'On a Mission'

'On a Mission'
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt©

across the creek to the Agnes Water Beach, Queensland

Agnes Water Creek

stunning inky reflections in the creek

I stayed at Agnes Water, some one and a half hours below Gladstone . 

Walking from the carpark, you cross a little creek and 

the coastal bush opens out to a lovely expanse of beach. 

And the water is warm! No stingers at this time of year... it was lovely. 

The local church puts on a sausage-sizzle in the beach parkland  

every Thursday, so I even scored a free lunch! 

And I saw my first bush-turkey....a handsome male 

strutting his stuff near the dunes outside the resort.

'On a Mission'
Jo-Ann Hunt©
'The Child Within 'Series
H132x122cm
H52x48ins
Acrylic on Canvas
sold

.......I'm on a mission to find an excuse to get back there......

                               .....just another something else to add to the bucket-list!

                                                 Jo          x 

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APLNG.... Curtis Island ...

the Australia Pacific Liquified Natural Gas  plant on Curtis Island , Gladstone....

some info from the tour....

about 3000 workers now live in accomodation across the three LNG sites.

Sadly our buses just cruised past so we didn't get to see inside

the accomodation 'village',  but as well as the cafeteria/dining hall, there is

a swimming pool, tavern,  gymnasium complete with instructors/ trainers,

tennis court and outdoor BBQ areas.

Source: David Sparkes   The Courier-Mail

Source: David Sparkes   The Courier-Mail

wild brumbies are in the surrounding bush...we didn't see these either

but my son says sightings were commonplace,especially

before all the activity....

the roof of the tanks is lifted with air....gently blown up

like a balloon....astonishing!!

The 88-metre roof of one of the APLNG storage tanks was raised over an eight-hour period
with the help of five giant fans.

photos above.... Souce: The Courier- Mail

and from The Courier-Mail:

"The complexity of the roof raise is in itself a construction feat, with 1050 tonnes of carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminium materials lifted into place by low air volume created by fans in a principle not dissimilar to blowing up a camping air bed.

"The five fans, which are almost 80cm in diameter and with 75-horsepower motors, gradually build the volume and create enough pressure to lift the roof from the ground to the top of the tank."

There are a lot of Bechtel-Curtis Island videos on You-tube, including this one, just 30 seconds
... of the Roof Raise.... 



Roof-Raise

...and from google earth....just like an abstract painting....gorgeous....

....it was a great day....I learnt a lot....

enjoyed the Gladstone scenery and hospitality....

and got to hang out with my son     :)   :)

                  Jo   x





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Bechtel... Curtis Island... A Family Day

a bag full of goodies

Pirates , delicious free food, live music, sunshine....a perfect start.

pirate..with chicken on his hat!

then a stroll through the park to the ferry. 

this is how they used to arrive on Curtis Island not so many months ago....

earlier ferry to Curtis Island

boat to Bechtel plant, Curtis Island, Qld

and this is how the 6000 workers commute now.

14 seats across, 3 TV screens in this section, same number 

of seats in front section, plus same again on top . HUGE! 

a small section inside the ferry , to Curtis Island

......it was a tough commute to the office.......

(though I must admit that at 5am in the morning it would be different!)

.....we had to dodge the local traffic....

and then we caught our first site of 'the tanks'.

LNG tanks, Curtis Island , Gladstone, Queensland

there are a few ferries and they do a couple of dozen trips every day, 

so docking and manoevering  was speedy and seamless. 

and then all 500 of  us disembarked and shuffled down the walkway

 to a dozen waiting buses for our 'tour'.

following the same route that our relatives take every time they come 

or go from work. It was certainly eye-opening! and time-consuming!

but fascinating! 

Source : The Courier-Mail

..... more tomorrow!

                                                 Jo x


In a strange coincidence, when my son found out that he was to start work on the APLNG site, I was googling Curtis Island and stumbled across a blog written by a lass whose husband had been transferred to Gladstone from the US. A couple of months back I mentioned that I'd love to see the construction site...and I'd found some fascinating info on the 'Curtis-Gladstone lifestyle for a worker' on this blog ...it turns out that Katie and Nick from the US and my son have become great mates  ...he even appears in the blog!

So for a great explanation of the APLNG project and the commute to work... click  here

and look...there's more!

The Paramedic Boat

pretty impressive...see that little white box at the front....that's thigh height.

Seriously though... it's nice to know that if there's an emergency they'd be able to fit half the site on board!

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....'the runaway'.....

Agnes Water Surf beach... Queensland , Australia

At the beautiful Agnes Water beach, this dog had me intrigued.

It just rocked up as if it owned the beach, quietly sizing up who was about,

who it knew, checking out every single body and bag on the beach,

(that doesn't sound right...I mean people and their belongings!)

scanning the ocean.

A young boy excitedly exclaimed ' look, there's  Dude'....

and for the next two hours he and Dude were never more than a couple

of  metres apart.

'The Runaway'
Jo-Ann Hunt©
'The Child Within' Series
H 122x132cm
H48x52ins
Acrylic on Canvas
sold

Dude's stocky shape reminded me of my painting ' The Runaway.'

In hindsight, I think Dude belonged to one of the local surfers.

Boy and Dude ended up a kilometre or so down the beach where the waves

were breaking. 'Nanna' had her nose buried in a book and hadn't noticed

her charge trailing behind Dude as the dog headed towards the surf break

 miles down the beach. When she finally looked up and anxiously squinted

 into the setting sun, looking left , then right, I asked her if she was looking

for a small boy .

"No, he's just there on the sand behind the surf -boat" she said.

"Ah , no...see that speck of a dog in the distance...behind him is your boy"

She waddled off, madly waving arms in the air, and soon Boy was headed

towards her. I'm not sure if I was witnessing  the laid-back

country-Queensland attitude, or being a local, or just someone older

and out-of-touch with the randomness of a young boys mind.....but this

little city-bunny couldn't relax until nan had him in her grasp again.

He didn't runaway, he just followed Dude!   :)


                                          Jo   x

'The Runaway'
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt ©

'The Runaway'
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt©

Agnes Water Surf club, nestled behind the dunes,
hopefully keeping a watchful eye on Boy and Dude.