Nightly Goodnight Everyone

[Keith Morris]

"tanks" here---D&G,
Glad to hear from 'u' at long last and know that 'u' are safe in the cloud.
The cost of living in NZ makes Dysart very attractive, just don't buy tomatoes or bananas.
Fuel costs don't concern me because I have nowhere to go other than I G & A, the library, and the doctors surgery.

I had an official visit/tour (last Thursday) of the Saraji Minesite, and had lunch with the mine manager and supervisory heads.
Community Care drove me and the local Councillor was also invited as he worked on the dragline back in the 1970's era. The same dragline is still working the Saraji open-cut sites. In my time there (1972) during the start of the construction stage, the "site" was comprised of four 40 x 10 buildings in a paddock at the end of a dirt track. Nowdays; the main pit is 5 km long and 2 km wide, and is one of 6 pits that make-up Saraji Mine. MASSIVE is the only word to describe the Basin and the Coalfields.

There is enough coal to keep the Saraji Mine going for 80 years, and this is from only one mine in the Basin.
There are six major mines in the Basin and several small mines that have closed down and in caretaker mode.
Mr.Major stayed at home with the air-con running, and missed all of the action.

Enough of me as I am rambling on. All I intended to do was say "Hello" and hurry back to civilisation. We all missed you and George.
Keith.

[Dot]

Another fun filled day, did the op shops over today and patted Norman and Christine's shared pussy Off to Thames tomorrow, might find some more op shops if lucky. Had a bit of rain as well today . G has gone to bed so time for me to say goodnight everyone x Goodnight Deborah x

[dream4red]

How do op shops compare over there Dot? I am starting to find some Vinnies (not all) are getting a bit up themselves, only accepting top quality goods and charging like the proverbial wounded bulls. xxxx

Today was the big start on the drugs packaging. I know there are chemists all over the country, but a lot of my drugs are not often available in rural areas and that's where most of our travels will be. Anyway, all the prescription drugs have been organised. Tomorrow the extras (vitamins, antihistamines etc) will be sorted and checked. Obviously these can be bought in most places, but I still like to be sure of having a good supply to start us off.
goodnight from me xxx

[Greynomad]

Tanks,
How big is the Saraji’s dragline bucket?
In a former life as PR for BHP’s Steel Division (late 70s) I visited the Kianga-Moura coalfields when BHP bought the Peabody shares in Theiss-Peabody-Mitsui.
The dragline there was at the time the biggest in Southern Hemisphere at 200 tons.
It was undergoing a refit at the time and was partially disassembled to replace the roller bearings on which it rotated. Each of the 30 roller bearings was the size of a 12 gallon drum, and solid bronze! $$$$$$$$$$$$!!!
For a photo shoot I asked the mine manager to park FOUR Landcruiser 100s abreast in the bucket.
We had room to spare.

[Keith Morris]

Tanks,
How big is the Saraji’s dragline bucket?
In a former life as PR for BHP’s Steel Division (late 70s) I visited the Kianga-Moura coalfields when BHP bought the Peabody shares in Theiss-Peabody-Mitsui.
The dragline there was at the time the biggest in Southern Hemisphere at 200 tons.
It was undergoing a refit at the time and was partially disassembled to replace the roller bearings on which it rotated. Each of the 30 roller bearings was the size of a 12 gallon drum, and solid bronze!🤭 $$$$$$$$$$$$!!!
For a photo shoot I asked the mine manager to park FOUR Landcruiser 100s abreast in the bucket. 😳
We had room to spare.

"tanks" here --- Bob,
It is the same dragline that was there in the early 70's.Bigger than big---bloody massive !!
I think it was numbered 23.
Keith.

[Dot]

Last night with the sheep shagger and ewe, back Nth tomorrow. Have had a great few days but time to head home soon Too expensive for us here, my son is a smart arse real estate agent and his listings are mainly above the 1 mill + range. Before you ask NO I haven;t seen him G has headed off to bed as he found our day of op shopping very tiring Now time for me to say goodnight every one x Goodnight Ros x

[Greynomad]

Tanks,
How big is the Saraji’s dragline bucket?
In a former life as PR for BHP’s Steel Division (late 70s) I visited the Kianga-Moura coalfields when BHP bought the Peabody shares in Theiss-Peabody-Mitsui.
The dragline there was at the time the biggest in Southern Hemisphere at 200 tons.
It was undergoing a refit at the time and was partially disassembled to replace the roller bearings on which it rotated. Each of the 30 roller bearings was the size of a 12 gallon drum, and solid bronze! $$$$$$$$$$$$!!!
For a photo shoot I asked the mine manager to park FOUR Landcruiser 100s abreast in the bucket.
We had room to spare.

"tanks" here --- Bob,
It is the same dragline that was there in the early 70's.Bigger than big---bloody massive !!
I think it was numbered 23.
Keith.

Amazing!
I would have thought technology would have surpassed that walking dragline in 50 years. Just goes to show how advanced it was at the time.
I revisited 12 months later when it was functioning.
Amazing to watch the monster in constant rotation, throwing that 200t bucket up to 100m on the approach quadrant, then reeling it in on the next quadrant to upend it into a waiting 200t Haulpak sitting behind it and starting the whole cycle again without pause. Surprised the driver didn’t get giddy. Each rotation took about two minutes, from memory. The trucks were lined up in a never-shortening queue & drivers knew exactly where they had to park to receive a load with minimal spillage. As one truck departed and another took its place, another truck joined the back of the queue and all moved forward one space. An enormous bulldozer (a D8 I think, which looked tiny behind the dragline) scurried about between the behemoths pushing the spillage into a pile at one side for collection later.
It was a mechanical ballet with 200t trucks and the nine-storey high dragline doing a constant slow-motion pirouette at centre stage on a 1000 acre stage.
Fascinating to see.

[dream4red]

Op shopping can be very tiring Dot. Before you come home, stock up on some kiwi dunny paper. Aus is running out xxxx

Had another busy day at the lair today. Lists are being ticked off and it looks like we should be ready for a Monday departure.

goodnight all xxx

[Greynomad]

Op shopping can be very tiring Dot. Before you come home, stock up on some kiwi dunny paper. Aus is running out xxxx

Don’t the Kiwis have Yellow Pages??

[norman]

We do Ray, We also know know where the op shops are... Was great seeing Dot and George again, had a really good natter and caught up with a few things... Well Dot are you there yet...