And now for some background

So let's go ahead and cover all the details. First off the company I will be working for is called Newcrest. They are a gold mining company with operations mainly in Australia, but also some in Papua New Guniea, Cote d'Ivoire, and Indonesia. Newcrest is a major player on the world gold stage. The specific mine I will be working at is Telfer. Is is located in Western Australia in the middle of nowhere. Even by Australia standards.

To get people to work at a mine in BFE, Telfer is a FIFO mine. FIFO stands for fly in/fly out. What that means is that you live somewhere away from the mine and the company flies you to the site where you live and work for some amount of time then back home for your days off. Schedules are usually a few days/weeks on then a few off. Mine will be 8 days on, 6 days off. Not a bad set up if you ask me.

I will be living in Perth the capital of Western Australia. It is about 1,000 miles away from Telfer. It will be like living in LA and working in Bozeman, MT. Don't believe me? Look at this map that overlays the US and Australia.

Yeph. Really far away.

So those are the basics. Any questions?

(and sorry that this post was awful just trying to give people a basic understanding of my work situation since it is unusual for the US)

First Post

So I figured I would set up a blog to keep in touch with all my friends and family in the states while I head off to Australia. With my Visa going through last week, I should be heading out soonish so why not start it now. I will have a real post up in the next few days, but for the time being this will serve as a place holder. This process will also go through some growing pains, so please just be patient.