Meanwhile, in Australia…

23 April 2013

It’s been a while, I know, since I updated this blog. Though a lot has happened, there wasn’t one particular event worth mentioning. I look back and see myself a year ago, I had just started this journey, Claire has just flown to Broome, we had only started the Tanami Track, there were months of road ahead of us, the world was at our feet, or wheels to be precise. And even though we knew, or at least I knew but chose to ignore it, and Claire knew but chose to not speak about it and spoil my joy, we knew we had nowhere near what it really costs to drive across to the other side of the world. On average, ten to fifteen thousand dollars per year, that’s what it takes. We had half that, at best. So yeah we knew we’d have to stop somewhere, hopefully as far as possible, and work.

But in the end, it worked out rather well. Two months after I moved back to Australia, I got a job, a week ago, Claire found hers, we got our own place six weeks ago, bought a car, then another, then it got stolen, then we got it back, but that’s just life really, ups and downs, but in the end, when you work for something, it eventually works out.

People often say I am a lucky sonofabitch, but really, when I look at my choices and how my life is working out, I don’t feel lucky, well yeah I do in a way, but I’m more realistic about the fact that what happens to me is because I chose it, and because I pulled my thumb out of my arse and I worked damn hard to get what I wanted, that’s not really luck.

So yeah, call it luck, call it whatever, but it’s working out so far. I’m happy in my job, there’s a lot to do, but it’s a great challenge.

News then. Well, what’s up with us is that Claire is starting her job on Friday, as a mine engineer. She’ll be flying to Newman every second week and coming back eight days later, for a six days rest. It’s called “FiFo” for “fly in-fly out”. Sounds a bit harsh, and yeah it is. Newman is pretty much a shit-hole in the middle of the Pilbara. And the Pilbara is just about the most inhospitable place in Australia. It’s about 1000km north of here, there’s only one road, one airport and a lot of sand. The area is about 500.000 square km. Now, try to imagine what’s five hundred thousand square kilometres for a second… Belgium is 30.000 km sq. And in that whole area, there’s roughly 50.000 people. Mostly Aboriginal people, and the rest work for the mines.
Anyways, back to Claire. She got the job in a matter of three days, after visiting a “mining expo” in Perth, and leaving behind as many business cards as she could. Two weeks later we got a call, she had the interview the same day, and the job two days after. YAY !

Working as a FiFo means time off, time on. And when you’re on, you’re on. Clocking about 15 to 16 hours a day, with dust and heat (in summer, 50 degrees and more is not uncommon), and mostly male population, the kind of male that drive trucks, have arms the size of both my legs, and are probably not the most chivalrously of people, though usually they wouldn’t hurt a fly.

So basically, every second week, I’ll be a bachelor. Party on !

Well, the other good news is that we now have two salaries so we can finally save, plan, invest, and think ahead.

What’s our future then ? Well, for the next two years, nothing much is going to happen. While we are on a 457 Sponsored Visa, we can’t do much. But after 24 months of consecutive work for the same employer, we are eligible for PR (permanent residency). That will mean we’ll no longer be linked to our employer and we can go in and out of the country as often as we like, and chose to work or not to work as we decide, without the hassle of getting the damn work visa. A few months later, we’ll be eligible for dual-citizenship, meaning we’ll have two passports, one for Europe, and one for the Commonwealth (of Nations). That means travelling to and from these countries with no problem of visa, etc etc.

But I digress. In the meantime, we’ll have saved enough cash to hopefully get back on the road, and continue this journey, perhaps even finish it. Who knows. But that’s for another time.

Right now then, the plan is to work a lot during the weeks, and enjoy the WE as much as possible.

Oh and another news, Troopy is coming back ! I’m off to Thailand next month to clean it and prepare it for quarantine, then ship it via container to Perth. It turns out it’s actually cheaper to ship it than keep it up there, will the taxes and paperwork and shit. So once it’s here, we’ll sell the Nissan, one 4×4 is enough, and use Troopy for the WE while I drive around in a smaller car.

To be continued…

PS: hardly no photos for the moment, my camera was stolen, then Claire’s was stolen as well, and my little “point and click” has run out of battery (the charger was stolen with the bigger camera), but I’ve ordered a new charger so, more to come.
PS2 : Internet is on at home, so…. call us, or Skype us 🙂