Early start for our move to phase 2. We all get bussed to the airport. Again, its emotional as we go to the gate. We have a short fight to Melbourne, then pick up a ‘yute’ and drive 4 hours up country. It was only 400km, but you get a feel for the size and scale from google maps; it was far from a motorway but would say ‘in 86km take the second exit at the roundabout’. The countryside is nice, but fairly monotonous so we entertain ourselves by ranking Australia’s biggest cities and guessing the population of random places; everything from our nearest UK city to place of birth.
We arrive at the FOB for this mission just in time for dinner, after which the work starts, and it’s a lot of work. In this phase I have a different role, effectively running the operation (eek) and find that they have only very limited processes and ways of working in place, so I set to at improving matters. Over the next few days I barely see sunshine (but that’s OK, I’m here to work) and average 5 hrs kip a night. The time flies by, and I can’t say what I have been doing, but it’s enjoyable, so much so that it is now Tuesday night, nearly half-way through the final week of the deployment. I’m not ‘on the tools’ as I was last week, but know that making use of the available resources ‘on the ground’ as efficiently and effectively as possible is just as important, so it is satisfying. Very satisfying.
You are doing such an amazing thing for people. Friends for life and a very humbling experience. We are so very proud of you. Love from me, Darren and the boys. Take care.