Leaving Sydney airport we had 2 flights. Sydney/Perth, then Perth/Newman and we arrived.
The first thing that struck me as we got out of the plane and walked down the tarmac was the heat. Sydney was cold when we left, so were the planes and our time in Perth airport. Walking across to the Newman terminal saw most of the team taking off protective layers of warmth.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed and very excited about the week ahead we went to baggage collection. I wonder what they do when it rains? This little shuttle cart brought our bags out to the roadside where we picked our bags off the back.
There were so many things out of what I was used to but that was my main reason for wanting to go on this mission.
As we stood by the road waiting for our luggage to be unpacked from the plane, there was something else that was strikingly different. It wasn't the red dust, the heat or the time difference. As I looked into the carpark there was a complete lack of cars other than 4WD's or Utes. Work cars - definitely not city 4WD's. But an intriguing feature on these rows and rows of 4WD's was that they all had a 3m pole with a little orange flag and beacon atop. They looked like rows of giant remote controlled cars.
I was to find out later that these flags and beacons are to help prevent the cars being run over by the mine trucks which because of their size have an extremely large blindspot.
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giant is an apt way to describe much of life in Newman.
More posts to come.
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