Jun 4, 2015 | News
Well the routine is usually a flight back to Johburg, stay for a day or two to catch up with contractors and then head back home. This time my trip coincides with a little bike race in France, the 100th year of the tour de France! I had decided to head up to France to catch some of the racing before heading to Johburg. I was meeting up with some friends (Lyndon and Kate) from the UK who were heading to Toulouse. Toulouse was the perfect spot to catch 3 days of racing. The start and end of two stages, and the individual time trial (about an hour out of town). Toulouse is the capital of the Midi-Pyrenees and the largest city in the southwest of France. It is also the summer home to Stuart o’Grady one of Australia best cyclists. Toulouse is renowned for it’s high-tech industries, including some of Europe’s most advanced aerospace facilities and birthplace of the Concorde. It is close to the Pyrenees (Spanish border) so there is a big Spanish influence. Toulouse is historically known as la ville rose (the pink city) after the colour of the local brick. It’s funny no matter how much you prepare yourself for another country the language is the first thing that hits you. In most popular tourist destinations ie. Paris you can get by with English. Now that I am in Toulouse I have only met one person that could speak a little English, it was now sink or swim. I have been just getting by with a few numbers, a pleasant greeting (bonjour/bonsoir) and the odd...
Jun 4, 2015 | News
I better not stay too much longer as I will be running out of things to put in front of “week in Africa”. There is however always plenty to write about if you can be bothered. I am on the way back to the central part of Tanzania (Bulyanhulu). There was an “incident” at the drillers camp the other day. In just about every remote place in Tanzania I can think of that has some sort of developement or permanent fixture, locals move in looking for work or to sell goods. The work locals are after can vary from security to manual labour (gardener, cleaner, carpenter etc). Goods sold can be bananas, bags of potatoes or rice. People literally come from 100’s of miles on foot. It just so happened a grass hut bar (and brothel) sprung up near the drillers camp. One of the drillers went down there and got drunk, came back to camp, had an arguement with one of the cleaners and decided to pull a knife. The situation was diffused very quickly (Ghurkhas-correct spelling). When I went running past that evening all I saw was a guy handcuffed in back of a Toyota. He was taken to jail the next day. The justice system here is difficult to understand. If you are taken to jail and have money then you can usually pay your way out. If you don’t then you are either beaten or raped (if you are female). This may sound harsh but let me assure you it is a fact of life here. This is the side of Africa you hear stories...
Jun 4, 2015 | News
There is nothing like a 7 hour drive on shitty roads to stiffen you up. It is a drive that I wouldn’t like to do everyday as the drivers here are merciless machines. They would drive for days on end if you asked them to. Everyone here has a specific task to do and most take pride in what they do. For example if a vehicle is assigned a driver then that is there job and nothing else. When the vehicle is not being driven it is being washed and wiped over. Come to think of it is sounds like me and my new bike. While driving along there is always plenty to see. It is fruit season here at the moment. Huge mango trees dot the landscape. They are as big as houses. I’d hate to be the one that has to climb to the top to get the fruit but you can be sure that someone will. Mango stalls are set up along the side of the road. Usually there is minimum of 10 peole gathered around talkng. Pineapples and bananas are the other fresh fruit available. I’ve never eaten fresh pineapples like these anywhere, they are fantastic when they are in season. I try to snack on fruit when I can but it is only available in our camps on certain days so it is not always possible. Well it happens on every trip. Its gets to a certain point when food tends to flow through you. Not constantly mind you (hope nobody is eating) as you still eat normally and there is no pain but...
Jun 4, 2015 | News
The flight to Johburg was as per usual uneventful. It’s been a while since I’ve travelled so I hadn’t seen too many recent movies (managed to cram in three). One of the claims to fame (about the only ones) the South Africans have is ther wine. The pinotages are generally excellent. All the good ones seem to come from the Cape (Town) Region. Arrived in Johburg tired but amazed. I watched the guy in front of me at Johburg airport trying to give/stuff the customs agent cash to let them through (they were of middle eastern decent!). In the end they let him pass through! Johburg is the only place you can be garanteed of losing your bag at some stage or other. On one occation flying into Johburg they dropped a full bus load of peolple that flew international into the domestic arrivals. Peolple just walked through, no customs or bag. It wasn’t until they realised that everyone (that they could find) had to go back. The next day was Tanzania. When I arrived in Tanzania I was stuck at the airport for 3 hours waiting for peolple to get out of the bagage and visa cues. This is typical. It helps if you have $US cash handy for such occasions (visa probs that is). Hard to describe first impressions of Dar Es Salaam (Dar). The first thing that hits you is the humidity. Hot sweaty, dirty…a run down Bali is close. I managed a quick swim at the pool when I got to the hotel (50 min trip from airport). I was invited (with half the hotel)...
Jul 28, 2014 | News
Alumbre covers a Cu-Au-Mo porphyry system that has never been systematically explored for porphyry style deposits. Geophysicist Barry Bourne, with Terra Resources Pty Ltd, re-interpreted the company’s historical ground based magnetic data with the MVI methodology to estimate the magnetic susceptibility. Read the full article...
