to Thursday 13 November 2014

I’ve always been fascinated by space travel and exploration. So a key motivation of visiting Florida was to tour the NASA Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. The place of moon landing missions, space shuttle lift-offs and now the new Orion outer orbit exploration program. So, it might have been tough leaving my Miami Beach apartment, but I was excited to go on a road trip north.

I bussed to the airport to collect my Kia Forte rental car – not fussy on the car make/model. I’d read that this can take a long time waiting in line and it was true. About an hour to get to the front of the line and then collect the car. January was the last time I drove on the right, and that was in Ghana where driving is more about dodging pot-holes than staying inside your lane. So I was a little anxious, but for no reason, a few miles in and I was in the zone. I’m glad I got an electronic toll pass thing so I didn’t have to worry about what route or lane to be in. One less stress. I selected ‘scenic route ‘ on my GPS as I wanted to follow the coast. Turns out scenery = traffic gridlock on a suburban road that saw about two glimpses of beach. Frustrating, but lesson learned and lots of time to listen to American radio.

Palm Beach: My first pit stop for lunch. Only because it’s a place I’d heard of. Very upper class swank ville with all the buildings lacking the usual advertising vomit that is everywhere else. Immaculate gardens and clean streets. At times it felt like walking a movie set.

Melbourne: Picked this place to stay simply because of the Australian city connection. And that it is only a 45 min drive to Cape Canaveral. Nice town with a bit of history and had a brilliant steak for dinner at a classy beach steakhouse. I ended up staying 2 nights here because the day I’d planned to go to NASA was Veterans Day (Remembrance Day) public holiday and also because I saw a news story that they were moving Orion to the launch pad and if I delayed by a day then I might see it. That’s the beauty of making it up as you go – amend your plans on the hop. Although it did mean I would not make it to Orlando. I was relieved by that as I didn’t want to tackle another big city and the theme parks – I like Disney and Universal, but going to Disneyland alone is possibly the most depressing thing I could think of at that point in time. Another time.

NASA Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral: 10/10. Exceeded expectations with a full day (8 hrs!) on 12 November 2014. Lots to see, read, watch, touch, tour. $50 entry and a 2.5 hr up close optional bus tour for $25 extra. I didn’t see everything, but saw the hit-list I selected from the tour map and particularly enjoyed the Space Shuttle Launch Experience, Space Shuttle Atlantis hanging from the ceiling, and the moon landing Apollo/Saturn V exhibit with one of the unused Saturn V rockets on display. Excellent audio/visuals and very educational on the space race with the Russians, the new commercial space programs and ‘simple’ stuff u don’t think of like how they transport the rockets/shuttles to the launch pads from the vehicle assembly building. With the sun set and a head full of new info, I drove to the nearest town (Titusville), pigged out at dinner after skipping lunch, then had a big fat Glenfiddich scotch whisky to close a memorable day.

NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame: 8/10. Just out of Titusville, I went here the day after Cape Canaveral, but it doesn’t open til midday so a good excuse to sleep in and chill. Brief compared to yesterday and it does a good job displaying in chronological order the achievements of the NASA space program starting with the very first astronauts to today. Free with yesterday’s ticket.

Fort Lauderdale: I headed here with McDonald’s in hand following the astronaut thing. This time much wiser not to select ‘scenic’ route, however I still met peak hour gridlock eventually but was smart enough to get off the 95 and take a different road – I only got honked twice the entire 300 kilometres! I found a good beach bar with live music and then found a cheap hotel just up the road. Good way to spend my final night in the US of A.

Next stop….Curacao

Websites Used to Make this Trip

Booked the ‘Dollar’ rental car through rentalcars.com

Found booking.com had the best for cheap hotels. Their mobile phone app (Android) has become very intuitive and one of the best apps out there. I stayed at Days Inn, except for Fort Lauderdale which I can’t remember and wouldn’t recommend.

Research on NASA at www.kennedyspacecenter.com. I debated booking online tickets, but didn’t and didn’t need to either. If paying by credit card, use the self-service kiosks at the entrance to bypass the line up entirely.

Yay

Apollo 11 crew walked this to the capsule

Orion capsule replica

Awesome

Atlantis’ last mission was to release a satellite. a replica of the satellite is in the lower part of the photo – tiny!!

Public viewing point for launches

NASA Kennedy Space Center - Orion launch pad

Crawler that takes rockets to launch pads

Space suit with moon dust still on it - cool

in the mid sixties

Spanish moss hanging from trees is pretty

In the hey day – lots of launch pads ready for space or war????

Dress rehearsal’s even included planting the flag. The stage is set for faking the moon landing?

My View Right Now

15 November 201415 November 2014 / travellingross / Leave a comment

Curacao sunset – I could get used to the Caribbean living, Saturday 15 Nov 2014

I’m in Miami…Beach

12 November 201412 November 2014 / travellingross / Leave a comment

Of course I had the LMFAO song ‘I’m in Miami Bitch’ in my head on repeat for most of the 2 flights (via Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) to Miami. And then I got to Miami Beach and I had this moment of internal contemplation that maybe it is not ‘Bitch’ but ‘Beach’ and I have been singing it wrong all this time. ‘I’m in Miami Beach’ would be so geographically correct and appropriate, but too academic for the singers and not really a title befitting a #1 hit. Then I saw the t-shirts that confirmed that of course it’s not ‘beach’. Crisis over.

9 nights in Miami Beach had a bit of everything: sun, swimming, tourism, party, sleep, vegetating, ridiculously expensive meals out, rain, TV, celebrities, basketball, hot people, omg people, shopping, and old men randomly singing on buses. Arriving Saturday 1 November, I had been up since 2:30am Suriname time to get a 6:10am flight and landing in Miami at 12:30pm. Getting the Miami Beach Airport Flyer Bus was easy and cheap at $2.65 and dropped me off a 2 block walk from my Ocean Drive prime position apartment between 9^th and 10^th Streets (love how the street names are so basic). The walk was short but a sensory overload. On a beautiful day, it was crowded and still busy with Halloween revellers. I wasn’t expecting or wanting a party atmosphere (this time), but that’s what I got, and I should’ve realised this but wasn’t exactly here for that. It’s got a Cancun vibe where everyone drinks from way too big glasses and is dressed to impress. Give me a couple of days (hours?) and I’ll adjust.

With such a chunk of time to spend in one place, I am glad I stayed in a vacation rental apartment rather than a hotel or cheap hostel. Here I felt like a Miami Beach local and could do my own cooking etc. I did this in New York City for a week a few years ago and it is still one of my most memorable trips. Plus an easy way to save money. This was $94/night and for the location is incredible value. The idea was to stay put for a large portion of my 19 day break to catch my breath and explore a little. Miami has not really been high on my travel list, but there were still a few things I wanted to see. And I am glad not to be somewhere (like a NYC or Rome or London) that I would be out of the house every day exploring or sightseeing. Here are the highlights:

Miami Heat NBA Game: I rate it an 8 out of 10 experience with great seats at the American Airlines Arena versus Houston Rockets. Game started off competitive and entertaining, T shirts parachuted from the ceiling rails at half time, but people started leaving with 5 mins to go when obvious that Miami were getting embarrassingly beaten. Houston player bounced ball for last 15 seconds. Then they all just walked off court. Jumbo hot dog not so Jumbo. Beers $8. Burger tasted like artificial display burger. Lots of food outlets though and a very well run event.

Lincoln Street Mall and Holocaust Memorial: 7/10. The outdoor mall is like many in the world. I bought some new Oakley sunglasses and a jumper/sweater cause it is colder here than I hoped (mid-twenties). I was going to avoid the holocaust memorial cause I’ve seen so many but I glimpsed it on a bus and it looked unique. I’m glad I took a closer look. All outdoor and very well put together with an emotional experience walking through an enclosed hallway to the centre of the memorial where a sculpted girl is crouched down reaching for your help as hymn music plays. This opens out to circular area with some of the most emotive sculptures I have seen.

Everglades National Park: 6/10. I did a little research into tours and you know I hate choice, so I just went with the tour recommended by the tourist centre – Everglades Safari Park. The 4 hour tour satisfied my Everglades curiosity. Airboat ride, swamp, alligators, interactive wildlife show, gator burger. Reminded me a little of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, but with fewer wildlife encounters. I guess going in the heat of the day means not seeing many animals. If I went back, I would explore with a car and head down towards the Keys area.

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens: 9/10. Fascinating mansion south of Miami and easy to get to by bus and train. Built in 1914, it looks like a much older Italian villa and has some elements of my dream home. I did the audio guided tour and was really interested in the history and place showcasing some of the excess of the gilded age in the USA when new millionaires wanted to show off their wealth by largely copying European aristocracy.

Beach and Clubbing: 7/10. Usually it needs to be 32C+ to get me into the water, but I couldn’t leave Miami Beach without a beach day. And then a club crawl tour where you pay $25 to meet up with others (rent-a-friends! Perfect for the solo traveller), get cheap drinks, and free express entry to 5 pubs/clubs. I hesitated about doing this as I am a bit shy (!) but sucked up the courage and glad I went.

Websites Used to Make this Trip

Booked the vacation rental through www.flipkey.com

Found basketball, concerts and other events at miami.eventful.com/events

Bus and train routes www.miamidade.gov/transit/routes.asp

Club Crawl pubcrawl-miami.com/

Art Deco Welcome Center for museum and really helpful people to make the most of your trip www.mdpl.org/

and fav tv show

Iconic

From South Point Pier

Good seats are where the tv cameras are

Reminded me of a car racing game I had as a kid where you had to knock over the barrels.

Mental note – don’t sit on the water bottle in your back pocket. Wet butt.

Moon rise over Miami Beach

I want a study like this

The original owners bedroom

travellingross in full tourist mode

Iguana!

Reminded me a little of Cape Town waterfront

With my rent-a-friends

So this is Suriname

4 November 20147 November 2014 / travellingross / 2 Comments

I’ll be honest upfront – I had not heard of the South American nation called Suriname before I accepted a job there. I always thought that Suriname was the name of the Project, not the country. As someone who likes to boast about my geographical knowledge, this is somewhat embarrassing. To the people of Suriname, I recommend some serious PR to raise your profile as so far my impressions are of a beautiful country, with generous people, a fascinating history and an enviable global location (aside from the flights in and out which are few and poorly scheduled).

As my first entry to diarise my experiences, I will try keep this brief but hopefully informative for all those that are interested in learning more. This format and website is new to me so let’s see how well I can use it and communicate the message. Here we go…

The journey to Suriname was long, tiring, and testing of my travel skills. Perth to Hong Kong (cause Cathay Pacific was the cheapest 1 way fare to LA) to Los Angeles (overnighted) to Miami to Aruba (overnighted due to work making an incorrect flight booking) to Paramaribo (landed at 1am, overnighted in a nice hotel) to the Merian gold mine construction project site (4 hour car ride south and towards the French Guyana border) arriving at 2pm.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

24 hrs in Aruba was enough to check out the high rise hotel district and wander around town. Not sure I would like to return here. Didn’t really excite me, but that could also have been the head cold and general confusion over what time it was. Paramaribo (or Parbo for short) is an attractive capital city with a few hundred thousand people, world heritage listed with lots of Dutch influence from the colonial days. Inevitably I find myself comparing back to Ghana as my only other international working experience, but really there aren’t many comparisons between this part of Sth America and West Africa. Here is a wide mix of races, clean air, fewer people, less confusion, more organisation and higher wealth.

Why am I here, how and what’s the deal? Well, I am glad you asked. I’m still trying to figure that out myself. The last month or so of life has been a whirlwind where I felt almost sucked into a vortex and now spat out typing this in Miami Beach after my first rotation. Bit dramatic, but that imagery makes for good reading. I left Perth Monday 6 October 2014, and prior to that was a series of appointments to get organised for the trip and job. Prior to that was 7 months off working after finishing up my last job in February. That time off was fantastic overall. The last couple of months a bit monotonous looking for work and thinking about what the next career move would be. I guess this relaxing time explains a fair bit of why the busy last month has been such a gear change for me. Like pressing the power button. It’s hard to think about it much when you’re in the middle of the ride, and that’s why I’ve done very little the last couple of days and I think it is beneficial to write this to take stock and think “wow, did all that just happen” and “how fortunate I am to finish one 3 yr assignment, have 7 months off, and be in South America working on another rewarding international assignment”. And South America was the goal for my next career move. Ideally a Spanish speaking one, not Dutch. But if that is the only box not ticked, then who am I to complain? Doing a 23 days on, 19 days off roster in a warm tropical country on the edge of the Caribbean working as the most senior environmental person on site is a career move I’ll take any day. I worked hard for a decade (and years of study before that) to position myself for these opportunities. Calculated and knowing that if I worked hard and with focus, the rewards will be there for me. Taking those 7 months off was the best thing I could’ve done: to re-energise, reconnect with my goals, live life, meet great people. A year or so ago, I really thought I wanted to give it up and get out of mining, get out of environmental, find a new career where I could do the 9 to 5 without care. I still aspire to branch out eventually and do something different, but not for the same negative motivation I had at that time. So that brings me in a round about way to reflecting on Suriname, the new job, the new life chapter, and the new memories. Here is a list of random observations that I noted down over the last few weeks:

Songs on radio that are from today. So far no Celine Dion like in Ghana!
Airport far out of main town. 30 mins before hit significant buildings.
Fast food place in hotel lobby.
Hotel pool actually looks swimable and breakfast had variety.
Travel brochures in hotel that have tourist sites I’d actually be interested in seeing
Road to site brilliant for first 2 hrs, then dirt road that’s bumpy to the point you can’t read or type. Apparently much better than a month ago though.
The site exploration camp is like a shanty town. The facilities are shared, basic, like a 2 star caravan park.
Site is half hr drive from exploration camp
Saw a monkey
Significant small scale mining everywhere. Called porknockers.
Drive on left
Showers are raw water harvested from roofs but looks clean, drinking water is bottled.
Food is good. First night I had duck but all bones. Beef is imported. Chicken is common.
Bar has small selection. Nice setting. No mosquito protection. More nationals than expats there when I went on first night. My intent is to avoid the bar.
Must take laundry to laundry people to wash and then pick up yourself. I spent 3 days trying to pick up my washing only to realise I was looking for the wrong bag cause I forgot that I’d changed rooms and needed to look for the new room number. Searching through all the laundry bags is a highlight. Especially when I inadvertently started trawling through the dirty laundry bags and the woman had to stop me. oops.
Showered with a frog on second night.
Little spiders, bugs and lizards everywhere
The site vehicles are new hilux and have electric windows and Bluetooth stereo. And machete. Hmmm.
The forest is impressively dense. And trees are ridiculously tall.
Terrain is very steep in places with deep valleys
Forgot my black tea leaves. Here they only have Lipton tea bags nooooooo.
The work mobile phones are from the days when Jesus walked the Earth. Screen is the size of a postage stamp. But I’m since told that smartphones on way coming…. Android. Yay.
Work email account is powered by Gmail.
Windows 8 computers and I’ve got a really good laptop. Nice way for me to experiment with this before buying a new personal one. But it keeps crashing. Argh.
I have 7 staff. 3 senior, 4 junior. Plus 2 vacancies. All great people and I feel the makings of a great team – the rossification has begun. The juniors are all African descendants. Very interested in asking about my time in Ghana and the language.
The work is interesting, the people good and lots of opportunity for me to contribute value. So far so good.
No goats, but stray dogs everywhere.
Internet access is available in wifi and just got a lot better and reliable with upgrade to link going to city. But still slow and drops often. Lots sites blocked. I bought a private SIM to get open net. But it is still slow; will try a different phone company next rotation.
Power outlets are USA style
A mosquito borne virus (Chikungunya) is spreading quickly through the country – I really don’t want this and cover up as much as possible.
Although the new camp has much better facilities, I am in 2 minds about requesting to move there. Because they don’t have internet in room until late November. I value my internet so think I put that above nicer room and nearly private bathroom (share with neighbour). Plus my office is at exploration camp so I’d have half hr commute there and back if at construction camp. I value sleep and my personal time so don’t like this idea.
Instead of moving to new camp, I luckily was moved to a new room in Exploration Camp that is bigger, better furniture, better air con. But…on first night, my bed collapsed when trying to put suitcase under it!! It made such a loud noise that my neighbour started yelling at me through the wall. I called Matt for help to put the bed back together. Hilarious moment. Actually there have been many funny moments and I haven’t laughed so much at work in a long time. Great to work with humorous people who I connect almost instantly with.

And so there you go. First entry complete. Good to get that out there. And for all those that have patiently waited for an update, thank you for waiting while I got myself sorted. I appreciate your interest, thoughts and well wishes. All is good and I look forward to taking you on the adventure.