Emerald, pre Christmas

For us ex southerners, the heat since our arrival in Emerald has been testing. Most days have been in the high 30’s, with a small respite last weekend when low 30’s were a welcome “cool’ change. David has adjusted a bit better than Jan so far, but the aircon in the caravan has been running continuously. We have been swimming a few times in the town pool which is conveniently located right next door to our caravan park.

On our arrival we spent a bit of time finding things around town and seeing what the work prospects are like. We have been battling through the system since – computer-based testing and all. So far so good, we got a call today setting up an interview for Jan 5th with a local telecommunications outfit.

Lots of businesses close tomorrow till Jan 5th, so it is a bit slow in the recruitment businesses at present. The job losses in the mining industry is a bit of a worry also. So we have been doing a bit of sightseeing.

Last week we went west out to the gem fields around Anakie, Sapphire and Rubyvale. Didn’t run into Dennis but if he is still selling soft drinks he should be doing well (Thorpdalites will understand this line.) We went east earlier in the week and had a poke around Blackwater, the so-called centre of the coal fields. Today we headed north and spent time in Capella and Clermont. Both towns are service centres for coal mines. We both liked the Clermont area.

Couple of grey nomads hoping the delay timer is going to work - Theresa Creek Dam, Clermont

Just up the road from the dam, I took the following photo. This dump truck is only a baby compared to some we have seen either on the road or in yards in the industrial areas of the towns we have visited.

The Suzi driver has set a goal to drive a bigger version of this type of dump truck - somewhere, sometime

We haven’t made any plans for Christmas yet but we are planning to go over to the coast for a few days and have a look around the Rockhampton area. Rocky is about 300km east of here. Suzi is going well, as long as I remember to keep filling the petrol tank. Its range is only about 350km and I have managed to run out of petrol twice in recent weeks. The truck has a range of 1200km and our previous vehicle was good for 900km per tank. Well that’s my excuse for running out!        Our Christmas message will be our next post.