The countryside is just stunning…… I think I’m falling in love with outback NSW. The colours change with the sunrise, the granites cast purple glows and the sky is always changing. But today we had rolling mists, fog in the valleys…..and it was cold! Crisp and cold! Gawd….it’s just beautiful! We set up the drilling rig as the sun rose over the mists. The cows once again graced us with their presence – I swear the pressure of having them watch us constantly, I feel the need to break into a song and dance repeatedly. If I was a paranoid […]

Today was…….frustrating……! Finally we were all set to drill. 7am – bright eyed and bushy tailed, we started out to the first drilling site – hole 1 of 10 holes, 30 metre depth per hole. So overall, the program plans to drill 300 metres. I was so eager and looking forward to learning how to do drill logs and describe the geology of drill samples. It was freezing when we arrived at the first drill site – the wind chill factor was enough to make my nose feel as though it belonged to someone else! The cows immediately began eating […]

Oh My Giddy Aunt! I have had the BEST DAY EVER!!!! This morning after packing the car, my Long Suffering Mentor surprised me with a visit to the Young Magnesite mine. It was so good to get out of the warehouse and see some landscape. Young, NSW is stunningly beautiful with it’s rolling hills, green pastures and beautiful gum trees. We saw a lot of kangaroos and wallabies, but no wild pigs, much to Jason’s relief! Donning our hot pink hard hats, we met up with Kevin, who has been running the mine forever! The magnesite mine consists of rock […]

Today I had the BEST day! Today we had to get rid of the huge bulka bags – the ones that were chocka block full of dirt! The process of doing this involved raising the bulka bag onto a forklift and moving it over a tipper truck. We then cut the bottom of the bag and emptied it into the tipper truck……sounds easy huh? It was dirty, nasty, dust up the nose, eyes streaming, dust in every crevice and orifice. It was also the most AWESOME job in the world. The colours of the different dirt was amazing – some […]

-7 degrees celsius….feels like -11.4 degrees celsius…… Are you KIDDING ME!!! It was so cold I couldn’t feel my face when I walked to the shed! There were frosticles everywhere! Even the locals looked slightly surprised! When I was moving rubbish around from outside the shed the front of my shirt was covered in ice – it looked like I was turning into a snowman! Another day at the warehouse and today it finally felt like we were getting somewhere. The shelves are organised, and although things are not in numerical order they are at least all in the same […]

HOLY GUACAMOLE!!! It’s cold – it is so fricking cold that even the frost flakes are cold! A start of -2.7 degrees Celcius (it would stick a dog to a tree or so my Dear Old Dad would say!) meant that I wore every single layer that I bought with me to the shed this morning, walking through Young looking like a Michelin Man with the locals looking at me with brief disdain! My brain must have frozen a bit because I couldn’t think straight until after my fourth cup of tea. There was frost on EVERYTHING! On the ground, the car, […]

Part of the trip to Young involves the cleaning out of the company storage shed. When you think storage shed you picture old filing cabinets and fax machines……but no! This storage shed is floor to ceiling dirt! Bags and bags and bags of bags of dirt inside bags! Dirt in all colours…..red, cream, green…..sparkly dirt, powdery dirt, clingy dirt! It was like dirt heaven! …..until we had to start moving it. Then it wasn’t so nice to be around. Each bulka bag contained up to 30 plastic sample bags of dirt, each sample bag weighing up to 20kg. Which means […]

After a long break from field work due to a broken foot sustained by falling into a hole (oh the irony!) – the hole being dug by a certain Golden Retriever that I swear was laughing while watching me fall down said hole……anyways…….after a FOUR MONTH break from fieldwork, this Girl In Love With Rocks was very excited to be invited along as an Assistant Geologist for a drilling program in Young, NSW. Don’t we look excited?! Yes the dynamic duo of the Long Suffering Mentor and myself began our trek to Young at the crack of dawn! A long […]

Our flight to Melbourne was set at a very civilised time so we were able to get to the airport and wander around rather easily! I was somewhat concerned at the weight of our return luggage, having dispersed rocks between myself and my Long-Suffering Husbands check-in luggage. I think the limit was 20kg and I was sweating as to whether we would be under or over. In the end we were just under 18kg (phew!) and the rocks were safe for now….until we get to Australia and have to explain to customs why we have bags full of rocks. But that’s […]

Thank goodness! Her voice returned! Yay for all those highly medicated, very stinky throat lozenges! She might not be able to fully feel her tongue, but my Long Suffering Mentor has got enough of a voice that she can do her presentation. Hallelujah! Dr Sanja Van Huet is a smart lady. She is a Taphonomist, a fancy word for a person who studies the sediment surrounding bone or teeth or any other interesting trace element from ages past. She’s the dirt lady of the dinosaur world – just kidding! She would hate me saying that! Anyways, her presentation of the […]