Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

So up until now we have mostly been relaxed in preparation for the inevitable start of work, which is now in about 10 hours time and the most outrageous of hours, 0500, to catch a ferry to the office. What does this mean…I’ll be going to bed shortly after the kids in order to get my straight eight in so that I’m on fire tomorrow.  Knowing full well it’s all about the first impression I have neatly pressed my uniform (photo to follow of it’s beauty), polished my steel toe capped boots and lost the arguement as to which transport option to take in the morning.  I wanted to take this:

3 litre Ford Territory, air con, nice to drive, etc…BUT Lisa said I have to take this instead:

This is my new toy for commuting, the red rocket, being ably demonstrated by Austyn. It has a 50cc engine and I’ve had 50 Kph out of her downhill with a tail wind. What’s most important is the 75mpg that I get from the monster…with a stat like that it wins hands down every time (plus it was dirt cheap to buy!)

The main reason for the alternate mode of transport is that we have successfully beaten the Gladstone odds and got Austyn into a Kindergrten (Kindy – pre school) as there’s a 9-12 month waiting list for most places and he also starts tomorrow. Elliot is also enrolled into a nursery (once again a shocking waiting list for his age) and will be attending 1 day a week so that he can integrate with the locals (and probably adopt that lovely Aussie twang!)  The boys have also been enrolled into swimming lessons and we managed to get round most of the kids groups last week in the town. What does this all mean? Apart from the fact that I’ve lost control of the Territory it means that I’m able to start work reasonably content that the family unit is squared away.

WRT our housing, we have been allocated a property which we viewed last week and are very happy with it. Whilst it does not have a pool (number 1 priority on Austyn’s wish list) it is brand new, will be fully furnished and ours from next Monday, 19th March (touch wood). Tied to this is our freight which is in Gladstone!!! Hurrah!!! We are going to get it delivered to the new house as it saves double handling at my own time and expense and I can assure you that the contents have been sorely missed, particularly our Summer clothes and the kids toys.

So all in all we are now fairly swept up. Lisa is now 33 weeks along in the pregnancy and has midwife appointments booked for later in the month so that has come together nicely. Just a visit to the hospital needed for planning purposes.

As for Gladstone itself, we are more than happy. It has everything you could possibly want (apart from a dive centre within 3 hours drive) and has a clean, fresh feel about it. There is plenty going on and I might even join the running club so as to keep my eye in for the PFT when we return. I think that anyone would be just fine here (there will be work for many years to come) and it’s cosy for families. This is possibly the most contented that we’ve been as a family unit for some time although that may change from tomorrow!!!

As a final note I have completed some research and have the following pieces of useful information:

McDonalds is known as Macca’s

Pizza Hut takeaway is better here than Domino’s (very strange)

Charcoal BBQ’s take hours to get ready (I’m buying a gas one for the new house)

Sausages are generally made of Beef instead of Pork down under

The chocolate does taste different BUT it’s not inedible, we haven’t told the kids this fact though!

Supermarkets don’t sell alcohol – you have to go to bottle shops

The water does not spin the wrong way round the plug hole as it drains.

And on those bombshells I’m off to make my lunch for tomorrow and get my straight eight.

(Richard, below is a picture just for you as I’ve semi sorted my pictures out now)

Australia Zoo in the rain!

So after a couple of weeks of travel, hotels and apartments, team Serevena is at last in Gladstone, QLD. We are being accommodated in a temporary house in the town until Bechtel allocate our permanent residence. However, the house we are in is very nice and I am in no rush for us to move from here although the garden is a bit small for the boys trampoline!

We flew up from Brisbane yesterday (Wed) and on the same flight was the project HR rep (she was in Brisbane on compassionate) who had arranged for the house keys to be waiting for us at the airport when we arrived. A hire car (standard saloon) had been arranged but once she had seen how much swag we were travelling with (and the kids) and following my request for a Ford Territory (we had one in Brisbane and it was mega – 7 seater mock 4×4) she made it happen. I did offer to pay the difference but she said not to worry! This car appears to be my provided vehicle as the rental agreement is currently until August 2012. No complaints from team Serevena over this!

The project personnel are currently on their 5 day stand down period (after 4 weeks of the project cycle everyone gets 5 days of rest) which means we won’t find out anything new until Tue/Wed next week. Hopefully in that time Bechtel will have sorted a house but apparently they are at 100% capacity…wait out. There is no huge rush though as we can settle for now and our freight still hasn’t cleared customs. (Steve D note that your freight won’t be sent until you have arrived in Australia due to customs legislation so by sending my kit 5 weeks early I achieved next to nothing).  Hopefully we’ll have access to it by Tuesday as it’s Austyn’s 4th birthday and guess where all of his presents are!!!

We’ve all registered with the local doctor, medicare, etc and I’ve purchased a pre-pay broadband dongle so that I can remain in contact with the UK. Note that it expires in 60 days so if you don’t hear from me after that i means that Lisa is living the dream and emptied our account buying Ugg boots!

Apart from the above there is nothing else to report.  Until Tuesday we are going to do the tourist thing and hopefully I might slip in some diving if I can manage to convince Lisa to give me a leave pass! With only 10 days left until I start on site (at some ungodly hour as well) I’m going to make use of the free time that I have!

Roy

(Richard – my admin is still flailing behind me somewhere in Brisbane but I aim to post some photos on the next blog once I’ve downloaded and sorted them from our cameras)

So, we are now in the most precarious situation so far. Tonight is night 7 out of 7 in our Brisbane accommodation and as yet we have been told nothing about what’s going to happen tomorrow. Initially we should have been flying to Gladstone to move into our new pad but alas the promise of “special dispensation” has been broken and we are now stuck in a Bechtel”process” the same as everyone else on the GLNG project. The NET result is that as of 10am tomorrow we are homeless, as of 1300hrs we are car less and if it continues in this pattern by 1600hrs I may find myself wife-less!!!

Immediately following this post I will pen an email to the HR team at JHG basically letting them know how happy and secure we are and we’ll see what comes from that. In true Australian style though it will inevitably work out, the apartments we’re currently in and that are fully booked from tomorrow will probably free up a room from us and I’m sure Hertz won’t mind extending our car hire for another day or two. I think that JHG can pack a punch if they need to.

Apart from the above life has been generally good (less for the excessive Brisbane rainfall at this time of year). We have paid our respects to Steve Irwin and had a good day out at Australia zoo (despite the torrential downpours all day long) and the top tip for my fellow PETs is to ask if they do a military discount. Quite a few places do out here such as Australia Zoo. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this out until the next day but have been asking ever since!

We have visited Surfers Paradise, had a ride on the boat bus, visited Brisbane museum and the kids science centre, had a ride on the Brisbane Wheel, been on the Brisbane taxi boats, registered for our Medicare cards and generally been very busy. We also managed to catch up with an old mate of mine who was QM when I was Sqn 2IC who now serves in the Oz Army.

Importantly, we managed to meet up with the Marsh family and get the lowdown on Gladstone and the GLNG. Rich even managed to find out which part of the project I’ll be working on (the Jetty) which is more than I’ve managed to gain from JHG thus far by speaking direct with them! Having had a good chat about the job it seems that life will not necessarily be as fraught as it was for them and is manageable with a bit of common sense/diplomacy.

I think that this will suffice for now. I need to pack up the hotel room and try to reassure Lisa that everything will work out fine. My next post will hopefully be more positive on the accommodation front and I hope to be writing from Gladstone to!

So since my last blog we have arrived in the cauldron of heat known as Brisbane where we have fallen on or feet with JHG paying for an all-inclusive apartment and a hire car. Brilliant!!!

Key achievements thus far are collecting our bank cards, our hire car and I have attended my pre-employment medical which did not present any significant issues. Lets jus hope they don’t do too many detailed security checks on me, particularly wrt internet activity…

Today we took a trip South (it gets cooler that way) to Surfers Paradise. Why? Because it is the only place I’d ever heard of in the area except for Australia zoo and that’s scheduled in for later in the week.  The kids managed to get their first paddle in the sea and I am happy to report that the sea temperature is warm. I imagine it is a similar temperature to one’s urine, should an accident ever occur!

This was not however the primary talking point though. What I found myself thinking about was the way that the sand and water interacted as the sea waves gently lapped the shore and John Moran’s constant reminders about the next time you go to a beach, take the time to ……….

I ended up taking the time to think about the effect the water had but also explaining it to Austyn (looked interested but clearly wasn’t), Elliot (didn’t look interested and rightly so as he’s only 2) and Lisa (who told me to go and enjoy a big cup of shut the f*** up as we’re on holiday). I however, found my knowledge to be better than expected and would have made John proud.

I have once again included some gratuitous civil engineering shots of high-rise buildings by the sea this time but for those with a more astute eye (and slightly less interest in the engineering) there are a couple of girls in the foreground wearing not very much!

I leave you with this photo then and next time I update you all (if there is a next time) I hope to fill you all in on my planned trip to Australia zoo where I’m hopeful to stroke a tiger, feed a crocodile and perhaps swim with a stingray. Although the last person to do that at Australia zoo was Steve Irwin and look what happened to him….

Read more…

So todays activities have consisted of handing over the old house (successful – no bills), moving to a temporary hotel at Heathrow (Radisson Edwardian – highly recommended and the kids are in a different room which means a night of peace), saying farewell to parents and now the packing reorganisation will begin.

Best thing about today however is the view from our rooms. They look directly onto the Heathrow Golden Arches, which incidentally we enjoyed a fine dining experience in at lunchtime. The staff were shocked that I asked for salad instead of fries…evidently an uncommon request and they were out of stock…forced to eat a Big Mac and fries yet again.

So tomorrow the main journey begins and the real fun starts. I’ll keep you all posted…

So, I venture into unchartered media territory safe in the knowledge that I am not alone and that Jim is also not familiar with this internet blogging fascination.

I have now commenced the epic journey to Australia and have little to comment on other than that the Ramada Encore in Chatham isn’t designed for families and that trying to get your children asleep in the same room as you at 7pm is not conducive to watching television, nor having any sort of quality time on Valentines night with one’s wife.  Also note that every where gets booked up on the 14th Feb for dinner so he who fails to plan treats his wife to a luxury golden arches experience, backed up with the classic line of “order whatever you want off the menu…it’s my treat!” Finally, the Ramada Encore does not have baths as it is aimed at businessmen and the like…evidently they have realised that a soak in one’s own dirty water is not good for you or perhaps no-one just gave them the brief “don’t drink the water”.

Tomorrow I bid farewell to Chatham-sur-le-Medway and move to Heathrow for a final night of rest (thank god we have interconnecting rooms so that the kids will not prevent me from my panic packing).  I will endeavour to insert a picture from our stopover in Hong Kong, perhaps one of me and Mickey Mouse, but I can assure all of you that I will not be having any fun at all as I will have commenced my mental preparations for site.

I shall leave it at that for now and will return to my room in the hope that the children have fallen asleep. Otherwise it will be a long night ahead without a minibar in the room to accompany me.

Adios,

Roy