Man i love being a turtle!

2008.

Sometimes this year has been like last friday, it defines college life. It was 5 in the morning, i felt like death incarnate. I'd pushed down a few red bulls because i had a 65% assignment due the next day that i still hadn't finished, even though i spent SWOTVAC and the first week of exams writing it and therefore had to learn two other courses in a day each cause i didnt go to lectures, cause i was doing assignments every day for the other two courses gggrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaah. I think every uni student's been in that position, where you wonder what the hell you are doing here. When i thought about that, a smile grew as it dawned on me:

I was there at five in the morning cause the last night i had gone to the red room and the regatta with my mining mates to (prematurely) celebrate the end of another fraking awesome year of mining engineering. In a few hours time i'd be free to do WHATEVER i wanted, starting with chilling with my girl, a large napoli pizza with olives and a bottle of Casilero de Diablo. Then, i'd come home to Noosa and spend a day sunbaking, drinking and relaxing on the roof of a pontoon boat with my best mate for his 21st. After three weeks of beach and boost juice lies three MONTHS of three day weeks with BMA in brisbane. Gymming every day, lounging by the pool, getting paid to work on my thesis, I'll be living with my best friend, rent free in the best room in college. Next year i'll be the senior tutor at King's, basically the chief of making sure the freshers dont fail. I got as far as thinking about graduating and starting doing the job i love for real.

My point is that for most, their final year and even uni as a whole, is the 'final stretch', the last dash before they have finally finished education. For some, it's a hard slog to lift there GPA so they can graduate.

That's not me. Life moves pretty quick sometimes and if you don't take the time to look around once in a while, you might just miss something.

From today I'm going to appreciate the rewards of a shiteload of hard work and for the next 18 months i'll be in cruise mode. I'll have a lot of time to appreciate how lucky i am to live in this beautiful part of the world, to have the wonderful people around me i do, and to have the time to able to just sit on the King's jetty, beer in one hand and rod in the other, every day of 2009.

And i really can't think of anything i'd rather be doing.

Goonside - Vac Work

OMFG, did you see that pic of the dragline neck deep? 100 million down the drain...

Anyways I was overseas by then, but for three weeks before the entirety of QLD had a communal bath i worked at BMA Goonyella Riverside Mine, in Moranbah. Moranbah, about two hours west of Mackay, is renowned for being the awesomest coal mining town in the Bowen Basin, it's even got KFC (the only true way of knowing your town has made it to the big time). It's BMA's best producing mine, open-cut coal w/underground expansion. It was thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis massive and very very busy.

I had an awesome time working at the mine, completed projects in several departments including drilling, blasting, earthmoving and coal mining. i spent most of my time in the explosives section designing and filming blasts. Ended up on the crew in like +40 heat shovelling coal dust and juggling high explosives. As a (former) amateur pyromaniac, it was pretty freaking brilliant. Imagine getting paid twice as much as your high school teachers to blow stuff up!?!

After work i went to the gym, ate awesome food, chilled in my air-conditioned w/ensuite donger (heaven), played cards and shared beers and stories with other vacation students and random old guys.

Even joined the POETS club every weekend, (that's Piss Off Early Tommorow's Saturday, for those who came in late) to Mackay for waterskiing, wakeboarding, fishing etc with my cousins.

So yeh, awesome time, great experience, good cash and all round fantastiche!!!

Overseas Adventures

Spent a week each in Italy, Germany and Austria and two in Canada. Freakin insane, bloody cold too I LOVE SKIIING!!!!

Here's a few choice pics, mainly taken around Rome and the Vatican City plus a few from Canada.

Hundreds more on my other camera
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check out my facebook profile

http://uqedu.facebook.com/profile.php?id=573147355

updates on vac work, my overseas adventures and beach shenanigans to come