All Activity

We are off to Sydney today for a week. Haven’t been there for fifteen years. Broome would be better.

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. The last few days have been bitterly cold, full overcast and gloomy, all day, every day. I'm looking forward to Spring and Summer returning. To hasten it, we've booked a fortnights break in Broome, from the end of July to mid-August. That will give us a nice early burst of sunshine and warmth. I always look forward to a Winter break in Broome. The place is overpriced and always full of tourists, but the scenery and Cable Beach can't be beaten. We stay at the Habitat Resort, it's set on 9 acres (3.6Ha), and has 32 individual bungalows and apartments all spread out in a lovely heavily vegetated setting. Each bungalow is self contained, we can cook for ourselves or go up town for a feed. The Broome Golf Course is right next door, and their clubhouse sits on top of a big dune overlooking Roebuck Bay, and they serve good food and drinks. The Port of Broome has had a massive rebuild, the W.A. Govt has spent $200M building a new jetty, and a huge new floating dock, so ships can dock and depart any time, and not be dependent on the tide, as before, at the original dock, which was fixed. This was still being built when we were there last year, so it should all be finished now.

Trump continues to dig even deeper holes for himself. His pathological lying used to just raise eyebrows among world leaders. Now they are giving him back some of his own medicine. He is still insisting Meloni begged him for a photo but she has shot him to pieces with her latest comments. Mary Trump apparently said that his father told him to never accept defeat ever. He still insists he won the 2020 election & just last week walked out of an interview when a Journo stated the evidence was there & he insisted he had evidence to the contrary but has never ever produced anything (because he can't). The US has always exploited its position in every place it has set up a base or even just an embassy. The Yanks were widely despised during WW2 here, the UK & in NZ. Remember the catch phrase " over paid over sexed and over here". There were riots in Brisbane & in Wellington all due to the attitudes of US servicemen & their pompous boss MacArthur. They have rewritten history so many times. For example there were 75,000 British & Canadian troops that landed on D-Day & 57,000 Americans, all the navy ships & most of the landing craft were British & the Yanks stuffed up their landings, refused to use most of Hobarts inventions, took out half the bolts of the mulberry floating harbours so they got destroyed in a storm & had huge casualties & in the battle of the Bulge, Montgomery's 30 Corps stopped the Germans getting to Antwerp after they had over-run the yanks & Patton was too far away . The list goes on. The USA is an empire in decline and it has been for some time. The only thing Trump has been good at is hastening that decline. The sooner the leaders of rest of the World act in a positive way like Meloni & The US leaves or gets kicked out of countries it has bases in the better.

From 1969 to 1972, America put 12 men on the moon in nine missions. Eight of the surviving crew members (notably absent is the reclusive Neil Armstrong) talk about their experiences in a documentary called In The Shadow of The Moon, not to be confused with a movie of the same name released a few years later. The documentary was played on TV a few days ago. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article on the documentary - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Shadow_of_the_Moon_(2007_film). Of all the astronauts who appeared in the film, only Buzz Aldrin demanded to be paid. A quote I recall from the end of the documentary was one of the astronauts who said "We sent nine trips to the moon but sceptics still say it was faked in a hangar. Why would we fake it nine times?"

It did it tonight, that's why I posted that short story.

One thing I love about my place is when showers sweep in from the ocean side at night. If they're slow moving and you are out on the verandah, you can hear the noise as they move in across the valley raining down on the canefields. Sometimes you can hear it coming for a full five minutes before it hits the tin roof.

On that subject of Beach Petroleum, this photo is their geothermal / hot rocks project on the eastern side of the Flinders Range. It was taken in 2011, and a bit better quality than than previous instamatic photo. This one was taken with my little Panasonic Lumix compact. Myself and a mate went down there for about five days to do a small job. Just to the left of the well head, you can see the Beverley uranium mine at the foothill of the Flinders, which is where we were accommodated. It's a pity the project fizzled out.

Yes, I kind of visualise the mineral grid patterns as being similar to hydrocarbon 3D grids. They can be a fairly tight pattern with lines every 400 metres over a fairly large area. They could be pegged to have a vibe point every 40 metres, usually three vibe trucks with the centre one vibing at the peg. What a boring job those drivers have, drive 40 metres, lower the pad and shake the ground, lift it up and drive another 40 metres and do it all over again, 12 hours a day, seven days a week. I think these days they don't even lower and raise the pads any more; it's done remotely. The only excitement they get is when someone has a flat tyre. Lucky for the environment the 3D intensive grid work came about around the same time as GPS, so that was a quantum leap in environmental protection having GPS surveying and GPS fitted machines. I can remember the days when they would have two chainmen working one vehicle. The driver would take off from a peg holding the chain out the window while the bloke or girl doing the running would let the tail of the chain overshoot the peg, then stomp on the chain when it shot past, pulling it out of the drivers hand. The runner would pull the chain back those few metres to the peg, then wave to the driver who would jump out and knock in a peg at his end. Then the driver would take off again while the runner ran up to the new peg and they'd repeat it all over . Now it's one person in a vehicle and a GPS telling them when to stop and put a peg in.

Trump always raged on about "draining the swamp" in Washington DC. But the only thing he's actually done, is turned the Lincoln Reflecting Pool into a swamp.

The exploration gridding work produced teams of blokes working on the clearing and pegging. Essentially, entire leases had to be cut up into small squares by cutting parallel criss-crossing lines, so the drill rigs could drill on a grid basis. In light country, the teams wouldn't use any earthmoving gear to cut the line, they just used axes and 4WD's to bash down the bush. It was brutal work on the 4WD's and they staked tyres multiple times a day. So they ended up working out that nearly bald tyres, pumped up to higher pressures, were better at avoiding stakes than tyres with good tread run at normal pressures. The principle was that the stakes would skate off a relatively smooth tread on a tyre with high pressure in it. The 4WD's took a hiding and the pegging teams would buy up old Landrovers, and the few available older Landcruisers, fit them with scrub-bashing bars, and go use them like a bulldozer! Many of the companies favoured dozing in the grids, as it made it so much easier on the drill rigs and their 4WD's, even though it was higher cost.

onetrack, that's a beast, that Cuthbertson Landrover. That's what I need for getting up and down the driveway. The only thing I've ever had to do with nickel was in the Kimberleys, about halfway between Halls Creek and Turkey Creek in 1986. That was just putting in some access tracks for the geologists to have a scratch around, no grid work.

It will be more than just a price rise in prices of premium chips. The world cannot afford to give up Taiwan. At Davos, the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: "I would say that the single biggest threat to the world economy, the single biggest point of single failure, is that 97 percent of the high-end chips are made in Taiwan," Bessent told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He described a potential blockade or destruction of the island's manufacturing capacity as an "economic apocalypse," emphasizing Washington's efforts to relocate semiconductor production to American soil." A blockade of these chips would send the world into the tech dark ages and we would certainly lose the AI arms race against China. As I understand it, it would take decades to build the ecosystem required to produce these high end chips.

It's good to see Giorgia doesn't suffer fools gladly. I guess this might be the end of a beautiful friendship.

Unfortunately, a house fire destroyed over 90% of my photos in 1982, so I have little to contribute by way of personal photos. But Willies post about the Argo's, and the 3-wheel trailer-mounted drill rig reminds me of the Nickel exploration that was going on in the '69-'73 period around the Goldfields of W.A. - when the nickel price was ballistic, and the Poseidon Nickel shares were going the same way. There was a lot of nickel exploration going on in the area South of Kambalda, around Widgiemooltha, at the time I turned up in the area, after leaving the Army at the finish of my National Service on 1st Oct 1971. The older brother, my business partner, had gone to the Goldfields from the Wheatbelt while I was in the Army, and that was because there was a massive drought in the W.A. Wheatbelt between 1969 and 1972, and he ran out of work. But the Nickel exploration teams were pegging like crazy in the nickel boom, and dozer work was plentiful, so the brother took one of our Cat D6C's up to the Goldfields, and made good money clearing gridlines for the peggers. When I rolled up, we were doing gridlines in the Widgiemooltha area, and the two main Nickel companies operating there were the original (U.S.) Anaconda Mining, and a Belgian company called Union Miniere. The area is full of salt lakes, with Lake Lefroy and Lake Cowan being the biggest, in a string of salt lakes that run from Kambalda to Norseman. There was a lot of drilling to be done on the salt lakes, but getting out on them was a real hassle. They often contained areas of deep mud under the salt, although some areas of the salt lakes were quite firm, and could be driven on. The only way to get to the spots requiring drilling was building elevated roads, like jetties, out across the salt. As you could imagine, this was bloody expensive. But Union Miniere had a neat little beast that could run around on the salt anywhere. I had a photo of it, but its gone. It was called the Cuthbertson Tracked Landrover. This Landrover was used substantially to get around on the lakes, and it was neat to watch. They were built by a Scottish company, who are still in business - but they no longer build tracked conversions. I wasn't aware until I did some research, that Cuthbertson only built about 15 or 20 of these units, before they ceased production of them. I have no idea what happened to Union Miniere's Cuthbertson Landrover, maybe it wore out and was scrapped. https://silodrome.com/tracked-cuthbertson-land-rover/ https://www.lrukforums.com/threads/tracked.256227/

I did a lot of work with a Gemco auger rig similar to that, sampling tailings dumps. It had a VW engine. I learned to fix most parts of it.

When I was doing my two years conscription, a corporal fired his sub-machine gun in front of us while we were lined up out in the training field getting a lecture about being aggressive towards the enemy. He swung the weapon around in an arc firing as he went trying to get us to pay attention to what war can be like. The bullets hit the ground of course, but an officer standing beside him said nothing. I'm sure this was an illegal act as a basic training method. Many of the training corporal were just back from Vietnam and they were crazed, their minds shot and heading for PTS, if they didn't already suffer from it. What we learned from the lecture was that we didn't want to end up crazy either, and that Vietnam has the potential to make you that way.

Sorry, Willie, no personal experience with Instamatics. AI search revealed: Kodak Instamatic cameras primarily use two distinct film formats: 126 film and 110 film. 126 Film: Introduced in 1963, this 35mm-wide cartridge produces 28x28mm square images (typically masked to 26.5x26.5mm). It features a single registration hole per frame and a captive take-up spool, allowing for easy drop-in loading without rewinding. 110 Film: Introduced in 1972 for the Pocket Instamatic line, this format uses a smaller 16mm wide film with a 13x17mm image area. It also uses a drop-in cartridge design but results in significantly smaller negatives. While the term "Instamatic" is often used generically, 126 was the original format for the main Instamatic series, whereas 110 was reserved for the later, more compact Pocket Instamatic models. AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts.

To keep within the photography thread topic, but on the same subject, this is a scan of a photo I took in 1984 with an instamatic camera. I'm not sure of the format ie: 126 or 110, Peter, red750 might be able to help there. It's a very small three wheeler drill rig that was used to drill shallow upholes on the surface of Lake Eyre South. I wasn't involved with it, but from memory they towed it with a Honda trike and the Argo buggy in the background was used to haul cables. I remember they had a heap of trikes on that job. It was right at that period in history where trikes were on the way out and quad bikes were first appearing on the market.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has told US President Donald Trump to focus on his own popularity in a recent social media post. Mr Trump had earlier taken to social media himself to say Ms Meloni was "doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity". In response, Ms Meloni told Mr Trump that "being your friend" certainly had not helped her popularity, nor was her popularity dependent on their relationship. "My popularity depends on my ability to defend Italy's national interest, and that is exactly what I have always done," Ms Meloni said in the Instagram post. "In any case, my popularity is none of your concern. "I suggest you focus on yours."

onetrack, there's a few in the Simpson a bit older than that one, some dating back to the early/mid 60's and later 70's. In the 60's, I think the McDills and Hale River wells were the first.

Her shorts are too tight. Maybe she's "Way Too Fat" for them, or it Means "Waiting to Fornicate."? Not everybody has a Dirty mind and needs to be profane all the time. . Nev

It doesn't matter what WE believe. There is also a Presumption of innocence Unless Proven Guilty in our system. He is required to appear before a Court where the Matter will be dealt with according to the Laws of this Country.. You can comment on things like the Manner of his arrest . Very Publicly and when he was with his Kids I can't see why that was necessary at all. Nev

Obomber did it.(or Sleepy Joe Biden). It's NEVER Trumps FAULT. Even the San Andreaus fault is the Dems fault. Nev

Life's a BEACH some say. I was an avid surfer. It's a wonder I didn't get Bitten. I thought I could never be far from a Beach but everything rusts bar your trunks and flippers. Nev

onetrack, I think you're right about the welder's signature. Now that I think back on it, I've seen a lot with signatures and a lot without. As far as a sense of humour regarding the naming of that well, It's not specifically meant as a joke. It's a Beach Petroleum well and all of their wells that I know of had beach and coastal themes in their names. I've seen a fair few of them as we used to contract for Beach quite a lot. Reg Sprigg did most of his early exploration work around the beaches off Adelaide in the 1950's and 60's with his company Geosurveys, then formed it into Beach Petroleum in the early 60's. At one stage they hired a dive instructor to teach them to hookah dive and did some seismic work on the gulf bed off Adelaide. They were a great mob to work for; of all the companies we contracted for over the years, I put Beach at the top of the list by a long way.