ROCKS November 2014 by Edge In-flight Magazines

WA&NT

ADVENTURE TRAVEL • EVENTS • PEOPLE • ENTERTAINMENT • SPORTS

ISSUE 15 NOVEMBER 2014

DEATH BY SEA Surfing the world’s heaviest wave HIGH CAMP Australia’s six best camp sites

“THAT’S HOW YOU DO IT, LADIES” Australian Formula One whiz-kid Daniel Ricciardo talks pace, punch-ups and intra-team rivalry

PLUS! Skull Island, DIY dinners, Great Ocean Road, Buck 65 and Kiwis on ice

WHISKY WITH A (HUMAN) TOE: CANADA’S LEAST LOVELY COCKTAIL

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Welcome to ROCKS, the in-flight magazine for Alliance Airlines Welcome aboard. We hope you’re enjoying your flight, either switching off from a busy time at work or getting yourself ready for your next stint at the mine. This magazine is created to entertain you, so sit back and enjoy the ride. Speaking of rides, we fast-track our way through the snow on a BMW Alpine xDrive Experience in New Zealand, speak with Perth-born Formula One whiz-kid Daniel Ricciardo and surf the world’s scariest wave, Tahiti’s Teahupo‘o. If that doesn’t get your adrenaline pumping, there’s always Canada’s Yukon for your fill of pickled toes, poetry, glaciers and grizzlies, or the Solomon Islands, where you can uncover some of the world’s best snorkelling and diving among shipwrecks. Not wanting to travel abroad? Check out the Great Ocean Road for Australia’s greatest driving strip; or if you’re up for a spot of camping, we uncover six of Australia’s most scenic and adventurous spots. And for the truly hardy explorer, there’s Cape York – go in Jardine’s footsteps for your share of wild crocs, dusty, beaten tracks and blood-soaked adventure. We hope you enjoy this issue of ROCKS. Do drop us a line – we love hearing from you! inflight@edgecustom.com.au

Scott McMillan Managing Director

Faye James and the team at ROCKS and Alliance

Melbourne, Victoria.

GROUP EDITOR Faye James DEPUTY EDITORS Ben Smithurst, Simone Henderson-Smart ASSISTANT EDITOR Riley Palmer SENIOR DESIGNER Guy Pendlebury SUB-EDITOR Danielle Chenery CONTRIBUTORS Stephen Corby, Michelle Hespe, Brian Johnston, Tatyana Leonov,

Christine Retschlag, Mitch Brook, Darren Baguley, Michael Yardney, Zoran Solarno, Jennifer Pinkerton

WA AND NT SALES AGENT Helen Glasson Hogan Media: 08 9381 3991 E: helen@hoganmedia.com.au

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Jason Popkowski 02 8962 2656 or 0400 838 490 advertising@edgecustom.com.au

PUBLISHER Geoff Campbell PRINTER SOS Print & Media

ROCKS is published by Edge 51 Whistler Street, Manly NSW 2095 Phone: 02 8962 2600 edgecustom.com.au ROCKS is published by Business Essentials (Australasia) Pty Limited (ABN 22 062 493 869), trading as Edge. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission is strictly prohibited. Opinions expressed are those of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the Publisher. Information provided was believed to be correct at the time of publication. All reasonable efforts have been made to contact copyright holders. ROCKS cannot accept unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. If such items are sent to the magazine, they will not be returned. A selection of images used in this publication has been sourced from Thinkstock, Getty Images and Corbis.

November/December 2014

FIFO Miners & Oil & Gas employees only earning $110 — $300K.

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Medicare 1,650 1,800 2,400 3,000 3,600 4,500

Total 30,297 34,147 49,547 64,947 83,547 113,047

10 years Tax Payable 302,970 341,470 495,470 649,470 835,470 1,130,470

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Planning; with Registered Business Partnerships, Family Trusts, Discretionary Trusts, Private Trading Companies, Special Purpose Companies, Syndicates, SMSF? All of these structures are treated differently for tax purposes, however if these structures are set up and applied correctly they will save you tens of thousands of dollars. 2) Set up your own SMSF & buy; a Business & start your exit strategy from FIFO, purchase direct commercial, industrial, residential property, you’re the boss. The wealthy never give away management rights, why should you! Buy direct gold bullion, silver platinum, coins, or bars, gold shares. Why doesn’t your fund manager recommend direct gold, simple they can’t get paid! Buy WA Treasury bonds, Infrastructure Bonds, Art, put your super in your AAA rated Australian bank & check it daily by the click of your mouse? 3) Asked for your 10 page Taxation Analysis before buying a Rental Property, if the property structure is wrong, it will cost you thousands. What structure above is best for you and how can I double my rental income, should my rental property be, positive, negative or neutral, how can you pay no Capital Gains Tax at all on property? Or do you do nothing & keep paying $34,000, $49,000, $64,000, or more by just completing your tax return each year?

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July/August 2014

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... simply the best FIFO experience.

PROVIDING CUSTOMISED AVIATION SOLUTIONS • FIFO charter services • ACMI aircraft leasing P W

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07 3212 1501 E sales@allianceairlines.com.au allianceairlines.com.au/charter

ABOUT US Alliance Airlines was established in 2002, recognising the growing demand from the domestic mining and energy sector for a provider of safe and reliable air transportation services to and from remote site locations. Alliance commenced operations with two Fokker 100 aircraft servicing two FIFO contracts, both of which are still serviced today. Our company has since expanded its fleet and operational capabilities to better service the continuing air transportation needs of the mining and energy sector . Alliance is a leading mining services company specialising in providing: • FIFO services • Ad hoc charter services • ACMI, or wet leasing, services. In December 2011, Alliance successfully listed on the ASX as AQZ.

FLIGHT BOOKINGS For customers wishing to book flights between Perth and Karratha, this must be done online: www.allianceairlines.com.au/home For customers wishing to book flights between Adelaide and Olympic Dam, this can be done online: www.qantas.com

OUR FLEET FOKKER F100

Number

Passengers

100

Length

35.5 metres

Wingspan

28 metres

Engines

RR Tay 650-15 Turbofans

Cruise Altitude

11,000 metres

Cruise Speed

800km/h

Range

3,167km

Passenger Detail

All economy seat configuration, 33-inch seat pitch, galley, toilet, pressurised, air-conditioned

FOKKER F70LR

CHARTER BOOKINGS For corporate or private charters of Alliance aircraft, the following contacts are available: www.allianceairlines.com.au/charters sales@allianceairlines.com.au 07 3212 1501

SAFETY INFORMATION Even though you may travel frequently, please familiarise yourself with the Safety On Board card located in your seat pocket.

ALCOHOL Passengers are not permitted to bring alcohol on board for in-flight consumption. On flights where Alliance offers a bar service, our flight attendants adhere to RSA guidelines.

SEAT BELTS Please observe the ‘Fasten Seat Belt’ signs when illuminated. In the interest of safety, keep your seat belt fastened at all times in case of unexpected turbulence.

CABIN BAGGAGE

Passengers should ensure that carry-on baggage does not weigh more than 7kg and fits into the overhead lockers.

Number

Passengers

Length

31 metres

Wingspan

28 metres

Engines

RR Tay 620-15 Turbofans

Cruise Altitude

11,000 metres

Cruise Speed

800km/h

Range

3,800km

Passenger Detail

All economy seat configuration, 33-inch seat pitch, galley, toilet, pressurised, air-conditioned

FOKKER F50

Number

Passengers

Length

25 metres

Wingspan

29 metres

Engines

2 x PW125B Turboprop

Cruise Altitude

7,800 metres

Cruise Speed

500km/h

Range

2,600km

Passenger Detail

All economy seat configuration, 33-inch seat pitch, galley, toilet, pressurised, air-conditioned

July/August 2014

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12 Daniel Ricciardo speaks to ROCKS

CONTENTS THE PICK

toe would never leave his foot. But that would deprive Canada of a cocktail …

14 09 INCOMING!

Cricket on its way, Buck 65 on maple syrup, Console Wars and Tassie Beerfest

36 THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD

Meet Australia’s answer to ‘Big Sur’ – just remember to keep left.

42 GREATEST CAMP SITES

Half a dozen of our finest places for in-tents action

49 SOLOMON ISLANDS Four ways to experience a jewel of the Pacific … with scuba gear and lots and lots of skulls

12 CRUST

49 IN ORE

UNLEASHED

30 THE YUKON In an ideal world, a man’s

ISSUE 15

Grill (if not kill) your own meal, then embark on a national beer, wine and whisky learnin’ tour …

16 INTERVIEW: DANIEL RICCIARDO

Australia’s best hope for a Formula One crown since Alan Jones is a cheeky, respectful, clever 25-year-old from Perth

22 THE WORLD’S DEADLIEST WAVE

Welcome to the greatest show on earth: the world surfing tour’s annual Tahitian stopover at Teahupo‘o

14 MAN + MACHINE

Welcome to the Snow Farm – the alpine car-testing facility that’s right next door

42 insidemining • news & views • resources sector features • innovation & technology • the state of mining November/December 2014

THE PICK

ROCKS has sniffed out the best stuff so you don’t have to. Just sit back, relax and enjoy!

E VENTS + ENTERTAINMENT + TECH + MOTORS + FOOD & DRINK

ON THE DOWNLOAD

Play, create, snap – 3 cool apps

Photo Sphere Camera (free, iOS) A slightly pointless seminovelty app, but also cool. From Google, this app creates spherical, 360-degree images of up to 50 megapixels, like in Google Street View.

Pako

TASMANIA INT’L BEERFEST

THE INDIANS ARE COMING

beloved only of greenies, foodies and cartographers who like really big triangles. Running since 2005, the southern state’s international beer festival regularly draws thousands of suds lovers to Hobart’s Princes Wharf No 1. There are workshops, classes and several hundred beers vying for glory as domestic and global craft brewers assemble to drink up. Tickets cost $35 per person or $50 for a weekend pass (each includes 10 beertasting tokens per day). November 14–15, tasmanianbeerfest.com.au

of cricket with a one-day tri-series with India and the Poms in January … which, pointlessly, wraps up a fortnight before the one-day World Cup held here and in New Zealand. But the four-Test series against MS Dhoni’s travel-challenged superstar Indians should be juicy. Game one, Brisbane, from Dec 4; game two, Adelaide, from Dec 12; Boxing Day Test at the MCG and the SCG’s New Year’s Test from Jan 3. There’s a pair of two-day warm-up matches, from Nov 24 and 28, in Glenelg and Adelaide. Tickets from cricket.com.au/tickets

> Gone are the days when Tassie was

> We’re set for an old-school summer

($2.49, iOS) A car chase simulator. In an enclosed space you outrun your pursuers for as long as possible while the car accelerates by itself. Actually, it’s a bit like Snake. But better.

Facetune

($3.79, iOS/Android) Collapse to the demands of vanity with an app specifically to edit your selfie photos for better sexiness. Might annoy potential Tinder matches, though.

MARGARET RIVER GOURMET ESCAPE

> Western Australia’s south-west attracts food and wine lovers like sitcom donut shops attract sitcom cops, and the two-month lead-up to Christmas is no exception. This year’s Margaret River Gourmet Escape includes a Neil Finn vineyard show, a quiz night hosted by genius Brit AA Gill, Indigenous chef Mark Olive and appearances by Rick Stein and Heston ‘I made an edible car out of bacon, look at it!’ Blumenthal. From November 21–23. gourmetescape.com.au

SAY WHAT?

Got something to say about ROCKS ? Is there something you’re burning to see covered? Don’t mumble it under your breath – tell us what you think! Send an email to rocks@ edgecustom.com.au and have your say.* *Please be kind – our fragile egos might not be able to take it.

14 November/December 2014

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2014

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OUTER EDGE

BOOKS CONSOLE WARS

BLAKE HARRIS, $35.00

MUSIC He dated Pamela Anderson. He rules Canadian alternative hip-hop. Moose love him. But just …

HOW CANADIAN IS BUCK 65?

ubbed ‘the Tom Waits of Canadian hip-hop’, 42-yearold Richard Terfry (aka Buck 65) is a legend at home. An active hip-hop force with 20 albums to his name, he’s just released a new record, Neverlove, a divorce album made during an awful split. “I came home from work one day and there was a note on my desk,” says Buck. “It was from my wife. It said, ‘Don’t forget to feed the cat.’ Her wedding ring was placed upon it.” Depressing – but not particularly Canadian. So how stereotyped is Terfry? Find out! Do you eat maple syrup at every meal and apologise all the time? Yeah, haha! Right. A lot of people also think we’re in the

snow all the time and we live in igloos, and stuff like that. But the thing about apologising, there’s probably truth in that. And our accent is funny; I find it funny myself. Canada’s is a pretty painless stereotype, really. It’s fine, because I feel like there’s really nothing too dark or heavy or nasty in it. I lived in France for six years. They have to deal with so many insults. Seriously, though, when did you last eat maple syrup? I do eat a lot of it. I have it in my house and I got into the habit of putting it on my cereal, but I realised I had to stop doing that because it’s so high in sugar. So I consume maple syrup, and in strange ways. But you stopped? No, wait! I played a festival least week, and in my rider

they had maple candy. I just finished the last one yesterday. Okay, you pass. You’ve toured Australia. What would you say is our most satisfying stereotype? Well, the image that a lot of people have, which I personally think to be inaccurate, is that Australians are large, brash, thick-necked people who will kind of lift you about their heads and slam you to the ground. People think of an Aussie Rules footballer or something – someone drunk and really into violent sports. It’s true! Finish your beer or we’ll all punch you. Ha! But, in my personal experience, I know there’s a reputation that the prettiest girls are in Australia. I can vouch for that one, and I wouldn’t complain about it …

This breathless blow-by-blow account of ’90s gaming heavyweights Sega and Nintendo brings nostalgia aplenty. It’s a David (Sega) vs Goliath (Nintendo) US gaming market battle, which Sega won … and then lost when its all-but-defeated foe was allowed to climb from the canvas. Sega’s blinkered Japanese parent company, it turns out, blithely and utterly screwed the pooch. With a foreword by Seth Rogen.

THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST

CLAIRE NORTH, $29.99 A brilliantly original timetravel concept – immortals walk among us, except they’re not ‘immortal’ per se; every time they die they wake up again, getting their memories back, in their own body, again, as a baby, in the year of their original birth. Science fiction thrills of the un-robot-est sense, wherein one ‘kalachakra’, as they’re known, tries to avert a future apocalypse.

AMBON

ROGER MAYNARD, $35.00 ‘Gulf Force’ was a unit of 1150 Australian soldiers captured when the Indonesian island of Ambon fell to the Japanese in 1942. By war’s end, barely 300 survived in one of the war’s most brutal POW camps. At one time, hundreds were slaughtered as ‘payback’ for a ship’s sinking. More shocking, perhaps, were the POW officers who turned on their own, meting out punishment in a prison-within-a-prison.

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WHERAET TO E INK & DR

FIVE OF THE BEST

DIY DINNERS

Control freaks rejoice! These places give you the power to dominate your plate. WORDS: Simone Henderson-Smart

Des Alpes Brisbane, Qld

The Swiss gave us yodelling, those weird long horns, red pocketknives with a dozen attachments you never use and fondue. Forget dipping strawberries into chocolate melted by a crappy tea light, the real deal features cubes of crusty bread thrust into the warm embrace of thick, melted cheese. Or there’s a meat version involving a rich stock. Either way you’re winning. desalpes.com.au 12

November/December 2014

Kenzan Melbourne, Vic

Similar to fondue, the Japanese version of DIY involves a simmering pot of stock on the table in which you cook wafer-thin pieces of meat. With sukiyaki, said meat is then dipped into raw egg before munching. At Kenzan, they also offer shabu-shabu, which sees the meat sliced even finer before being plunged into a clear broth and then dunked in ponzu sauce. Truly slurptastic. kenzan.com.au

Dae Jang Kum Sydney, NSW

In Australia, having a barbecue means donning the apron with fake boobs and serving a mountain of charred meat to a backyard of rampant mates. Not so for the Koreans. They like to barbecue in public. More specifically, on a grill sunken neatly into a tabletop at a restaurant. It’s pretty genius, if occasionally messy, and lets everyone share in the joy of the sizzle for a change. daejangkum.com.au

Spirit House Yandina, Qld

The Thai cooking classes at Spirit House start at 4.30pm and finish with a five-course feast of the dishes you and your clever new mates just whipped up. With the aid of trained chefs, you’ll be slicing and dicing your way to spiced heaven, dishing up crab dumplings in a Thai kua curry with pineapple and Thai basil. They even throw in a glass of wine or beer to toast your success. spirithouse.com.au

CRUST

BOOZE LIKE A BOSS Liquor and learning can be friends

BLEND WINE AT PENFOLDS Barossa Valley, SA Anyone who’s heard of Grange will agree that Penfolds knows a thing or two about blending the perfect red. If you’re in the Barossa Valley, the Penfolds cellar door offers wine buffs a real treat for $65. They will talk you through achieving the right balance between the Barossa’s original plantings – Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro (Mourvèdre) – before you enter the Winemakers Laboratory to have a go at producing a blend yourself. The resulting drop is bottled with a personalised label to take home to impress your mates. penfolds.com

The Oaks Hotel Sydney, NSW Sizzling a steak in the shady beer garden of this old place, with tongs in one hand and a cold can of KB in the other, was a rite of passage for many a bristled steak-lover in the ’70s and ’80s. Fast-forward to 2015 and things have become posh: Beer comes in glasses and there’s a butcher on hand to slice off your desired slab of flesh. Thankfully they still pass you the tongs. oakshotel.com.au

BREW AT THE BEER FACTORY Sydney, NSW

WALK THE WHISKY TALK Hobart, Tas

The owners of this fully decked-out Sydney microbrewery have opened their doors – and their equipment – to the beer-loving public. They produce loads of different styles of beer, both Aussie and international, and are on hand to help talk you through the brewing process while you create 50 litres of your very own. It takes just a couple of hours, and then three weeks later you go back, bottle it and take six cases home. The cost works out to be roughly half of what you pay at the bottlo, plus it’s all natural and preservative free, which means, according to factory mastermind Steve Boag, you won’t get a hangover. Or as bad a hangover, anyway. thebeerfactory.com.au Tasmania is the new Scotland, with nine topnotch whisky distilleries now dotted around the wee island. Lark’s cellar door, which is in a lovely old sandstone building down by the Hobart waterfront, offers tours involving every step of the whisky-making process. Venture out to the peat bogs, where the magic begins, and then to the distillery in the Coal River Valley for a full day where you can sample the mash, wort and spirit at each critical stage of the process. The day wraps up back at Lark’s whisky bar for tastings, musings and embellished tales of Scotch ancestry. larkdistillery.com.au

November/December 2014

MAN + MACHINE

WHITE POWER WORDS: STEPHEN CORBY

Feeling the summertime heat? Book your ticket now to next season at New Zealand’s Snow Farm – where even the best drivers spin around like Kylie’s hotpants in a dryer.

November/December 2014

oing fast in a straight line is easy and, after you’ve done it a few times, kind of boring. That’s why Formula One drivers pause to play with their fiddly little steering wheels, shout at their engineers in the pits and text their hot girlfriends as they’re doing 350km/h down the straight. Driving really quickly around a corner is more fun, and more challenging, as the car, tyres and forces of physics fight against you and pummel your body. On a fast bend, particularly on a racetrack, you can find the limits of your fear and explore those wondrous moments of uncertainty where you don’t know whether you’re going to hook towards the next corner or spin off in a shouty, fiery skid of disaster. This is almost as good as driving gets. But there is, it turns out, a way to have even more fun in a car. We’re talking about driving on snow and ice, an experience that BMW offers its customers, and anyone else with $2600 they’d

like to shell out on a fantastic couple of days away in New Zealand (airfares not included). The Snow Farm is not far from the ‘party central’ paradise of Queenstown on the stunning South Island. It’s the only extreme winter testing facility in the Southern Hemisphere, originally established by Japanese car companies who wanted to get the jump on competitors by developing cars, and winter tyres in particular, all year round. Nowadays this vast facility is still used for testing, but it’s also regularly booked by German car companies (Audi and Benz offer experiences there, too) to show people a hilariously good time. Participants in the BMW Alpine xDrive Experience spend two nights staying at the view-tastic Millbrook Resort, with welcome drinks and a dinner at Rata, the restaurant run by Michelinstarred chef Josh Emett. The next morning there’s an early start, made instantly worth it

by a helicopter journey to the Snow Farm, improved by the Lord of the Rings scenery and the fact that all Kiwi pilots are lunatic cowboys. But the real fun starts on the snow. A fleet of new xDriveequipped BMWs awaits, including the recently updated X3, the X1, an awesomely torquey X5 M550d, the shapely new segmentsplitting coupé SUV X4 and even an all-wheel-drive version of a 3 Series Touring. Parked promisingly in the sheds are a rear-wheel-drive M3 and M4. The challenge of getting a powerful car to go anywhere within miles of where you point it, on a surface with so little traction, would be an impossible one if it wasn’t for the wonder of winter tyres, which have been fitted on all these cars. These clever rubber hoops mimic a lizard’s foot, having tiny cuts in them that hold you to the snow. This creates a form of suction that (distantly) mimics the kind of grip you get on a dry road. As you quickly discover, the difference is still huge, and our first attempt at what looks like a simple course through some cones across a snow-covered paddock ends with us laughing so hard our frozen noses almost fall off. Get up any kind of momentum on snow and your car just wants to plough straight on, understeering like mad, and the only way to fix this is to apply the Jeremy Clarkson maxim: More power. This, of course, creates instant, lurid oversteer and will, at least the first few times, result in you spinning off into the all-white scenery. We destroyed more cones than Seth Rogen in the first halfhour, twirling the steering wheel from lock to lock all the while, before finally getting the rhythm of it and feeling like Swedish rally masters (and, yes, they let you turn the traction control all the way off, if you’re silly enough to want to). The next exercise was even more fun, as we leapt into a

OTHER THINGS BETTER ON ICE JON SNOW

whopping great X5 M550d and attempted to drift in a circle around some cones. An instructor, who’s not foolish enough to get into the car with you, shouts instructions through a two-way radio – “Gas! More gas! Steer! Counter steer!” – as you attempt to direct the car using the throttle while looking through the driver’s

window to see where you’re going. This is almost criminally good fun, and you feel guilty punishing the cars so hard, but they stand up to the abuse quite easily. A whole day of cool activities follows, including a deceptively simple timed challenge across a sheet of ice that’s slipperier and harder than Christopher Pyne, which turns a lot of drivers into

what looks like figure skaters, slowly spinning around and never really going anywhere. The day ends with instructors taking you on ballistic hot laps through the cold, stunning scenery in an M3, which shows off again just how incredible winter tyres are, and how vast the difference is between your driving and someone who does it for a living. A trip down the hill in a fleet of BMWs shows off the benefits of Hill Descent Control, and passes the corner where Kiwi rally ace Possum Bourne was killed, before ending at the magnificently small and cosy Cardrona Pub, where much beer is downed and many exaggerated stories of ice-driving prowess are told. The instructors are on hand at the awards dinner back at the resort that night to tell you that you really are as good as you think you are. It’s truly incredible how much fun you can have in a car that’s not going particularly fast, but is going fantastically sideways. It’s a wonder the Swedes and the Finns don’t look a hell of a lot happier, because they can go and drive like that just about any weekend they want to.

IT’S A WONDER THE SWEDES AND THE FINNS DON’T LOOK HAPPIER. THEY CAN DO THIS ALL THE TIME!

Knows nothing, stuck in an all-male ice club, still manages to pull a free-spirited redhead.

JOHNNIE WALKER

The storied distillery’s Striding Man logo was sketched by cartoonist Tom Browne in 1908.

STEVE BRADBURY

Won Australia’s first ever Winter Olympic gold, in 2002, when everyone else fell over.

JESSE PINKMAN

Breaking Bad ’s Aaron Paul ruled Top Gear ’s ‘Star in a Reasonably Priced Car’ in February.

November/December 2014

INORE

R D E E P S ‘Smiling assassin’ Daniel Ricciardo talks F1 wins, Xbox punch-ups and his shameful inability to reverse park.

hen he’s not behind the wheel, dentally blessed F1 superstar Daniel Ricciardo is a vision of geniality. In Dan’s presence no kitten goes unpatted, no foe is dissed and no old lady struggles alone across the street. Get between the 25-year-old and the chequered flag, however, and he’ll pick his teeth with your bones. As Red Bull stablemate Sebastian Vettel quickly discovered in 2014 – at least before he spat the dummy and bailed. Vettel will race 2015 with Ferrari. “His attitude is obviously quite different on the track to off it,” said

November/December 2014

Alan Jones, Australia’s last F1 world champion, just after Ricciardo won the Belgian Grand Prix in August. It was Ricciardo’s third victory in his first proper top-flight F1 season. “I call him ‘the smiling assassin’,” said Jones. “He is very affable, but he grows horns when he’s in the car. “A 170mph (274km/h) corner has still got to be taken at 170 miles an hour. It doesn’t matter what your computer says, it’s your balls that take you through it.” Ricciardo was born ballsy – and cheeky. As he made a copybook pass to slay Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and

take the lead at the Hungarian GP, he chirped, “That’s how you do it, ladies,” in a (sadly not broadcast) message over the team radio. Not, Ricciardo tells ROCKS, that he’s oblivious to all of his sport’s perils. Ricciardo is our first F1 pilot from the great western state of dugites, desert and death by shark – so the tarmac holds no fear. Strapped into one of the world’s fastest cars, it’s not mortality, but flying nodules of errant Pirelli rubber, that weigh on his mind. “Marbles from the tyres always hit you in the fingers and the hands and the wrists,” he grins. “It really hurts!”

R E C A R

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ÂŠ Red Bull Media House

November/December 2014

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you get is the G-forces through your neck – it’s like someone pushing you pretty hard; the G travels right down through your core and right down through your spine. And you’re just tensing – it’s just like doing a very hard ab exercise, trying to hold on and resist the G. But it’s all in a fun way. You really killed it in 2014. Does mortality ever cross your mind? Ever consider the chances of things going wrong? Honestly? No. Um, it gets discussed – we have a Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, it’s called, and each weekend we’ll get together and discuss topics like how to make the cars safer, or how to make some circuits safer – but when you’re in the car, safety is really just very, very far in the back of your mind. You can’t let those barriers come in the way, out on the circuit, or it’s going to limit your performance.

Images: © Red Bull Media House

Describe to a layperson what it’s like to be in control of an F1 car. Okay – it’s hard, but I’ll try. Well, the speed is obviously what really hits you first. The first impression is that your eyesight takes a bit to adapt to the speed; so when you reach over 300 down the straight, everything is coming at you pretty quick and your eyes need to adjust a little bit – they can play a few tricks on you.

After a race, it must feel like you’ve been in a fight ... It can. Singapore is the most physical event on the calendar. It’s mainly the heat and humidity – you’ll lose maybe two and a half kilos of fluid, which is a bit of a fight in itself.

BELOW: RICCIARDO PERFORMS DURING THE RED BULL SHOW RUN AT PALERMO IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

Ayrton Senna talked about being ‘in the zone’ where his driving felt almost automatic. Does that make sense to you? Definitely, in terms of being in the zone and sometimes feeling a bit effortless. You do get times when you’re driving and doing well – you just feel like it’s almost robotic. You’re a bit of a system, just ticking over; you’re thinking, but it’s all occurring

subconsciously and it just happens. You feel like it doesn’t take as much energy away from you as well. Is F1 what you expected? The biggest thing is the stuff that happens away from the track. It’s the commitments away from the track, the extra travel you do – for example, I did 85 flights last year. You think, well, there are only 20 races on the calendar and a few tests; maybe I’ll do 30 to 40 flights in a year. But all of a sudden there are a lot of other things going on. In terms of driving and racing, the level of competition, it’s everything that I expected. What are the best and the worst things about being in F1? What I love is basically I’m living my dream; it’s what I’ve wanted to do for a long time. And being able to not only drive the cars and push them to the limit, but also, in a non-arrogant way, to show off your skills to the whole world and prove you’re capable of doing pretty great things.

What’s it like when you brake? It’s like someone is standing on the back of your head trying to kick it forward. Just the force and the power when you brake is pretty amazing. And when you corner, the main thing

November/December 2014

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THE YOUNG GUNS MEET F1’S GENERATION NEXT Valtteri Bottas Born a few months apart from our man Dan in 1989, the Finn, 25, has thumped Williams co-driver Felipe Massa through much of 2014 – as Ricciardo has to Vettel. “His race craft is phenomenal,” says brainbox F1 engineer Rob Smedley.

Jules Bianchi

You’re encouraged to beat your teammates, aren’t you … Yeah, definitely. Definitely. It’s very competitive. It’s the environment you’re in; you don’t like to give too much away. As well, we’re all grown-ups. We’re in our 20s or 30s and we have our own groups of friends now – we don’t need these guys to be our friends. In saying that, there is respect between all of us. We just want to beat one another. You’re super competitive. Yes, I’m a very competitive kid, whether it’s racing, playing tennis … Even as a kid playing video games, I lost and got into a punch-up with my best mate. I enjoy the competition, definitely.

played video games much ever since. It wasn’t good for my health. Did you get your licence first go? Yes. I took lessons. I was obviously alright with the driving part; it was the signs and the rules. My parking isn’t great, though. Because your work car doesn’t have a reverse gear? That’s right. Dad raced a bit when I was a kid. He taught me to drive when I was probably 15, in the backstreets of some old subdivisions. Illegally? Er, haha. Sometimes.

How old were you? Don’t say 19. No, haha – maybe 14, I guess.

How are you on normal roads? Pretty impatient. I’m fluent and I look ahead – if there’s a roundabout, I’ll normally not stop because I’m well ahead of the play. People may take that as driving fast but I just see myself as being one step ahead, haha! The thing that really does my head in is people sitting in the overtaking lane and not overtaking.

He’s still dining out on that Xbox victory, you know. We’re still pretty good mates! We have a laugh about it but I’ve never

Amen to that. Finally, what’s the worst thing a passenger can say to you while you’re driving? Slow down.

What games were you playing? Racing games. For example, F1. We’d race, like, the whole championship. We’d had a sleepover, racing nearly all night, and he took me out and beat me for the championship, and I got up and dropped him on the floor. Haha!

November/December 2014

ABOVE: RICCIARDO CELEBRATING HIS THIRD VICTORY AFTER THE BELGIAN FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX AT SPA ON AUGUST 24, 2014

Critically injured after aquaplaning at 260km/h the Japanese GP in September, the Frenchman, 25, scored his team Marussia’s first ever F1 points at Monte Carlo – despite driving a dog so filthy it could barely sustain fleas. At time of press, Bianchi remains on life support in hospital in Japan.

Kevin Magnussen “He has all the ingredients necessary to win a world championship,” said McLaren chairman Ron Dennis after the then 21-year-old finished third in his Grand Prix debut in Australia last March. Son of ’90s F1 driver Jan.

Daniil Kvyat The Russian 20-year-old was a surprise choice to replace Ricciardo at Red Bull feeder team Toro Rosso in 2014 – and scored points in his first race. Like Bottas, he jumped a grade from GP3 to F1. Will now replace Vettel as Riccardo’s Red Bull teammate in 2015.

Max Verstappen Prepare to feel like a failure: 2015 Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Max Verstappen is just 16. He was born in September 1997. His dad, Dutch F1 legend ‘Jos The Boss’ Verstappen, is just 42. The prodigy has been promoted to F1 direct from the European F3 championship.

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Devil in a blue dress The world’s scariest wave is Tahiti’s Teahupo’o – and it’s also the greatest show on earth … even if you don’t surf. Words: Ben Smithurst

November/December 2014

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TAHITIAN WORLD TOUR SURFER MICHEL BOUREZ ENJOYS HOME

November/December 2014

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was rocked when an infant in the arms of old ocean, and on the bosom of the beautiful Amphitrite,” said Alexandre Dumas’ wronged sailor, the Count of Monte Cristo. Amphitrite was a sea-goddess, Poseidon’s missus, full of breast and dewy of lip, with a merman son. Cristo was literature’s most vengeful drama queen. “I have sported with the green mantle of the one and the azure robe of the other,” he proclaimed. “I love the sea as a mistress, and pine if I do not often see her.” The sea as a mistress. It’s an age-old allusion – if not, on closer examination, mostly overly romantic piffle. (Dumas was, like, French.) But, like all fantasies, it’s a tempting one, especially if you’re a surfer. If you’re a surfer – or, indeed,

a surfer’s oft-sidelined partner – you’ll well know the siren song of the ocean: It sounds like whistling offshore and phones that ring out to voicemail. That’s when the swell’s up. And nowhere else in the world does the swell come up like it does at Teahupo‘o. Teahupo‘o is a wave in Tahiti – or, more technically, a specific reef upon which a specific wave breaks on the south-west corner of Tahiti Iti, the smaller of Tahiti’s two dormant volcanoes, an hour’s breathtaking drive from Papeete. For the past decade and a half, the ledging left-hander has worn the crown of the world’s scariest, most beautiful, deadliest wave. There is a World Championship Tour (WCT) each year, which is free to watch and where pro

surfers get spat out of giant tubes with so much speed – and so close to a flotilla of bobbing spectators – that they routinely have to dodge camera boats at full speed as they steer over the shoulder of the wave. Its name is pronounced ‘Cho-poo’ and shortened to the slang ‘Chopes’, because surfers are nothing if not macho, and macho men are cute with the things that might kill them. Teahupo‘o has killed a lot of surfers. The window for this year’s event, the Billabong Pro Teahupo‘o, ran from August 15–26; they use an event ‘window’ because they wait for swell, so it’s almost always big. It was won by Brazilian Gabriel Medina, over Kelly Slater, and was generally considered the greatest event in ASP World Tour history.

ON MONSTER DAYS AT TEAHUPO‘O, JET SKI TOW-INS TAKE OVER

NOWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD DOES THE SWELL COME UP LIKE IT DOES AT TEAHUPO‘O.

MINING IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC NEW CALEDONIA NICKEL The Melanesian archipelago 1200 kilometres east of Oz has exported a wealth of mineral resources, but nickel is the daddy. The region boasts 10 per cent, or seven trillion tonnes, of the world’s nickel reserves, and exports contribute 80 per cent of New Caledonia’s foreign earnings.

Coconut palms, wahines and waves aren’t the tropics’ only charms.

FRENCH POLYNESIA PHOSPHATE Phosphate, an aggressively exploited resource across the region (80 per cent of Nauru’s surface has been strip-mined for it) is most associated with eons of bird droppings. An Australian has just been given a licence to explore restarting phosphate mining in Makatea, north of Papeete.

THE SEA FLOOR COPPER, GOLD AND SILVER In April, Canadian company Nautilus Minerals signed a contract to open the first deep-sea mine off the coast of PNG. It will retrieve ore from 1.5 kilometres down. Nautilus is eyeing the rights to mine 534,000 square kilometres of sea floor off PNG, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and NZ. November/December 2014

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Watching Teahupo‘o is good online, as the ASP is broadcast, as well as on Fuel TV, although neither do it justice. In full flight, no world sports event, not title fights or World Cups or Olympic records, can compare. “Out of control, it’s the heaviest wave in the world,” says late ’80s/early ’90s Australian prodigy Beau Emerton, who spent a decade on the world surfing tour. “[But] it’s a very special place. You can either get the wave of your life out there or get an absolute pounding. It’s super dangerous and it’s scary – and the reef is like razor blades. It will cut you. Quite a few crew have died out there.” Twenty years ago Chopes was considered a mutant slab too dangerous to contemplate. The reason is the reef’s unique, plummeting bathymetry. Chopes breaks in about a metre of water; 50 metres closer to shore are dry coral

heads, but just 500 metres out to sea the ocean is 300 metres deep; five kilometres offshore it’s a 1600-metre abyss. This means that Hawaii-sized mid-Pacific swells, un-slowed by shallows, unload, backless and below sea level, in a display that often makes Hawaii’s iconic Pipeline seem tame. Key, though, is the adjacent channel. Beside the Teahupo‘o reef is a 10-metredeep trench carved by freshwater land run-off where, even in medium to large swells, it’s perfectly safe to sit, barely metres from the action. It’s like having a front-row seat to a war. It’s a channel where, during the WCT event, a flotilla of outboards and cameramen rub shoulders with nervous pros (Slater, Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and co) and welcoming locals on rafts and clever men with floating eskies sit and watch the greatest sports event in the world.

“It’s a free-for-all,” says Emerton. “Anyone can just paddle out on anything that floats and then sit there all day, watching the world’s best surfers on the world’s gnarliest wave and drinking [delicious local beer] Hinano.” Another guarantee: This contest is never a lopsided flop, because there are never just two combatants, always three – it’s surfer versus surfer versus wave. A week before the WCT event in 2000, local Briece Taerea was fatally slammed on the reef; since Taerea, at least four more have died. The proximity of the audience means no backing down. This year, Parko advanced through his heat by default when local hero Taumata Puhetini was taken to hospital in a neck brace. “The channel is that close,” says Emerton. “You’ll literally be sitting on the boat, and the spit, the blowout of the wave, will be hitting you in the face. You’re surfing with 200 people, lunatics, the guys with big reps yelling at you to go, you can’t really not go, otherwise you’d be named a pussy for the rest of your life.” So, go to Teahupo‘o. Take your beloved. Take your kids. At the very worst, it will be small and perfect – perhaps only head-high or larger – and you’ll float dreamily among the surf bros and hibiscus-scented wahines with their ink-black hair, the tropical sun beating cheerfully on your broad, pink shoulders. Wives and girlfriends will gasp at a shoreline that reeks of lazy CGI, the jagged volcano tops haloed by fluffy

“THE REEF IS LIKE RAZOR BLADES. IT WILL CUT YOU. QUITE A FEW CREW HAVE DIED OUT THERE.”

November/December 2014

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white clouds, the coconut palms and the verdant mountains. At best the surface will be mirrored glass, the swell 10 to 12 feet, high drama throwing your previous experiences of what live sport can be into stark relief. You will eat poisson cru. You will take photos that absolutely devastate Facebook. You will beam and remember that sport can be real and meaningful, even when death or glory looks like Eden. If you surf, you might even get a wave. There are lots of others around. Most are less death-or-glory, and if you’re not surfing solo, friendly locals will paddle over to shake hands. If it’s small, you can even surf Chopes. Just don’t fall for her too hard. Teahupo‘o is undoubtedly a muse, but she is an imperfect mistress. Just ask Emerton. “Actually, it’s a bit like a relationship,” he tells ROCKS, putting his feet up on the desk in his palatial, leather-appointed offices at Oakley’s Gold Coast HQ. An underling scurrying in with coffee brushes his shoulder against a framed

TRAVEL BASICS Tahiti and her 117 islands are also known as French Polynesia. The capital, Papeete, is five kilometres east of the airport.

photo on the wall: It’s a picture of Emerton, deep in a thick, 12-foot-plus Teahupo‘o barrel, circa 2002. “When you first go into it, it’s nice, about four to five feet, and cuddly and smooth. It’s all going really well and you’re thinking, ‘How nice is this? This is great!’” he says. “And then it gets bigger and bigger and you’re just going, ‘Oh, shit! This is starting to get nasty!’ “That’s when the relationship starts going not so well, with the wave and the woman. And you end up just getting absolutely smashed and belted around; and if you get really lucky, you can get spat out without getting hurt.”

THE LOWDOWN GETTING THERE No visa is required for Australian citizens for stays less than three months. Return flights on Air Tahiti Nui start from $1350 (ex-Melbourne), $1370 (ex-Sydney) and $1400 (ex-Brisbane). Flights take about 11 hours, including the two-hour transit via Auckland. airtahitinui.com.au WHEN TO GO May to October is the dry season. Peak season is July/August. The Billabong Pro Teahupo‘o runs in about August off Taiarapu, Tahiti. PRICES Expensive. You’ll pay in French Polynesian francs. Super-cheap street food from les roulottes (portable meal wagons) is a steal if you get change from AU$20. Beer (Hinano) starts at about AU$8 at bars. Scrimping, rice-cooking backpackers still need AU$140 a day. WHERE TO STAY From empty-the-wallet over-water bungalows (fares) to five-star hotels around Papeete, to cheery homestays, Tahiti covers all bases. Staying near Teahupo‘o will be tricky during the ASP Tour. Vanira Lodge, at the break, starts from $1110 a night. vaniralodge.com CAR HIRE From about AU$26 a day for a compact. kayak.com MORE INFO tahiti-tourisme.com

November/December 2014

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Enter the Yukon for your fill of pickled toes, poetry, glaciers and grizzlies. Words: Michelle Hespe

November/December 2014

UNLEASHED

t’s perfectly acceptable to whinge about the cold if you live in the Yukon. You just have to adjust your tolerances. In autumn, for example, when nightly temperatures drop to one to five degrees and the ‘lovely sunny days’ barely crack double digits, Canadians will mock you for describing the climate as anything other than ‘shorts weather’. But at minus-20, a month or so later, it’s fine to use ‘brisk’ or ‘nippy’. Save anything more whiny for the middle of the big white, when it hits minus-40 and you need eight layers to fetch the mail.

ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE AND BATHED BY THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, CANADIANS ARE HARD AS NAILS.

t abou ure c facts nus emi-obs racter o b With a from s nkle cha i d t! Cana y & BullwDo-Righ ds!” i Rock Dudley school, k y in a t S “

Above the Arctic Circle and bathed by the Northern Lights, Canadians are hard as nails. They are embodied in fiction by Sam McGee, the fictional hero of British Canadian poet Robert Service’s The Cremation of Sam McGee. The Tennessean McGee fell in love with the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush. About 100,000 wannabe millionaires poured into the Yukon between 1896 and 1899, along with Service himself. But Tennessee is warm, and the Yukon is not, and eventually Sam found himself frozen to his bones. Before he died, McGee asked his mate to cremate him. For warmth. “And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar,” goes Service’s poem. “And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: ‘Please close that door. It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in the cold and storm / Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.’ ” Service’s writing was considered simple and even doggerel during his lifetime, but like Van Gogh, William Blake or Cory Monteith, the great artist’s true worth was discovered long after his demise.

November/December 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

UNLEASHED

You can see breathtaking displays of the Northern Lights all year round in the Yukon. They are seen on clear, dark nights and are best viewed between April and September. The aurora borealis is so bright that it can light the way for night skiers.

SOME FOLK’LL NEVER LOSE A TOE – AND, THEN AGAIN, SOME FOLK’LL

The Guinness Book of Records has declared the air of Whitehorse to be the least polluted air of any city in the world. Named after the White Horse Rapids, five minutes out of town, which are said to resemble a horse’s mane in the wind when in full tilt, Whitehorse is a born underdog. It wasn’t always the capital of the Yukon, instead starting out as a temporary tent city in the remote wilderness established by prospectors. The nearby city of Dawson boomed during the rush, leaving Whitehorse as its poor brother. But Whitehorse usurped Dawson as the capital in 1952, and the cities’ residents remain massive rivals. To get themselves back on the map, the outside-the-box thinkers of Dawson now promote their town (and specifically Dawson’s Downtown Bar) as the place to OVERLOOKING DAWSON CITY

THE DELICIOUSLOOKING SOURTOE

November/December 2014

knock back a potent Sourtoe Cocktail – one with a human toe in it. The original toe belonged to a smuggler who’d been dog-sledding sly grog into Alaska. Holed up in a Dawson cabin with frostbite, he left the hangnailed nub behind, to be found by a local soldier, who pickled it. Here is the main rule of the game: “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow. But the lips have gotta touch the toe.” In 2013 an American drinker – despite the $500 fine for swallowing the toe – knocked back the petrified digit and then slammed the prosecution fee of $500 on the bar. The fine was subsequently raised to $2500 and a replacement toe was found – as it was on the other 15 reported

Hey, trend Twitter fa Abbo ed in Jun ns! #Cana e t press t slip of th after a To dia e confe n rence tongue at y s a w in Ot n tawa a ielse ther Erik r N ! e li o iniste r Les is br Acto n and h Prime M ars, ia uty d ye a n Ca he Dep for two 86! t a 9 was f Canad 84 to 1 o 19 from

UNLEASHED OPENING PAGE: ST ELIAS MOUNTAINS; LEFT: AURORA BOREALIS; BELOW: TOMBSTONE TERRITORIAL PARK © Robert Postma

THE KLONDIKE RIB & SALMON RESTAURANT IS HOUSED IN THE TWO OLDEST BUILDINGS IN WHITEHORSE. IN 1900 THE DINING ROOM WAS A TENT-FRAME BAKERY. SICK OF TOES? TRY THE SALMON, HAS LESS TINEA

incidents of the toe’s disappearance. According to the National Post of Canada, a generous donation of five toes was recently made by a miner whose foot was run over by a bulldozer. More nutritious fare is available in the form of local sockeye salmon, for which it’s hard to fault the Klondike Rib & Salmon. The restaurant, which doesn’t take bookings, is housed in the two oldest buildings in Whitehorse. In 1900 the dining room was a tent-frame bakery. Climbing the rough-hewn wooden steps into the flowerpot-ringed balcony (which has big heat lamps in winter), it feels as though you’re entering a great-great-grandfather’s Wild West shack. Klondike’s creamy, cheesy salmon and halibut fish bake are almost worth losing a toe for. Or, if you’re so inclined, the hotpot of chilli prawns comes with a chunk of homemade bread and a sauce so fiery that it will just about atrophy your tongue. November/December 2014

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WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T RUN. AND IF A BEAR ATTACKS YOU, CURL INTO A BALL AND PROTECT YOUR NECK. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT. © JF Bergeron/Enviro Fhoto

BEAR CHOOSES GRASS OVER TOES … THIS TIME

GRIZZLY BEARS AND GLACIERS

Ask a Yukonian how to find bears and they’ll point you to any row of motorhomes. If you’re driving along a highway and there’s an RV parked by the roadside, with others pulled up behind, it’s probably because a bear is ambling somewhere nearby, and RV owners are cooing at it. If you stop, the first rule is to keep the window partly closed while taking photos … because they’re bears, stupid. Although if they have a cub with them, it won’t matter. There are variations on what to do if you meet a big bear in the wild, but the common consensus is you should make yourself as big as you can (hands raised) and … talk to it. Because then it will know you’re not an animal, as animals don’t talk. Whatever you do, don’t run. And if a bear attacks you, curl into a ball and protect your neck. Good luck with that. About 200 kilometres from Whitehorse is the Icefield Discovery airstrip, a perma-white hub among some of the world’s highest peaks. A one-hour plane trip from here in a four-seater Helio Courier plane that can land on snow opens up the world that Robert Service fell for. Spruce and pine forests sprawl out across land that is as wild as it is beautiful, tattooed by glaciers and crowned by the Mount Logan massif, the biggest mountain, by girth, in the world. An untouched land of snow and ice, the 5200-square-kilometre Bagley Icefield is up to a kilometre thick and is one of the largest non-polar icefields in the world. You can land at a camp on the icefield and go skiing, boarding and snowshoeing for a couple of days, even while, on the outskirts, the Yukon is bathed in sunshine and flowers. Above or below, warm or cold, nobody is complaining.

THE LOWDOWN GETTING THERE Air Canada flies from Sydney to Vancouver, with an average flight time of 14 hours. From Vancouver, it’s a two-hour flight to Whitehorse, with Air Canada and Air North, Yukon’s airline, flying there. WHERE TO STAY To explore Whitehorse: Best Western Gold Rush Inn 411 Main Street, Whitehorse goldrushinn.com For Kluane National Park (to see the icefields): The Cabin & Kluane Ecotours 219 Haines Road (27km south of Haines Junction) thecabinyukon.com To explore the Yukon beyond Whitehorse: Inn on the Lake Marsh Lake (50km from Whitehorse) exceptionalplaces.com WHAT TO DO for e ood moos , g s w i s ose iou illo mo f delic ts of w aste g k t o o l t 50 kg an A 4 t 150 ose ea they c ds! u Mo ing u o b b ! w r a at sp llo me so in of wi

ADVANCING GLACIER IN KLUANE NATIONAL PARK

Drink a Sourtoe Cocktail at the Sourdough Saloon in the Downtown Hotel, cnr Second and Queen, Dawson City yukonhotels.com Icefield Discovery Tour icefielddiscovery.com Klondike Rib & Salmon 2116 2nd Avenue, Whitehorse WHAT TO READ The Cremation of Sam McGee poetryfoundation.org/poem/174348

The writer was a guest of the Canadian Tourism Commission caen-keepexploring.canada.travel November/December 2014

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Lots of roads run along the ocean. Most of them are just okay. But only one strip of Aussie tarmac gets away with calling itself ‘great’. Here’s why …

GREAT ROAD

WORDS: STEPHEN CORBY

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here are distinct signs as soon as you join Victoria’s Great Ocean Road that point to this being no ordinary place to take a drive. Literally, great big signs that you don’t see anywhere else in the country, saying, “DRIVE ON LEFT in Australia,” with a helpful diagram. It’s a bit of a hint that this road is the kind that attracts tourists from around the world and that, unlike other Aussie landmarks you can fly or float to – the Great Sandy Desert, the Great Barrier Reef, Great Keppel Island (okay, so we might have some problems with humility in Australia) – this is one that has to be driven. Despite the fact that you’re obviously quite likely to have other vehicles coming at you on the wrong side of the road. This spiralling stretch of tarmac skirting the Victorian coastline from Torquay to Allansford towers over the bullet-grey and blue Southern Pacific Ocean for an eyeballstraining 243 kilometres of awesomeness. Even on a heavily trafficked public holiday, you can do the Great Ocean Road in a day, but you’d be missing out if you did. It’s just as easy to spend a leisurely five days taking it all in and soaking up some of the luxurious bed-and-breakfast options along the way. Indeed, the only real trick to driving Australia’s most famous road – and surely one of the most spectacular stretches of tarmac in the world – is patience. People in front of you, particularly those taking it in for the first time, will tend to drive extremely slowly and might

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THE RATE OF WAVE EROSION AT THE BASE OF THE 12 APOSTLES IS ABOUT 20MM PER YEAR

IF YOU’RE IN A SPORTS CAR AND FRUSTRATED BY YOUR INABILITY TO GET A GOOD RUN AT THOSE FANTASTIC CORNERS, TAKE A SMALL DETOUR UP INTO THE MAGICAL GREAT OTWAY NATIONAL PARK.

even come to a complete halt from time to time, so awe-inspiring are some of the views of ocean, rockfall and sky that line up before you around any given bend. If you’re in a sports car and frustrated by your inability to get a good run at those fantastic corners, try a dawn start or take a small detour up into the magical Great Otway National Park at Skenes Creek and rejoin the Great Ocean Road at Lavers Hill. Sure, it might be less famous, but it’s a good deal more fun to drive. In fact, you really should stop before you even get started. Torquay is a bustling surf town – the renowned home of the Rip Curl brand and the stepping-off point for one of the world’s most famous beaches (and not just because it was supposedly featured at the end of Point Break, which was actually filmed in Oregon). Bells Beach is one of those places you have to stop and see, like New York’s

DID YOU KNOW? There have only ever been nine ‘apostles’ in the 12 Apostles. Until 1922, the limestone stacks were known as the ‘Sow and Piglets’. One ‘apostle’ collapsed in July 2005 and, at last count, eight remain.

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HEAVEN FOR MOTORBIKES – WHEN YOU GET A CLEAR RUN

“WOOHOO! IT’S FLAT!” BELLS BEACH, NEAR THE SURF HUBS OF TORQUAY AND JAN JUC

Yankee Stadium or Scotland’s St Andrews Links golf course. On a good day, when it’s cranking, you’ll either be shocked and alarmed at the bravery of the surfers who paddle out at this open, wave-smacked amphitheatre, or desperate to pull on some thick rubber and have a go yourself. If you’ve brought a board with you, there’s more great surf to be had at Point Addis,

near Anglesea – where you can also fit in a round of golf with great views and on-course kangaroos – as well as at Fairhaven and Eastern View. There’s also some pretty invigorating snorkelling on offer at the Point Danger Marine Sanctuary. All this before you’ve even hit the first big town, Lorne, where you’ll probably want to collapse for the night. Here there are plenty of amazing cafés and restaurants overlooking the beautiful beach (although you should be aware that the ocean here can be cold enough to eradicate your testicles permanently). The next morning’s drive from Lorne to Apollo Bay is one of the most magnificent stretches of all, but when you arrive it’s time to turn your eyes, briefly, away from the great ocean views and take in some of the rainforest that creeps towards the coast as part of the Great Otway National Park. The Otway Fly Treetop Adventures elevated walk near

November/December 2014

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PORT FAIRY HARBOUR

I RY :T

Lavers Hill is a great way to take it all in. If you stay here for the night – and we highly recommend that you do – don’t miss an evening tour of the local glow-worm-filled caves. Just on the other side of Apollo Bay you’ll find one of the most iconic – and most filmed – formations on Australia’s coast: the 12 Apostles. Don’t bother trying to count them; there aren’t actually 12. Do prepare to be gobsmacked by the view, though. As many times as you’ve seen it in tourism shots and ads, the vicious Shipwreck Coast, as the area is known (it took a huge toll on seafarers years ago – at least 700 ships were wrecked here), is spectacular for its sheer scale. At sunset, the light bouncing off the limestone formations and reflecting in the waves as they wash over the perfect yellowbrown sand has to be seen to be believed. Prepare to fill many memory cards on your camera. Gibson Steps and London Bridge are the best places to stop for photography, but you really can’t go wrong from any vantage point along the coast. A truly unforgettable way to take in this stretch is to get up into the air with 12 Apostles Helicopters and fly low and slow past the formations. You’ll feel like you’re in a James

P OR T FA

Images © Visions of Victoria

A CABRIO PROVIDES PRIME VIEWS OF AUSTRALIA’S ‘BIG SUR’

ELL

OF DES

S E R T WI

DID YOU KNOW? In 1891, Canadian ship Joseph H Scammell was en route from New York to Melbourne when it foundered – and broke apart – on a reef off Torquay. While all the cargo washed onto the beach was looted, the Scammell’s anchors remain on display at the Torquay front beach and boat ramp.

Bond movie, and if you’re ever going to spring the cash for a chopper ride, here and the Grand Canyon are the two places in the world to do it. From here you’ll meander your way to pretty Port Campbell, where the awesome cliff-side views come to an end, but it’s really worth pushing on to Port Fairy, a beautiful fishing town of whitewashed stone cottages with a plethora of great places to stay and a great pub, The Victoria, where you can reflect on your journey over a few beers and a topnotch meal. After a quick trip to the nearby fur seal colony – Australia’s largest, and worth getting up close to via a rubber duckie ride – you’ll be tempted to turn around, head for Melbourne and do it all again. Just remember to keep left.

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IN-TENTS OUTDOOR ACTION Going camping? We bring you six of the most scenic and adventurous spots in Australia to chill out under canvas. Words: Brian Johnston

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THERE IS nothing wrong with a resort. Resorts have daiquiris, and you can be massaged with essential oils, and they’ll plop a row of hot stones along your spine afterwards and you probably

won’t be bitten by taipans. But there you’re never far from fellow holiday-makers, buffet-bloated kids and beige walls. It’s more raw but more real at a camp site: Your ceiling is the Milky Way; you wake

to the sound of waves and cockatoos; you can get active in the outdoors; and, as the sun sets, sausages sizzle and a cold beer awaits. Resorts are a fun option. Camping is essential.

ARKAROOLA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA This 610-square-kilometre private wilderness sanctuary, once a sheep station, sits among red granite peaks and golden spinifex in the northern Flinders Ranges and is pockmarked with fossilimprinted gorges. Just about any drive takes you on a 60-million-year journey through spectacular bands of geology. Bushwalkers and

November/December 2014

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FRASER’S EAST COAST IS 120-ODD KILOMETRES OF SANDY ADVENTURE HIGHWAY WITH THE PACIFIC POUNDING TO ONE SIDE.

SOUTH WEST ROCKS, NEW SOUTH WALES

the sixties.ISLAND, FRASER

QUEENSLAND Who wouldn’t want to camp out on a warm Queensland island? Only two hours’ drive from the Sunshine Coast,

E. N AR DC

Fraser Island is a heap of white, brown and golden sands, “E stands of scribbly O RN !T IE gums and towering D IN BY A B GO’S T A K E N MY kauri pines, and little freshwater lakes in emerald and turquoise that provide dozens of choice places to set up camp. You can choose from several national parks’ camp sites or more formal camping grounds with amenities blocks and barbecues, such as Dundubara and Central Station. Stay at dingo-fenced Waddy Point, though, and you’ll find a beaut spot within a walk of the beach, and with top fishing nearby. When you’re done doing plenty of nothing, rent a 4WD and take a spin along the island’s east coast: 120-odd kilometres of SOUTH WEST ROCKS: sandy adventure highway BUT NOT AS with the Pacific pounding HARD AS SLAYER to one side. Awesome.

4WD enthusiasts can explore by themselves (just bring a couple of spare tyres). Arkaroola also operates scenic flights and tours. Its twice-daily Ridgetop Tour in a specially designed open-top 4WD vehicle is hair-raisingly panoramic, with Sillers Lookout at the trail’s teetering end testing your head for heights. Arkaroola has 50 powered and plenty of unpowered sites for caravans as well as numerous spaces for tents. The communal camp fire is the place to swap tall tales of your day in the Flinders, and magical sunsets and stars make it ever so slightly like a trip up to …

ICE C H AP.”

THE MAHENO, WRECKED ON FRASER IN 1935, WAS USED FOR RAAF BOMBING PRACTICE DURING WWII

Maybe because it lies 15 kilometres off the Pacific Highway, South West Rocks has always been a little quiet and old-fashioned – good news if you’re looking for somewhere just to snooze, booze and bask on the sand. You can also hit several good surfing beaches or dive among parrot fish and wobbegong sharks. Need your creature comforts while camping? Try the BIG4 Sunshine South West Rocks Holiday Park. However, the more basic NSW National Parks camp site on the foreshore beneath historic Trial Bay Gaol is hard to beat. You can see the ocean – and, in winter, whales wallowing past – from just about every site. Hike up the headland above into Arakoon National Park and on to wind-battered Smoky Cape Lighthouse, where you can clamber up to the balcony – though you might get blown off into the spectacularly blue ocean.

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HOME VALLEY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA To get to Home Valley from Kununurra, you have to cross the Pentecost River, where water spills over your hub caps and crocodiles lurk. The ultimate bush retreat sits in the middle of more than 1.2 million hectares of Kimberley wilderness; pitch your tent with a view of the purple-red Cockburn Ranges, ridiculous sunsets and a billion stars. The station’s Dusty Bar & Grill provides enormous steaks and conversation with fellow travellers about breakdowns, musters and gorge country. Home Valley is a working, Indigenous-owned cattle station; you can ride out with the workers, hike the walking trails, go crocodile spotting and fish for barramundi on the Pentecost River. Head up to red-rock Bindoola Falls for a dip to make your body parts shrivel. Film buffs can explore some of the wild and remote locations used in Baz Luhrmann’s film, Australia.

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HOME VALLEY: BARRA APLENTY

LITCHFIELD, NORTHERN TERRITORY The Top End is magnificent camping country and Litchfield National Park is one of its highlights. It’s less than two hours’ drive from Darwin, making it accessible even for a day or a weekend – and before your beer ice has melted away. Landscapes range from monsoon rainforest to sandstone escarpments, but Litchfield’s best-known features are its termite mounds and waterfalls; the latter are great during the Wet (October to May) but provide better swimming the rest of the year. You could check in to caravan parks at Batchelor, the national park’s

gateway town, but you’re better off staking a claim at one of the more rugged bush camp sites at Wangi Falls, Florence Falls and Bluey Rockhole, where you can enjoy early-morning plunges into the waterholes. If you have a 4WD, there are several more dry-season camp sites, such as at Tjaynera Falls and Surprise Creek Falls, where you can really go bush.

LEEUWIN-NATURALISTE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA Cape Leeuwin is as far south-west as you can go without falling off Australia. Puff up the stairs of Western Australia’s tallest lighthouse for views that show you why

this is a great camping destination: It’s where rugged coastline, sweeping beaches and turquoise waters meet. The nearest town is Augusta, where you can fish, kayak or hit the golf course. But stay to the north in LeeuwinNaturaliste National Park, where Hamelin Bay Holiday Park sits beachside under the peppermint trees. Go bush with unpowered camping, or choose between cabins and cottages. Snorkel among stingrays and dive wrecks, surf the waves or head inland to explore the Margaret River wine region. If you’re up for the challenge, the 135-kilometre Cape to Cape Track linking Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin lighthouses is great – even for a day’s walk along the section from Hamelin Bay to Cosy Corner.

LEEUWIN IS A GREAT CAMPING DESTINATION WHERE RUGGED COASTLINE, SWEEPING BEACHES AND TURQUOISE WATERS MEET. November/December 2014

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WE BRING YOU FOUR WAYS TO DIVE INTO THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. WORDS: TATYANA LEONOV he Solomon Islands is a hi-fi tropical paradise, its dusky coconut lips never bruised by the West’s thrusting imperialism. Or so it seems. But, actually, the Solomons is simply resilient. First visited by Spaniards in 1568, the Melanesian nation has fought off ravaging blackbirders, devoured missionaries and endured colonialists. In WWII,

Guadalcanal, the island of its capital, Honiara, saw 38,000 Allies and Japanese slaughter one another, downing 1300 planes and 67 ships. By any modern measure, the Solomon Islands has Seen Some Shit. But the Solomon Islands’ beauty has endured. Because the Solomon Islands knows how to wait it out. They’re just a threehour flight from Brisbane, but people in much of the Solomon Islands live like they

have for centuries: fishing and foraging in the day, and eating and laughing deep into the night. About 80 to 90 per cent of the South Pacific island group’s 575,000-strong population is involved in a subsistence, non-monetary economy. Suits, computers and deadlines are less important in this sanctuary where laughter, adventure and ‘just being’ – elsewhere a cringingly hippie mantra – are at the forefront of life.

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ECLECTUS PARROT IS WATCHING YOU

Step onto the Solomon Islands’ shores and you’ll find yourself devouring freshcaught fish, chilling out in spectacular surroundings and exploring a land that’s steeped in intriguing history … and is serenely unflustered by the passage of time. Such as waiting for the boat. And waiting for the guide. And waiting for weather to clear. Indeed, being on serene stand-by epitomises island life, and some of the best adventures are the ones had while hanging around. Here are four activities to put on every Solomons itinerary. They’re worth the wait.

STEP ONTO THE SOLOMON ISLANDS’ SHORES AND YOU’LL FIND YOURSELF EXPLORING A LAND STEEPED IN INTRIGUING HISTORY.

in waters that are now recognised around the world for their great diversity. In 2002, Danny purchased Njari Island simply “because it was beautiful”. Then, noting he was surrounded by prettier fish than Aquaman’s Tinder, he and Kerrie began running snorkelling and diving tours. The Kennedys didn’t have

official proof of Njari’s richness until 2004, when The Nature Conservancy (TNC) conducted a rapid ecological assessment. Dr Gerry Allan, the foremost specialised fish scientist in the region, did the counts personally. Clambering from the drink, the lab-coated fish-botherer declared he’d spotted an

astounding 279 species of fish around Njari – a near world record. To put that number in perspective, the only other area on the planet with a higher fish count is a one-stop trio of sites in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, where recent counts put the number of fish species at more than 300.

NJARI ISLAND: PARADISE ABOVE, HEAVEN BELOW

SNORKEL IN THE WORLD’S RICHEST REEFS Danny and Kerrie Kennedy live in Gizo, the capital of the Solomon Islands’ Western Province and the secondlargest town in the country. The American expats fell in love with the Solomons 30 years ago and now share their passion for the country by running a range of above- and below-water tours. Their company, Dive Gizo, is the country’s oldest tourism enterprise. The Kennedys have an assortment of offerings, but one of the best is a snorkel around nearby Njari Island

November/December 2014

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OVER TWO DOZEN SHIPS WERE LOST IN WWII’S BATTLE OF GUADALCANAL

You could spend hours trawling, or days twisting and turning in the waters off Njari Island, trying to check off species on a waterproof clipboard. But, really, the fun is simply in ghosting above a rich seascape, knowing you’re in one of the world’s most astounding marine environments. divegizo.com

DIVE AMONG HISTORICAL WWII WRECKS There are fish and then there are ships. Both are pretty special in the Solomon Islands, but shipwrecks, in particular, are a sight for sore

eyes in Iron Bottom Sound. Between 1941 and 1945, the strip of ocean bordered by the islands of Guadalcanal, Savo and Florida saw some of the severest fighting of WWII. Today, the area is called Iron Bottom Sound because of the abundance of wrecks. For many travellers to the Solomon Islands, one of the big attractions is the quality wreck diving. Swimming among the remnants of such dramatic historical events offers a small but significant insight into what once rocked this peaceful place. There are plenty of wrecks

scattered across an ocean floor that features colourful reefs and dramatic dropoffs, providing divers with a unique and diverse playground dotted with cargo ships, fighter planes, tanks and other bits of wreckage. It’s a serious underwater museum that keeps divers engrossed for as long as their air supply lasts. There are sub-surface ruins to examine, too. A highlight is a B-17 (Flying Fortress) American bomber that failed to land safely on September 24, 1942. Although it’s no longer intact, the front section of the plane (fuselage, cockpit and wings) is, astonishingly, almost in one piece and is a popular focal point for both divers and fish. The shipwreck of Hirokawa Maru (known as Bonegi 1) is another famous dive site, and because it’s a shore dive, even novice divers can do it. tulagidive.com

ONE OF THE BIG ATTRACTIONS IS THE QUALITY WRECK DIVING. SWIMMING AMONG THE REMNANTS OF HISTORICAL EVENTS OFFERS AN INSIGHT INTO WHAT ONCE ROCKED THIS PEACEFUL PLACE. (or Nusa Kunda, as the locals call it), an eerie isle near the mouth of Vona Vona Lagoon in the Solomon Islands’ Western Province. According to legend, the island is a sacred place, yet most visitors find it more peculiar than enlightening. The curiosity of its skulls is hard to resist. In the centre of the tiny island there’s an altar dedicated to the local fishing gods … bedecked in skulls. Gathered from various regions of the Solomon

VISIT MYSTERIOUS SKULL ISLAND

THE THREE-DAY BATTLE RAN FROM NOVEMBER 12–15, 1942

If human remains are more your thing, you can get close to genuine human skulls – covered with moss and all – on Skull Island

November/December 2014

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Islands, the skulls are those of Roviana chiefs and warriors and are positioned strategically around the shrines. These brave warriors used to row their wooden war canoes (called tomokos) between the islands for the sole purpose of headhunting. (Cannibalism was in then.) Stay at Zipolo Habu Resort on Lola Island and you’re only a few minutes away, by boat, from this bizarre tourist attraction. Because the island is a sacred site, all visitors are required to pay an entry fee, with funds going to the traditional owners of the island, who maintain it. Tours to Skull Island can be booked through the resort. zipolohabu.com.sb

MEET THE ORIGINAL VILLAGE PEOPLE Imagine a world with no internet or video games, no freeways, no microwaves and no 24-hour supermarkets. Is it heaven or hell? And if you can’t tweet it, does it even matter? That’s where Rendova Island comes in. Accessible by boat from Munda, it’s a serene oasis in the Western Province that’s home to about 5000 villagers, most of whom have never left the island. This year, entrepreneur and Rendova Island villager Josefa ‘Jo’ Tuamoto, who studied business overseas, opened Titiru Eco Lodge. The rustic, handmade huts are simple; there’s no powdery white-sand beach and no cocktail menu. Here, the attractions lie in the barely touched natural landscape. Jo runs a variety of tours, such as mangrove

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and trekking excursions, that allow visitors to see the best of this beautiful ecosystem. The star attraction, however, is the village people and the life they lead. Having realised just how special his home is, Jo recently began running village tours on which he escorts guests through the Rendova Island village, where residents showcase traditional Solomon Islands culture. Although their clothing is Westernised (everyone wears T-shirts and shorts, because palm fronds are so 1700s), most of what they do – cooking, playing, singing and dancing – is the same as it’s always been. Strolling through the village and participating in customary activities, trying local foods and simply hanging out with people who don’t care about the things you stress about at home is an experience like no other. titiruecolodge.com

RENDOVA ISLAND: HOME TO 5000, INCLUDING THIS HAPPY CHAP

IMAGINE A WORLD WITH NO INTERNET OR VIDEO GAMES, NO FREEWAYS, NO MICROWAVES AND NO 24-HOUR SUPERMARKETS. IS IT HEAVEN OR HELL?

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ROCKS JOKES

HIGH JINKS Chortling above the cloud line

ONE-LINERS FROM ZACH GALIFIANAKIS

Keep truckin’ A burly truck driver is sitting quietly in a roadhouse when three massive bikers roll in and stand behind him at the bar, looking for a fight. The first biker goes over to him and spills the truckie’s drink, but the truckie just sits there. The second biker spits in his food, but, once again, the truckie doesn’t react. The third biker shoves the man off his stool, but he simply gets up, brushes himself down and walks out. “Well,” the biker says to the woman behind the bar, “He wasn’t much of a man.” “No,” says the woman, “and he wasn’t much of a truck driver either – he just ran his semitrailer over three Harleys.”

Best day ever!

A cop is sitting on the side of the highway when all of a sudden he sees a guy driving a truck full of penguins. Confused, he pulls the truck over. “What seems to be the problem, officer?” asks the man. “Well, you have a truck full of penguins. I’m just going to give you a warning, but you need to take these penguins to the zoo immediately.” A few hours later the truck passes again, still filled with penguins. Angry, the officer pulls the man over again. “Oi!” he says, “I thought I told you to take these penguins to the zoo!” “I did, and they loved it,” says the bloke. “Now we’re going to the movies!”

“I’ve just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I tell you what, never again.” TIM VINE, UK COMEDIAN

A FAREWELL TO UNGULATES Q: WHAT DID THE BUFFALO SAY TO HIS SON WHEN HE DROPPED HIM OFF AT SCHOOL? A: BISON

KRAUT LIGHT Q: HOW MANY GERMANS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB? A: ONE. THEY’RE EFFICIENT AND NOT VERY FUNNY. 56

November/December 2014

US COMEDIAN AND ACTOR

“I have a lot of growing up to do. I realised that the other day inside my fort.” “You know you have a drinking problem when the bartender knows your name and you’ve never been to that bar before.” “When I was a kid I had dyslexia. I would write about it in my ‘dairy’.” “I was named after my grandad. Yes, my full name is Zach Grandad Galifianakis.” “Sometimes I order a beet salad, so when the waiter comes and lays down my salad I can say, ‘Thanks for laying down those funky beets.’ It’s an expensive joke because I don’t even like beets.”

WA&NT

CANYON OF KINGS

SAY WHA T?

ROYALTY’S COOLEST CLEFT IS IN THE OUTBACK

THE BIG BASH NATHAN COULTER-NILE The Perth Scorchers hammered their way into history in last season’s domestic T20 league. Now their gun all-rounder tells Rocks why they can go again…

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INORE

SCORCHED EARTH POLICY

CAN THE PERTH SCORCHERS GO BACK-TO-BACK IN THE BIG BASH LEAGUE? STEP RIGHT UP, NATHAN COULTER-NILE…

November/December 2014

* Plus site works

INORE DESCRIBED AS ONE OF THE BEST FIELDERS IN THE COUNTRY (BY NATIONAL SELECTOR JOHN INVERARITY), COULTER-NILE IS ALSO A SWEET STRIKER OF THE BALL

IF TEST CRICKET is like a fine

wine, nursed by cosseted aficionados, Twenty20 is just the opposite: a series of overly sweet alcopop shots, guzzled by teenagers with attention deficit disorder and KFC buckets on their heads. The shortest form of the game is mocked by traditionalists – but it might also be just the fillip cricket needs to get new fans through the gates. The Big Bash League is Australia’s domestic T20 tournament. It was launched in 2011 and, since then, the Perth Scorchers have been its most successful team, with three consecutive finals. Runners-up in the first and second seasons, they finally took the title last year, thanks in no small way to the efforts of Perth born and bred Nathan Coulter-Nile, 27.

“BOWLING AT THE DEATH IS A NIGHTMARE, BUT I LOVE IT. IT GETS ME PICKED IN THE TEAM.” The pinch-hitting 191-centimetre pace man’s domestic efforts have wowed crowds, most notably in his breakthrough 2012 season, when in a rain-shortened game he belted 23 runs off just six balls – including 20 runs off just one over – to crush the Brisbane Heat. It was the sort of boundary-clearing form that saw the clutch bowler selected in both the One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) formats for Australia … and then ring up more than $1 million in the daftly lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL). So, as this year’s Big Bash stalks closer, speculation mounts: can Perth be the first Aussie team to get back-to-back wins? Not surprisingly, Coulter-Nile, at home recovering from an injury that scratched him © Getty Images

November/December 2014

INORE mark and they need six to win, and you’re running and the crowd is right on top of you. It is a good feeling. Who do you see as the biggest threat to the Scorchers going back to back? T20 is tough because any team can win on the day. Even the [Sydney] Thunder, who in the last two years have struggled to win a game, are going to be good this year. They’ve got some amazing pick-ups. So I think it’ll be a really tight ladder again. The Southern Stars will always be good, and the eastern states are always going to be good just because they’ve got such a large talent pool to choose from. It’s a lot harder for us to drag people across to play for us because it’s such a long way to come. VICTORY WAS SWEET AT PERTH’S THIRD ATTEMPT. LAST SEASON’S BIG BASH FINAL

from Australia’s one-day August/ September tour to Zimbabwe, says … yes! But he’d probably get in trouble if he didn’t. Read more in the sentence immediately after this one... So, Nathan, last year’s win seemed pretty special… Yeah! It was the actually first time I’ve won anything for Western Australia, ever – and I’ve been there for 10 years! So it’s tough to describe, especially considering where we came from at the start of the BBL, not winning a lot of games that we ought to have. I didn’t really like our chances. The thing about T20 is that things can change fast. That’s what I like about it. You go to the cricket, especially the long form and some of the one-dayers, and it’s decided well and truly before the game is over – your interest level can wane a little bit. But with the BBL the past year or two, there have been a lot of close finishes.

November/December 2014

What’s been your fondest on-field moment? It’s funny – in my most cherished moment I got smashed for four. It

“IT’S FUNNY – IN MY MOST CHERISHED CRICKETING MOMENT I GOT SMASHED FOR FOUR! IT WAS THE LAST BALL AND THEY NEEDED 45 TO WIN.” Do you relish bowling at the death, or is it a nightmare? Oh, it’s a nightmare. Bowling at the end is a nightmare, but I love it. It gets you picked in the team. You’re a masochist, basically… Hehe. I don’t think anyone could say they enjoy it, because honestly, it is a nightmare. You’re on a hiding to nothing, because you either do what you’re supposed to do and win the game or you’ve stuffed up for your team – there [are] never any great pats on the back. But I do love it – because as much as you’re trying to be in the moment, it is a thrill when you’re standing at the top of your

was the last ball of last year’s final when they needed about 45 to win, and I ran in to bowl to Ben Hilfenhaus, who smacked me down the ground. I didn’t even turn around to see where it went; I just ran through and jumped on top of [wicketkeeper] Sammy Whiteman and gave him a hug, and I remember four or five other blokes ran in and jumped on top of me. How does the BBL compare to playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL)? It’s different! I think you just feel a little bit more loyalty towards the team you’re playing for [in] Perth

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INORE

because it’s your state. When I play my limited amount of games for the IPL and in the Champions League with my Indian franchise, it’s all about just rocking up and trying to do what you needed to do to get that win. There wasn’t a lot of feeling or passion about it. You went for $450k one year in the IPL and around $750k the next. That’s handy. Yeah, haha – sometimes you get called out at the pub having to buy the next round. But you don’t actually get paid as much as what you go for; it’s very misleading, believe me. Obviously it’s fantastic to go for that amount and I was over the moon, but it can often mislead people to think you’re getting paid a lot more than what you are. Justin Langer seems so affable and nice to be a hard-nosed coach – is he always just off ruffling children hair’s and hugging Matt Hayden? Affable and nice!? Ha! I don’t think I’ve heard him described like that too many times – have you ever met him? He looks nice on TV... Ah, no. He’s a very hard taskmaster – he doesn’t take a backward step

with anything and if you step out of line, he is the very first bloke to jump on you. But in saying that, he’s also the first to pat you on the back if you do something well. I don’t think ‘affable and nice’ is the way I would describe him. Definitely ‘effective’. If you could pick any player to join the Scorchers, who would you choose? [South African superstar batsman] AB DeVilliers. He’s incredible. Did you know he released an album in South Africa? Did he? I did not know that! But it would give us something to listen to in the nets. Who’s the hardest T20 batsman to bowl to? Argh… I don’t really want to say it because then he’ll know he’s got it over me, but [Australian opener] Aaron Finch is one of the toughest. He smacks me everywhere for fun. He’s a bit chunky, though, so you can sledge him… It’s hard to do much if he’s just put me back over my head. Plus, I’m not a very entertaining or creative sledger, unfortunately – usually I just tell the batsman where to go.

EAT UP Want to dine with Nath? Here’s a short list of his favourite spots in Perth for a nosh. CAFE - TOAST “It’s a little café just around the corner from the WACA, on the riverfront. I go for the eggs benedict every time, with an extra egg and double bacon.” 60 Royal East Street, East Perth, 08 9221 0771, toasteastperth.com

PUB – THE WINDSOR “I don’t get out to the pub too often but this is a great little pub, with a few nice beer gardens during the summer if you want to get in and watch the cricket.” 112 Mill Point Rd, South Perth, 08 9474 2229, thewindsorsouthperth.com.au

RESTAURANT – GALILEO BUONA CUCINA “If you’re after a meal and a nice red, it’s the go. Italian fusion; I recommend the roast duck. You can’t go wrong.” 199-203 Onslow Rd, Shenton Park, 08 9382 3343, galileorestaurantperth.com

November/December 2014

INORE

The WACA ground has long been a bowler’s paradise – but there’s more to Perth’s cricket Mecca than bouncers and swing-bowling into the Fremantle Doctor… WORDS: BEN SMITHURST

FORCED HIATUS “The WACA may never host another Test!” screamed last Summer’s headlines after a $500 million improvement plan was shelved in December, leading Cricket Australia to declare that the ground (and its cramped spectator walkways) “no longer meets international standards”. “It’s a real kick in the guts,” declared blubbing former Australia and Western Australia captain Kim Hughes. A setback for a ground that was officially opened in 1893. 66

November/December 2014

HARD AND FAST The WACA’s pitch, a fast-bowler’s paradise, has regularly been the world’s fastest and bounciest. The pitch block is made up of around 100 tonnes of clay from the muddy banks of the Harvey River in Western Australia’s southwest. Harvey farmer Mick Muir, who supplies up to 1000 tonnes of the clay per year to Western Australian cricket, has also peddled his clay to cricket interests in Dubai and Singapore.

HIGH LIGHTS The WACA’s six, 70-metre-high light towers cost $4.2 million to install in 1986. With 138 individual lights in each tower, they cost $600 an hour to run. Until two years ago, an annual charity event for the Princess Margaret Hospital allowed punters to abseil from the towers for around $250 – raising more than $1.3 million in all. The event has since moved to Perth’s 29-storey Woodside Plaza.

INORE MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN. AND CRICKETERS Last year’s mid-heatwave Ashes Test, saw temperatures – in the shade – at the WACA reach a record 40.4C at 12.15pm. In full sun, the mercury topped 46C. “This is the hottest I’ve ever had it at the cricket,” said English fan Sally Anderson, even as Mitchell Johnson was tearing through her side. “At least in the West Indies you had a breeze, but there is no respite here.”

SWINGER’S SHOULDER SMASHED In November 1982, a shirtless, flares-wearing English pitch invader ran on during a banal Test match and cheekily clipped fielding Australian swing bowler Terry Alderman on the head. Enraged, Alderman gave chase, crash tackled the hoon here, in the deep … and dislocated his own shoulder. Greg Chappell marched his team off the field in protest for 14 minutes, during which time 26 irate punters were arrested. “It’s a good thing Terry can bowl, because he would have made a lousy rugby flanker,” said cricket writer Tony Harper. The injured Alderman was out for a year.

LILLEE’S ALUMINIUM BAT In 1979, Dennis Lillee’s mate Graeme Monaghan was manufacturing an aluminium cricket bat – called the ‘ComBat’ – intended for use as a cheap bat in schools. Lillee decided to do his friend a marketing favour, and strode out to bat with Greg Chappell, a ComBat tucked under his wing. With a tinny ‘plink!’, Lillee slugged the fourth ball of the day for three runs before England captain, Mike Brearley, complained Lillee’s (legal) bat was damaging the ball. Equally cheesed, Chappell thought the ball ought to have gone for four, and ordered Lillee to change bats. After a 10-minute brouhaha, as described by The Observer, “a furious Lillee relented and threw the offending lump of metal fully 40 yards towards the pavilion” – landing here. “Good luck with sales,” snorted Brearley.

CALL THE DOCTOR The Fremantle Doctor, also known as the Freo Doctor or just “the Doctor”, is the local term for the regular, gusty and onshore southwesterly breeze that usually arrives between noon and 3pm in summer. The name dates to the 1870s … but is mostly used by cricket commentators. November/December 2014

UNLEASHED

CANYON DID YOU KNOW?

November/December 2014

Kings Canyon is named after a bloke called Fieldon King who sponsored an expedition around the Red Centre by explorer Ernest Giles, who happened upon this sweep of pink and black-striped cliffs in 1872.

UNLEASHED

OF KINGS Kings Canyon, just north of Uluru, may not draw crowds like its iconic red-rock cousin does â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but perhaps thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the secret to its magic. Words: Jennifer Pinkerton

November/December 2014

UNLEASHED

DID YOU KNOW? Kings Canyon hosts more than 600 species of plants. Time a trip during the late dry season, from July to September, to maximise your chances of spotting desert flowers in bloom and fairy wrens in flight.

LIFE IN THE DESERT: KINGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CANYON RECEIVES 319MM OF RAIN PER YEAR

November/December 2014

UNLEASHED

rom powder-blue to indigo, the sky shifts through its gearbox of colour. I’m late for a date. I amble towards the camp light and spot five silhouettes idling around a table. “We thought you’d gone to sleep!” says Kings Canyon Wilderness Lodge co-host Lily Licina. “Oh,” I stutter, “I didn’t realise this would be so…” Lily dots the ‘i’ on my sentence. “So ... intimate?” She introduces my fellow diners, each of whom cups a glass of red wine. There’s a French businessman named Luc and his partner Claudine – they’ve travelled here to celebrate Claudine’s birthday. Then there’s a younger Aussie couple: lawyer Matt and his schoolteacher wife Tessa, who’ve carved off spare time to roam the nation’s interior. “We usually head overseas for our holidays, but there’s something about exploring Australia that seems more meaningful. We’re uncovering pieces of our own history,” Tessa says. All members of our travelling party have come to Kings Canyon, about 325 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs, for, well, the Canyon. But we’re also partial to ‘glamping’: feathering this bush experience – complete with camp chairs, tents and fireside food – with a spot of luxury. Apart from Uluru, another 325-odd

kilometre jaunt south down the Lasseter Highway, there’s not much surrounding Kings Canyon. It’s out of the way. And that means the site attracts far fewer visitors than does its better-known neighbours. “Many guests say they prefer Kings Canyon over Uluru and Kata Tjuta,” says Lodge manager Graham Wells. “There’s a ‘hidden secret’ feel about this place.” Sparks fly from the fire pit like miniature shooting stars. Our eyes travel over the dignified trunks of nearby desert oaks. We attempt to identify constellations – a game I’ve never quite managed to nail. Lily saves me from failing to spy the ‘saucepan’. She announces, quite formally, that dinner is served. In glide plates piled with mushroom tarte tartin, barramundi and lamb shanks. Next comes garlic mashed potato, rosemary-infused damper and a cheesecake laced with liqueur. Naturally. As indigo air bleeds to midnight blue, we swap travel tales. We fill our bellies, chink wine glasses and then, one by one, drift back to the tents. I slip off to sleep quickly cushioned by a soundtrack of night bird calls and the comforting, crackling pop of our faraway fire. By 7.30am the gang of five has expanded. Alongside a dozen suncream-slapped, nervous-looking walkers, we’re standing 32 kilometres up the road at the canyon base. Ahead looms a rather big deal: the Kings Canyon Rim Walk. It begins with a sharp 100-metre ascent over rose-coloured rocks and boulders. “Y’all ready for this?” chimes Graham with a flick of his head and shake of the hips. And we’re off. If you don’t fancy a walk there’s no shortage of choice of activities. Nearby Kings Creek Station – a working cattle and camel farm – touts quad-bike tours and camel safaris. Further afield is a launch pad for scenic helicopter flights. Having taken the hike, I begin to wonder if I’ve made a dodgy selection. “You’ll be OK, baby,” I hear one half of a Sydney duo whisper to her companion upon starting the climb. Meanwhile, the

AS INDIGO AIR BLEEDS TO MIDNIGHT BLUE, WE SWAP TRAVEL TALES.

November/December 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

UNLEASHED

G IN

FOR

SP INIFEX

I’D IMAGINED SOMETHING STARK: AN EXPANSE OF PARCHED ROCK ROLLED OUT LIKE A CRUMPLED SHEET. BUT WE GET LUSH BUSH WITH A FLOOR CRAFTED FROM STONE RATHER THAN SOIL.

EX P I G E O N, P RO

Sandstone found inside Kings Canyon houses mind-bogglingly old fossils. These reveal squid, worms and limpets that date back to the early Devonian Period of the Paleozoic Era, dubbed ‘The Age of Fish’, which occurred about 420 to 360 million years ago.

November/December 2014

Frenchman, Luc, gallops ahead like a Melbourne Cup favourite. Up we teeter, links in a chain, dedicated to reaching the top – and to keeping each other’s spirits buoyed. There are grumbles, not to mention a steady stream of heavy breathing, but we make it. Cameras spring from pockets. Facial expressions twist from ‘pretzel’ to ‘peace train’ – they stay that way for the six-odd-kilometre stroll that remains. I’ll admit I haven’t been to a canyon before so I don’t quite know what to expect. I’d imagined something stark: an expanse of parched rock rolled out like a crumpled sheet. After all, this is the desert. But what greets us beyond the initial scramble is this: lush bush with a floor crafted from stone rather than soil. “It gets lusher still,” Graham promises. “A little way along, wooden steps lead down to an oasis called ‘The Garden of Eden’, a peaceful pool flanked by ferns and cycads.” A black cockatoo’s flight from there lies what’s known as the ‘Lost City’: a series of domes that resemble giant beehives. These host the spirits of fallen warriors, believe the local Luritja Aboriginal people. As our motley group continues past the upper section of the Rim Walk, ghost gums with linden-hued leaves arch their spines over the trail. Bursts of spinifex play in the breeze. Rippled patterns flow through patches of shale and sandstone underfoot – “remnants of an ancient sea floor”, Graham explains.

IN IF

“It looks different every time I come up here,” he says, outstretching his arms before the canyon walls. Gazing across the expanse, I think to myself that it’s this cornucopia of ecosystems, vistas and geological gems that makes Kings Canyon worthy of its crown. It boasts diversity in all its royal proportions. As we stride to the finish line, the sun winks its congratulations. “We made it, baby,” says the supportive Sydney partner, leaning to catch her breath. To mark the occasion she aims her camera to the sky. Not one to shirk attention, the canvas cues its afternoon show – another romp through its raft of rich colours.

THE LOWDOWN STAY Kings Canyon Wilderness Lodge aptouring.com.au/travel-styles/ Wilderness-Lodges/NorthernTerritory Kings Canyon Resort kingscanyonresort.com.au DO Quad-bike and camel safaris; scenic helicopter flights kingscreekstation.com.au MORE INFO parksandwildlife.nt.gov.au

insidemining Issue 17 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; November 2014

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reduce waste and operational costs. RTVis has been introduced at Rio’s West Angelas iron ore mine in Western Australia, while trials have also begun in other Rio product groups including copper, energy and diamonds and minerals. This innovative technology grants Rio’s miners the ability to quickly and easily view, compare and evaluate data as it creates an image of what’s under their feet.

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“Armed with this detailed information, our operations to recover the ore bodies will be significantly more efficient and effective,” says John McGagh, Rio Tinto’s head of innovation. “It’s like an ultrasound image of the deposit delivered in realtime, something that we could never do before.” The other benefits associated with this technology are that it allows expedited feedback on the impact on equipment used in the mine. If the certainties in the ore deposits are picked up earlier in the process, this allows for even more efficient mine planning, which means safer mines and less impactful drilling.

ORICA THE ORACLE FOR CONFIDENCE Orica Limited, a provider of commercial blasting systems, tunneling support systems, and chemical products in the mining industry, has announced probable lucrative blasting deals to mining clients. Orica chief executive Ian Smith recently said the company is looking to offer mining clients blasting contracts with a twist: his firm assumes all of the risk and payment is only exchanged if the operation is successful. “We can say to people we are prepared to take risks,” Smith told The Australian Financial Review. “If it doesn’t work, don’t pay us for it – we’re that confident.” Cost cutting has had a ripple effect throughout the mining industry and many services have felt the brunt of it. With this in mind, Smith has reportedly said such a drastic move has become necessary to counteract repeated cost cutting measures from the mining sector. “We see it as a higher margin but it is only on the bass that their margin improves,” said Smith. “So it is not just charging for something but guaranteeing that their cost per tonne goes down, and we want to share in that.” According to Fairfax, seven per cent of Orica’s current contracts use Smith’s new risk-assuming model. 5

news+views

COASTAL REFORM During a Shipping Australia event in Sydney, the Australian Government announced its renewed focus on an increase in competitive and efficient coastal shipping, allowing more resource support employers to operate in the marketplace. AMMA (Australian Mines and Metals Association) chief executive Steve Knott says Australia’s ‘coastal highways’ should be a competitive advantage for the nation, not a major financial drain on local employers. “Protectionist policy approaches to globalised industries are always dangerous, and the flaws in the former government’s tiered licensing system are well-documented,” said Knott. “Such an approach does not create a more competitive and buoyant shipping sector and it does not assist Australian enterprises to better compete with the rest of the world.” With the retraction of the carbon and mining taxes and the cutting of red tape on project approvals and exploration, Knott said, “Coastal shipping reform is another piece to the puzzle in building a domestic policy framework that will see yet-to-be-determined resource projects approved and developed in Australia.” He believes coastal shipping is another important step in removing key impediments to doing business in this country and internationally.

OFFSHORE VISA CHALLENGES QUASHED

‘RESERVE OUR GAS’ CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED

A decision by the Federal Court has restored confidence in Australian and non-Australian nationals working in the offshore resource industry. The Federal Court has rejected challenges by the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Australian Maritime Officers Union (AMOU) regarding the offshore skilled migration visa arrangements. “The offshore resource sector uses a very small number of non-Australian specialists, but has created 70,000 jobs in Australia and injected $200 billion into our economy,” said CEO of AMMA Steve Knott.

The launch of a national campaign for more staunch control over Australia’s natural gas exports is underway. The ‘Reserve Our Gas’ campaign strongly encourages the Federal Government to authorise laws guaranteeing that a percentage of Australian-sourced gas remains in Australia rather than being exported. Australian Workers Union (AWU) national secretary Scott McDine has voiced his concern that Australia is out of step with other major nations like the United States, which retains a percentage of gas for its use. “Australians have a right to know their rapidly rising gas bills are actually completely preventable,” claimed McDine. “We just need to do what every other gas-exporting nation does and bring in laws to look after the local population.” A study by BIS Shrapnel, which was commissioned by the AWU, predicts the detrimental effects that continued rising gas prices would have on the economy. The study claims that one in five heavy manufacturers will shut down within five years and overall manufacturing production will decline by 15.4 per cent by 2023. If this were to happen, manufacturing shutdowns would occur, resulting in a devastating loss of 235,000 jobs nationwide.

“The offshore resource sector has created 70,000 jobs and injected $200 billion into our economy” “It is well beyond time that some sensibility is restored in this area and Australia’s oil and gas operators can get on with creating jobs and economic value for our country.” The unions’ campaign has jeopardised thousands of Australian jobs by threatening the very small number of nonAustralian skilled workers who provide important international technical expertise to local projects.

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forefront

WE EXAMINE WHAT PALMER’S RECENT COMMENTS IN RELATION TO CHINA MEANS FOR FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN COAL.

WORDS: CHRISTINE RETSCHLAG

CHIPPED 8

forefront

D CHINA 9

Image by Kurt Parton at The Illustration Room

forefront

f a day is a long time in politics, what does a year look like for Queensland’s Clive Palmer, the first major resources player to ever enter the Australian Federal Parliament last November? Even Palmer himself would arguably be reluctant to call it anything but chaotic, colourful and controversial. Not surprisingly, the major miner was never going to do anything but support the repeal of the carbon tax, but it was his recent comments in relation to China that shocked many. For the record, Palmer’s August comments, in which he labelled the Chinese as “mongrels” who “shoot their own people” were made outside the House of Parliament on the ABC program Q&A. But was it all a storm in a teacup, or has he cracked the good China by criticising Australia’s major trading partner? Palmer is involved in a legal battle with Chinese state-owned company CITIC Pacific, which has accused his Mineralogy company of siphoning off $12 million in funds to fund the Palmer United Party’s (PUP’s) federal election campaign. During his appearance on Q&A, he said the “communist Chinese government” was trying to take over Australia’s ports and steal the nation’s natural resources. “I don’t mind standing up against the Chinese bastards and stopping them from doing it,” a defiant Palmer said at the time. The comments caused a major ripple around the nation – which last year traded almost $151 billion worth 10

of goods and services with China – with Prime Minister Tony Abbott describing Palmer’s comments as “over the top, shrill and wrong”, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten calling them “irresponsible”, Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett labelling Palmer’s outburst as “racist”, and Immigration Minister Scott Morrison dismissing the comments as “unhelpful” and “silly”. A day later, PUP Senator Jacqui Lambie added fuel to the fire when she warned that Australians were at risk of becoming “slaves to an aggressive, anti-democratic, totalitarian foreign power” amid warnings of the threat of a “Chinese communist invasion”. Curiously, Palmer met with his own PUP Senator Dio Wang, who is of Chinese heritage, but said the issue was not discussed; Dio later told Channel Nine Palmer’s comments neither concerned nor offended him. Inside Mining contacted Palmer’s press representative to seek clarification on his comments about the Chinese and what he’d achieved in his first year in Parliament. While nothing was forthcoming on Palmer’s parliamentary achievements, his office did release a statement in which the Member for Fairfax said his comments were not directed at the Chinese community or the Chinese government but at one Chinese state-owned company he claimed had failed to honour its agreements and announcements made to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2006.

But was it all a storm in a teacup, or has he cracked the good China by criticising Australia’s major trading partner?

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forefront

“I have been a major supporter of the Chinese for a long time. What is unacceptable is a Chinese stateowned enterprise that abuses the legal system for commercial gain in a global strategic effort to control resources,” Palmer says in his statement. Around the same time, Chinese state-owned newspaper the Global Times called for sanctions to be imposed on Palmer’s businesses and other Australian companies in a move the MP labelled as an “extraordinary reaction” to his television comments in a statement also provided to Inside Mining. One week later, Palmer apologised publicly “to Chinese people everywhere” for his comments. But has the damage already been done? Michael Roche, chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council, refused to comment on Palmer specifically but told Inside Mining that Queensland’s resources sector has enjoyed a “long and productive relationship with Asia” that was expected to grow in line with the region’s economic development. “It is important for Australia to remain open to foreign investment. The progressive liberalisation of global investment regimes has been a major contributor to the expansion and consolidation of the global minerals industry and Queensland’s reputation as a willing, reliable supplier of quality resources,” Roche says. “However, this capital is increasingly mobile as

nations pursue mining investment more vigorously than ever. “There are real issues compromising the competitiveness and productivity of current operations and serving to constrain new investment in Queensland that we need to address.” Minerals Council of Australia director of industry policy Sid Marris has also declined to comment on “the politics and the rhetoric” but told Inside Mining that the trade and investment relationship between the Australian mining industry and China “remains strong” and will continue to grow. “Chinese investment has grown rapidly over the past eight years, with more direct investment in Australia than the United States. While growing rapidly, the total stock of Chinese investment is lower (at about 3 per cent) than the United States (24 per cent), UK (14 per cent) or Japan (10 per cent),” Marris says. “Australia is a well-established and reliable supplier of premium product. So whether it is our iron ore, our coal or other metals and minerals, demand for resources product will continue to fuel a dynamic two-way relationship.

“Australian industry, not just mining, has been built on foreign capital. We do not have the population and savings base to sustain the investment needed to seize the opportunities that ongoing industrialisation and urbanisation of the Asia region offers. “This is as true for India as it is for China, another Asian country that is working to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Chinese and Indian capital is voting with its feet and we are confident that will continue. Australia needs it to continue.” Marris says cost competitiveness is “essential” to ensure Australia does not miss the opportunity of growth in Asia. “It means removing the bureaucratic waste generated by a duplicative approvals process that sees the average Australian project take 3.1 years to be approved, compared to 1.8 years elsewhere,” he explains. “It means having a workplace relations framework that allows firms to adapt to operational and market conditions and, therefore, deliver better returns and high wages through greater productivity.”

“Chinese and Indian capital is voting with its feet and we are confident that will continue.”

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industryfocus

INCREASINGLY STRICT STANDARDS FOR WORKING AT HEIGHT ARE PUTTING PRESSURE ON COMPANIES TO IMPLEMENT SAFER METHODS FOR THEIR WORKERS.

HEIGHTENED

CONCERN WORDS: MITCH BROOK

safety

industryfocus

Many areas of mine sites put workers at increased risk of accidents, and the machinery employed at these sites can present further problems, potentially compromising operators’ safety while on worksites. Anytime workers operate at height – as they do frequently in industries such as mining, construction, maintenance and the like – there are certain risks of which they must be aware and hazards for which they should prepare if they’re to maximise their workplace safety. To access areas higher than normal, it is becoming an industry standard to use elevating work platforms (EWPs) rather than scaffolding or ladders, as EWPs have better safety features – and safer practices to go with them. “The ladder is now pretty much extinct on work sites, and that’s because the most common workrelated injury in Australia was falling off them,” says Phil Rutter, owner-director of EWP training company Training for Higher. “Whereas before if you needed to get access to a two-storey building you’d just put a two-stage ladder up and climb up, that option’s no longer available for most sites – you have to use an EWP.” WorkSafe Victoria considers ladders to offer a ‘level 5’ level of protection – the lowest on their rating scale – meaning they’re to be considered a

Fatal falls According to Safe Work Australia*:

232 workers died from falling from a height in 2003-11

16% of these involved falls from a ladder

There was a 75% decrease in fallrelated fatalites in the mining industry: from 20 in 1989-92 to just 5 in 2008-11

50% of falls resulting in a fatality were from 3m or less

*published October 2013

last resort when safer methods of working at height are available, such as EWPs, industrial safety nets or harness and rope access systems. Among these, WorkSafe Victoria recommends working from the ground using extended tools (Level 1) or using ‘passive’ fall prevention devices, such as EWPs (Level 2), as the safest methods of working at height. Harnesses and regular worksite safety equipment are standard for EWP operators. Typically, EWPs come in two varieties: the scissor lift, which uses a concertina-style extension to raise a work platform; and the boom lift, which raises a platform on a swing arm, which can be telescopic or jointed. Each type of EWP has its own safety concerns and equipment, but training applies equally to both. To work above 11 metres, a worker must hold a valid National Licence to Perform High Risk Work class WP, issued by a work health and safety regulator such as WorkSafe Victoria. For EWPs under 11 metres, a ‘Yellow Card’ issued by the national EWP Association (EWPA) will suffice for work safety requirements. “Both of these courses have been overhauled in the last two years with a bigger emphasis on safety and sorting out sites and their hazards,” says Rutter. Updating course material is important as the prime safety concerns for EWPs can change over

industryfocus

Fast facts • In the three years 2009–11 there were 3830 serious claims due to a fall from a ladder. This is equivalent to three injuries each day requiring the worker to be away from work for one or more weeks. Of these claims, 145 were from the mining sector.

time depending on the sort of worksite accidents that are most prevalent. “It varies from time to time as to what the main issues are,” says Phil Newby, executive director of the national Elevating Work Platform Association of Australia (EWPA). “At the moment there are a few issues with the wearing of safety harnesses in boom lifts and what length lanyard you should have. Crushing has also become a big issue on certain mine and infrastructure sites in the last two or three years. There have been a couple of accidents, and one is one too many.” Newby and Rutter agree that, when it comes to increasing safety for workers at height, the prime consideration is educating workers, as a substantial proportion of the injuries that occur in EWPs result from operator error. “[You have to] try to keep workers aware of hazards around them and what they’re doing,” says Rutter. “The actual mechanics of operating the machine is not a part of the courses. The big part of the courses is assessing the sites and identifying hazards. “These [machines] don’t just snap in the middle of the air. They may deteriorate over a period of time, but you can see that and it should be picked up in the process of checking the machine before you get in it, which is now mandatory [on] worksites.” Every EWP in Australia must have a logbook

tracking the record of pre-operational safety checks done by operators. “It should be filled in every day to show that you’ve done the checks,” says Newby. “When there’s an incident on site, WorkCover always goes straight to the logbook to see if it’s been filled in correctly. It also serves the usual function for maintenance as well.”

“If there is a safer way of doing something then you’re obliged to have seriously considered it.” Newby says there has been an increase in the efforts of companies and worksites to improve safety for their workers, for reasons including occupational health and safety requirements, insurance requirements and company regulations. When it comes down to it, protecting workers when they’re operating at height is best for everyone involved. “I think people [are] just trying to work more safely,” says Newby. “You try and design the risk out, and if there is a safer way of doing something then you’re obliged to have seriously considered it.”

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miningreview

AND THE SURVEY SAYS… Technological advances have thoroughly changed the game of exploration, mapping and surveying. We take the measure of what this means for the mining industry. WORDS: CHRISTINE RETSCHLAG

HOLD ONTO YOUR hard hats! Just when you thought things couldn’t become more interesting in the Australian mining industry, they’re about to change. And rather than the talk being centered on party politics and the introduction and scrapping of controversial taxes, it’s about the technology. Mining is about to become a whole lot more exciting, thanks to advances in this field that are reshaping jobs such as surveying, mapping and exploration from manual and mundane into exciting and futuristic. Erik Birzulis, managing director of Landair Surveys, a land, engineering and aerial surveying company based in Victoria but operating nationwide, ranks “playing with new technology” as one of the benefits of working in the industry. It’s these “many different types of technology”, says Birzulus, that can provide surveying solutions for mining that meet the requirements currently causing ripples above and below ground. These include:

• aerial photography and photogrammetry; • aerial LiDAR (light detection and ranging); • land surveying using total stations and GPS; • land scanning – mobile and static; • unmanned aerial systems (drones); • echo sounders, and • smart-phone apps. “The industry has evolved from using large teams of surveyors taking measurements manually to smaller teams taking a lot of measurements with technology such as GPS, laser scanners and digital aerial photography,” Birzulis says. “Measuring has now become the easy part of surveying; what you do with the large amounts of data – ensuring data is fit for purpose, quality checking and extracting useful information from the data – is the skill surveyors use. “Next year, satellite imagery will be available commercially with a resolution of 25 centimetres and there is talk that in a few more years, 10-centimetre-resolution

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miningreview

imagery will be available. We will also see digital aerial cameras becoming smaller and having higher resolutions. Ground-based photogrammetry (mapping from photographs) will also become more prevalent. “All the new technology will bring massive amounts of data. Using cloud computer systems, there will be new automatic feature extraction and mapping tools developed, allowing for even quicker turnaround times.” But with new technology comes new challenges. “Challenges include keeping up with technology and storing the massive amounts of data,” Birzulis says. “Other challenges are about ensuring our clients realise the value surveyors add to the data. There are now more people providing data, but it is important to have the qualitychecking procedures and understanding of measurement to ensure the data is fit for the purpose intended.” Over on the other side of the continent, Brad Jurovich, director of Jurovich Surveying in Western Australia, says the Roy Hill iron ore project in the Pilbara is one of the largest at the moment, outside of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Jurovich is based on site, surveying for construction work that will involve a workforce of around 1200 at its peak. The company is also working on the Rio Tinto Yandicoogina mine expansion project and has its sights set on a Fortescue Metals Group project due to start. Technologies currently employed by Jurovich include: • aerial photography for planning and traffic control purposes; • traditional methods such as total station work for high-accuracy construction work; • sub-millimetre digital levels; • GPS for locating and setting out underground services and cabling, and • multiple software packages including Liscad, Bricscad and ArcGIS. “Technology in surveying has been advancing at an exponential rate in recent years. Almost all equipment is now able to be used robotically, reducing the number of man hours required to complete a task,” Jurovich says.

“Advancements in unmanned aerial surveying have reduced the costs of imagery acquisition and, as such, we’re seeing that being used a lot in planning of projects; and [there’s been] an increase in geographic information systems (GIS) in major projects. “Laser scanning is another area the industry is rapidly moving towards and [it] can be useful in mining in terms of planning for expansions, by utilising this technology to create accurate 3-D models of existing structures,” notes Jurovich. “I can see aerial photography being used more in the future, along with further introduction of geographic information

“There are now more people providing data, but it is important to have the quality-checking procedures.”

Above: Preparing to launch an unmanned aerial vehicle.

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miningreview Below: Surveying equipment may be high-tech, but it’s simple to use.

Remaining competitive in a market increasingly crowded with companies vying for a dwindling number of projects, will be one of the biggest challenges for the industry moving forward.

systems (GIS) on sites.” While laser scanning is becoming a more commonplace request from clients and building information modeling (BIM) is “somewhat of a catchphrase”, says Jurovich, Australians seem to be lagging behind other countries when it comes to embracing the concept. “This makes it hard for us to justify the additional costs to clients as opposed to [those of] traditional methods,” he says. Jurovich believes that remaining competitive in a market increasingly crowded with companies vying for a dwindling number of projects will be one of the biggest challenges for the industry moving forward. “Increased wages costs for local labour makes it hard for companies [that] aren’t currently employing 457 workers to stay competitive with those who are,” he says. “With the introduction of new technology such as laser scanning, it’s about trying to justify the additional costs involved. “And then there’s communication: with so many areas being so isolated and having so many people in one area, there are a lot of times where it can be very hard to get phone or

internet reception. That makes communication and transfer of data very hard.” A spokesperson for the Australia-wide Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI) says many mine surveyors are employed directly by some of the mining majors, such as BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals Group, Newcrest Mining and Rio Tinto. “Although the fundamentals of land surveying haven’t changed and the purpose is still the same, the techniques and methods have evolved drastically over the past century,” the spokesperson says. “While in the past – up until the early 1900s – most land surveyors had access to little more than a level, tape measure and a theodolite – modern land/mine surveyors have access to some of the most advanced tools in the world. “The industry may move into greater use of terrestrial laser scanners. In addition, mine surveying companies are now beginning to adapt to each new advance in imaging and analysis to provide solutions to the challenges faced throughout all stages of the extraction process, from exploration to rehabilitation.” 25

specialreport

LET THERE JUST AS HOUSEHOLDERS ARE BEING ENCOURAGED TO CHANGE THEIR INCANDESCENT GLOBES TO LONGER-LASTING, MORE EFFICIENT LEDS, THE MINING INDUSTRY IS ADOPTING THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY. WORDS: MANDY MCKEESICK

specialreport

t seems everyone is using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In our homes, LED ceiling globes illuminate LED-screen televisions and computer monitors. As we drive, we stop at LED traffic signals under LED street lights and, when the road turns rural, our LED headlights show the way. On planes and trains and boats and farm machinery, the LED light is the new technology. There is even futuristic talk of them being implanted under the skin and used as medical tattoos. This ‘new’ technology has been around for more than 50 years

but only in recent times, with the development of ‘white’ LED light, have we experienced exponential growth in the number of LED-driven applications available. An LED emits light at a specific wavelength, resulting in a specific colour. Red was the first colour developed, back in 1962, by American Nick Holonyak; in subsequent decades, green, orange, yellow and blue LEDs came onto the market. These early LEDs were first seen in electronic devices and were popularised in digital clocks. White light is not a specific colour but rather, a combination of

wavelengths. Not until the late 1990s were methods developed to enable the production of white LEDs, and from that time onwards, the lighting world as we know it changed forever. And the change didn’t take long to reach the mining sector. Julia Utan is segment leader for mining and export with Hella Mining, a company that recognised early the advantages LED lighting would have over conventional halogen-type and high-intensity xenon lights. “LEDs form the next generation of solid-state lighting being highly efficient, durable and having an extremely long life.

Above: AS 5000LED® work lights mounted on a vehicle.

Hella Mining LED lights, equipped with advanced optics, are designed to be reliable in harsh mining conditions,” Utan says. Previously specialists in automotive lighting, Hella Australia established Project Argon in the mining boom of 2002 to research and design LED products. “We were faced with a new challenge in a new environment and spent the first year of Project Argon gathering data from minesites around the world, in conditions ranging from -40o to 60oC. We placed sensors on mining machinery and measured a suite of variables including humidity, vibration, shock and temperature, and from these were able to develop products to meet the extreme demands of the mining industry,” Utan explains. The first of these products reached open-cut and underground mine sites in 2004 as HID (high intensity discharge) lights and, following customer input and feedback, LEDs were soon refined for general use. New-generation LED products born from Project Argon and 28

manufactured in Australia include the compact AS 5000LED® work light that can be mounted on machinery such as trucks and shovels, the DuraRAY3® warning beacon, with its good penetration of fog and dust, and the revolutionary HypaLUME®, a groundbreaking breed of floodlight. The heavy-duty HypaLUME® contains 56 high-powered Cree LEDs, which together produce more than 22,000 Lumens output at a colour close to daylight, suitable for DC and AC applications. The HypaLUME® was designed specifically for use in the rugged environmental conditions of worksites such as mines and, in 2013, Hella Mining joined forces with Australian-owned AllightSykes to deliver this product to industry.

AllightSykes has taken the HypaLUME® and incorporated it into specialised mining equipment, utilising eight of the lights on its MS-9 mobile towers. Each of the towers is fitted with a two-cylinder, 500cc, water-cooled engine and needs refuelling only once every three weeks, in comparison to similar, older-generation metal halide lights that needed to be refuelled weekly. The LED towers also come with a 500-hour service interval and deliver an 18-tonne annual reduction in the tower lighting’s carbon footprint. “The metal halide lights still have a place in the mining industry, particularly for intricate work, as they are brighter and are better able to provide intense focused light; however, the LEDs have the advantage of providing huge energy

The LED towers deliver an 18-tonne annual reduction in the tower lighting’s carbon footprint.

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LED

specialreport

Fast fact • Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), allowing light panels to be made in flexible arrays, are the technology of the future. Imagine rolling up your television screen and taking it with you.

and efficiency gains through lower maintenance and fuelling costs,” Grant Mack, general manager of mobile lighting for AllightSykes, says. “The mining sector is not known for its sweeping adoption of new technology but LED is truly transformational.” This transformation has also meant that owners of metalhalide lighting towers are faced, potentially, with massive asset redundancy – but AllightSykes has

this covered, too. “We have been in this business for over 20 years,” Mack contends, “And recognise the needs of our customers, so we offer a ‘retrofit and upgrade’ option that allows the older towers to be converted to LED as time and money allows.” AllightSykes delivers new products and an upgrade service to minesites through rental companies and direct sales. “We are a sister business to Coates Hire, which gives us an insight into the rental space, but we’ve also worked hard to develop strategic relationships with the other major rental houses. Sales into rental fleets account for around 60 per cent of our revenue. We can also supply direct to mines that prefer balance-sheet transactions or have longer-term requirements, via our key account managers and field sales force,” Mack says. Lighting can be taken for granted when a LED is providing

near-daylight conditions, but it pays to remember that the open flames of candles and carbide lamps were the leading cause of mine explosions and fatalities in the industry’s early days. In the six years from 1907 to 1913, more than 800 people lost their lives in mine disasters in the United States alone, and it wasn’t until the adoption of the electric light that mine safety increased substantially. Olderstyle electric units had their own problems with glare, reflection and poor light output. So despite all its brightness, efficiency and fuel economy, perhaps the greatest advantage the LED brings to mining is the safety it brings mine operators. Whether they’re underground at the coalface or working in an open-cut at night, LED products – developed and proven in Australian conditions – are a revolutionising vision in the industry.

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spotlight

COMING UP

FOR AIR

VENTILATION ON DEMAND (VOD) USES POWERFUL NEW TECHNOLOGY AND IN THE FACE OF STIFF NEW DIESEL-PARTICULATE EMISSION STANDARDS, IT’S SET TO REVOLUTIONISE THE MANAGEMENT OF VENTILATION AND DUST IN AUSTRALIAN MINES. WORDS: DARREN BAGULEY

safety

spotlight

GETTING AIR deep underground is mining’s oldest challenge, with the first written account of the various types of ventilation technology featuring in Georgius Agricola’s De Re Metallica (On the Nature of Metals), which was published in 1556. While the technology has changed a huge amount, the problem remains the same: how to keep air moving through mines so that stale air is replaced regularly with fresh air. With the advent of machinery underground, the problem has grown; nowadays, it includes the need to extract diesel and petrol fumes as well as particulate matter. With diesel particulate matter (DPM), the problem has become

more difficult in recent years because as diesel engines have become cleaner and more efficient, the particulate matter they emit has become finer and finer and removing it from the air is more problematic. According to ConsultMine CEO Allison Gollsby, around 50 per cent of the energy consumed by the mining process goes into ventilation (including heating air). To reduce energy consumption, mine operators are increasingly looking at automatic control solutions designed to minimise the amount of pumped air. The old solution – ‘just turn up the fans’ – is a far less viable option with increases in energy costs and the need to keep noise levels within environmental limits. As a result,

mine operators are getting smarter about how they ventilate. “There is a move worldwide to remote or telemetric monitoring of mine atmosphere conditions,” Gollsby says. “Robust, suitable and intrinsically safe instruments are available for measurement of gas concentrations, air velocity and air pressure. These are often tied to extensive mine monitoring and communication systems.” VoD takes this trend one step further, says ABB Australia Pty Limited’s industry group manager, mining, Michael Terry. “[Globally] there’s a huge trend towards VoD, especially when it comes to reductions in operating costs, safety and reduction in energy

spotlight

costs. If you’re just pumping air indiscriminately into a mine, you don’t know if it’s getting to where it is required and, before we were able to do VoD, a lot of systems would just pump air down into a mine whether people were there or not. The system wouldn’t have the intelligence to know where it was or wasn’t needed. “Now, with the combination of RFID (radio-frequency identification), automation, 3-D modelling and monitoring, we can see where work is being performed and if a person or machine enters an area, then the system will know and start ventilation, but it will only provide ventilation to that area. The 3-D modelling is used to track where each person and machine on the mine site is using RFID devices on personnel’s equipment, combined with a strong communications network that monitors where they are. The strength of the communications network is that 36

we’re able to monitor in real time.” While VoD has been around for a while, it didn’t come together as an integrated technology until relatively recently. “Much of this has been driven by the advent of wi-fi and ethernet underground, and the technology has advanced to the point where it is more reliable and has become that cost-effective that any device, any sensor you care to name, can be wi-fi-enabled,” says Terry. “This is due to companies adapting what was available commercially for industrial applications to the point where it is now proven, reliable technology.” Even though the technology is now reassuringly reliable (how often these days does a home wi-fi router stop working?), there’s a huge requirement for redundancy underground – so that if a communication link is broken in one place, there is another path it can use

to reach its intended destination. Because VoD is easier to install in a new mine than it is to retrofit to an existing site, and because most of Australia’s mines are long established, no system for encouraging VoD uptake in mines has yet been implemented in Australia. Nevertheless, both Gollsby and Terry say there are projects in the pipeline that are likely to become operational in the near future.

Fast fact • A study found that in 15 healthy volunteers, 24 hours after inhalation of 300mu g/ m3 diesel exhaust for an hour, mild systemic inflammation and an impairment of vascular endothelial function were observed.

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spotlight

“It’s something mines are considering at the moment,” says Terry. “While there are huge energy savings to be made, it’s not just those efficiencies but the safety aspect, which will drive uptake of VoD. The number-one priority on a mine site is safety but there are also productivity improvements inherent in VoD, because you’re able to better manage your workforce through the 3-D mine mapping and the monitoring of personnel, which gives you more visibility.” What is also likely to drive the uptake of VoD in Australia is the adoption of new standards for DPM by Western Australia and New South Wales, with a mandatory level

Fast fact • Ventilation is also required by those working in open-cut mines. As coal oxidises it can absorb oxygen and the de-oxygenated air can pool in the low points, as can other gases released by the mine as well as emissions given off by a blast.

of no more than 0.1mg per cubic metre. Diesel was classified as a Class 1A carcinogenic in 2012 and, as a report by Curtin University masters student Sara Fernandez, Diesel Particulates: Does diesel exhaust exposure affect underground miners’ health?, has shown, better monitoring will likely be the first

step towards meeting this standard. Gollsby notes that DPM sticks to walls and gets stirred up when vehicles pass. “This means that, as a rule of thumb, most mines are going to have to get another two to four times the amount of air over a machine to keep DPM levels within the maximum allowable.”

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Breaking the divide

WORDS: DARRELL CROKER

Good policy has positive results for all employees, regardless of their sex. KATIE-JEYN Romeyn, executive general manager, people and business services, at St Barbara Limited, made some telling points about gender when she accepted a Western Australia Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) 2014 Women in Resources Award, earlier this year. An Australian-based ASX-listed gold producer and explorer, St Barbara won the highly contested award in February. “This way of thinking and acting certainly underpins our success in reducing the pay equity gap, alongside three principles,” she said. “Every organisation needs leaders who believe in effective management practices and have the determination to change things for the better. Every organisation needs strong alliances within and outside, so the right mix of policies, programs and measures can be brought to bear. And every organisation

needs champions with the belief, skills and drive to advocate change.” Romeyn accepted the award “with the hope that, some day, awards and publicity for reducing the pay gap will be a thing of the past because gender equality should be a given, just like getting up each morning”. She acknowledged that CME’s various awards put women in mining at front and centre, but made the point that the accolades “advance the broader cause of effective and engaging workplaces”. St Barbara believes effective gender pay equity policies and programs make the workplace better for women and men. “In the end, our company believes that creating the right environment and the right platform for talent to succeed, irrespective of gender, is one of the keys to business success,” Romeyn said.

St Barbara’s Katie-Jeyn Romeyn

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Improved state of affairs Most states now have awards recognising the efforts of women in mining. Cate Sims, a specialist in Aboriginal relations with Rio Tinto, won the coveted 2014 NSW Mining Outstanding Woman of the Year award. The award acknowledged Sims’ efforts to break down employment barriers and promote diversity in the New South Wales mining industry. “She is the leading individual in Indigenous affairs and engagement for Rio Tinto and for our industry and a most deserving winner,” said NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee. Sims works in conjunction with the Aboriginal Community Development Fund and supports school programs in the Above: NSW Mining’s Outstanding Initiative award went to Thiess in recognition of its efforts to attract and retain women in the industry. Hunter Valley assisting young Aboriginal women to achieve professional career goals. because they recognise the significant NSW Mining’s Aspiring Star award went September 2, at the Brisbane Convention opportunities to increase business to Abbey Sheridan, a technical services and Exhibition Centre, during which St productivity. vacation student at Glencore Barbara was crowned winner. Coal Assets Australia. Peabody Energy Mining is often characterised by The lunch coincided with the annual mining engineer Alice Sila won the Rising its remote working environments, hard Queensland Inspire Convention run by Star award. The NSW Outstanding physical labour and long shifts. In the the Queensland Resources Council in Initiative award went to Thiess in recognition past, this has contributed to discouraging conjunction with Women in Mining and of its efforts to attract and retain women in women, especially those with children. Resources. The Inspire!Convention is a full-day professional development But new opportunities for women are the industry. Thiess has set a target beyond and networking event for women in being created. 20 per cent for female employment and the sector. Queensland’s female mine workers say participation in the industry by 2020. companies are already addressing the issue As a result of its success in Western Addressing the industry’s of gender pay gaps and inflexible hours, Australia, St Barbara was automatically skills shortage which turned women off mining in the nominated as a finalist in the inaugural In Australia, mining still has a skills past. They have instituted parent-friendly Women in Resources National Awards. shortage in some trades and professions. work rosters and already have better pay and These awards aim to further increase the This will be exacerbated when the conditions in place. profile of successful women, along with A survey completed by the Office for industry rebounds. At present, women are resources sector champions of diversity Women Queensland, the Australasian filling fewer than 20 per cent of jobs in programs, both female and male. It’s hoped Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the industry. Increasing the participation the awards will provide ambassadors and the Women in Mining Network said that of women in the sector is seen as key role models to attract and retain women in women are an untapped resource and to addressing this shortage. In addition, the industry. that they offer a solution to the growing many companies are looking to improve Judging took place earlier this year and skills shortage. their recruitment and retention of women the presentation ceremony was held on 43

mininginsider

Women with university science degrees are in high demand ... and women tradies have as many opportunities as men.

AMMA’s executive director – industry services, Tara Diamond.

No company would say the work is easy – that applies equally to men and women. Living away from home and loved ones can put pressure on relationships. But if the balance between the family and the mine is achieved, the wages and flexible work packages could mean a better overall lifestyle. And it’s worth remembering mining jobs are not all about hard hats and underground labour. Previous experience and qualifications can lead to women filling other skilled and unskilled jobs in the industry. Skilled mining jobs for women include scientific, business and information technology roles. Women with university science degrees are in high demand. Business roles are available to women with degrees in management, accounting, project 44

management, human resources and occupational health and safety. And as the mining industry evolves, so must its supporting information technology and software. Women tradies have as many opportunities as men, including electricians, boilermakers, carpenters and welders. It’s becoming more common to see women in hard-hat roles, especially as drivers and operators. There are just as many opportunities for unskilled women in ‘gender-neutral’ roles and the support network. In 2004, the Minerals Council of Australia established the Women and Mining Dialogue to “engage industry and external stakeholders on issues related to the effective participation of women in mining, and the extension of the socio-economic

benefits of mining operations to women in neighbouring communities”. Recently, the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) launched a campaign to help boost participation by women in mining to 25 per cent by 2020. AMMA director Tara Diamond said the number of women working in mining is about 15.5 per cent, which is just not good enough. AMMA is putting together a series of workshops, together with the Women In Resources Alliance, to assist employers to find and employ greater numbers of women in the mining industry. Additional research suggests having more women in leadership teams within the mining industry can lead to greater return in capital and improved economic growth of the company they work for. Just ask St Barbara.

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THE RIGHT LIGHT

AUSTRALIAN SAFETY STANDARDS ENSURE THAT ADEQUATE LIGHTING KEEPS WORKERS SAFE.

n the mining industry in particular, the right lighting is crucial. Not only for adequate visibility, but also because of the extreme, and often harsh, environments that the lights will need to withstand in this industry. Choose the wrong product, and you could be up for constant replacement or maintenance; both of which are costly. Increasingly, mining companies are looking to LED solutions for these exact reasons, although it pays to do your research. Even though LEDs are known to be quite resilient to vibration, many products simply are not built to withstand the continuous exposure. Metal body parts develop fatigue, stress cracks, corrosion and eventually fall apart. Also, any secondary bolt-on solutions to a standard lighting product will render the lighting inferior from the onset. Another potential issue is that contrary to popular belief, LEDs produce and are sensitive to heat. If not for heat management or efficient heat dissipation the product will cook itself in normal ambient conditions. This is further exacerbated by the extremes of mining environments and the ever-growing demand for more powerful LED products. All this information may be overwhelming, and it may be tempting to avoid the switch. However, the values of LEDs are real, they simply require careful consideration of product in order to deliver real benefits. Use these points as a guide to assist your decision- making: • Is the supplier a professional vendor of specialised lighting? • Does the vendor have a complete understanding of the application and

an appreciation of the environment and the challenges it presents, before recommendation of a product? • Is the recommended product fitfor- purpose, not simply adapted for the application? • Is there demonstrated performance in a similar environment/ application? • Are performance reports available from a NATA Certified photometric testing facility to verify the claimed output? • Does the vendor supply a comprehensive warranty and local support? When done right, LED lighting can really deliver a whole raft of advantages, including: • Long operating life, unmatched by other light sources • High endurance to continuous exposure to vibration

• Instant on/off switching, no warm-up/ restrike delays. • Flicker-free high quality and high colour-rendering white light • Low surface temperatures • Improved light levels and potential for energy savings • Little / no UV and infra-red radiation These are the issues that drive Coolon’s engineers in the design and development of its LED products. Coolon works closely with its customers to deliver the highest quality and reliable LED lighting solutions in a range of applications that meet the needs of mining and industrial environments. All Coolon LED products are proudly made in Australia and boast a solid three-year manufacturer’s warranty. For more information, visit its website: coolon.com.au

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THE FIFO PRICE IS RIGHT

YOUI CAR INSURANCE POLICIES RECOGNISE THAT FIFO WORKERS DRIVE LESS, SO SHOULD PAY LESS.

hose familiar with insurance company Youi will know that they don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. Individual circumstances vary so much – particularly when it comes to car use – that it seems unfair to charge the same amount to everyone across the board. Fifo workers in particular can save enormous amounts on their premiums – getting up to a massive 29 per cent discount from Youi – because while they are out on the mine sites, their cars are just sitting in the garage collecting dust. Why should anyone pay for that? Youi prides itself on being a company that asks a few more questions. Rather than making assumptions about individual car use, it tailors insurance packages specific to your needs – often with enormous cash benefits. Youi is all about how you use your car. And leaving your car garaged while you are regularly away for weeks at a time is one of the factors they reward well. And with so much focus on saving money these days it would be crazy not to at least do a quote with them. Youi are pretty confident they’ll be able to beat your current car insurance

premium. You might have seen their latest TV ads saying that they’re the fastest growing car and home insurance company in Australia at the moment. You don’t do so well if your support services like claims and client care aren’t top notch. These guys have set new benchmarks in insurance and are always striving to better their service levels. As well as very competitive car insurance, they also offer motorcycle insurance, watercraft insurance,

caravan and trailer insurance and home and contents insurance, being able to look after almost all that you own. Plus if you have car insurance with them, you qualify for a 20 per cent discount off contents insurance with them. So why not give Youi a try today? Go to youi.com.au to start a quote or call them on 13youi, (that’s 13 96 84) and talk to one of their very professional call centre advisors.

CLIENT FEEDBACK FROM YOUI’S ONLINE WALL: FIFO mine worker: “I have saved a whopping 20 per cent with Youi over my previous car insurance. As a FIFO mine worker, I hardly use my car at home. Youi recognised this and dropped the cost of my monthly payments. Thanks Youi – I wish I came across sooner.” - Sam Car policy update: “Can’t speak more highly of Youi. I work away in the mines and my car is parked up most of the time. Youi is the only company that understands that and offers significant discounts because of it. Youi answers the phones extremely efficiently and the operators are always friendly and helpful. - Benjamin For more real feedback on Youi, check out the Youi Wall at youi.com.au/youiwall

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Name: Uranium Element category: Actinide Electron configuration: [Rn] 5f3 6d1 7s2 Atomic number; mass: 92; 238.02891 Melting point: 1,132 °C Boiling point: 4,131°C Discovered: 1789 by German chemist, Martin Heinrich Klaproth Etymology: Named in honor of Herschel’s recent discovery of the planet Uranus in 1781.

Uranium facts • Aside from being utilised in the nuclear power industry, uranium is used as a target for X-ray production, as ammunition for some types of military weaponry, as a shield against radiation, as a counterweight for aircraft control surfaces and in the gyroscopes of inertial guidance systems.

• Naturally occurring uranium consists of three isotopes: uranium-234, uranium-235 and uranium-238. All three isotopes are radioactive, however, only uranium-235 is a fissionable material that can be used for nuclear power.

• Uranium compounds have been used for centuries to colour glass as they produce orange, red and yellow hues.

• Uranium is sold only to signatories of the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty.

• Thirty-one countries use electricity generated from uranium in nuclear reactors, accounting for about 12 per cent of the world’s electricity.

• Australia’s known uranium resources are the vastest on the planet, accounting for about 31 per cent of the world’s total.

• There are three operating uranium mines in Australia: Ranger in Northern Territory, Olympic Dam in South Australia, and Beverley with Four Mile in South Australia.

• Australia’s uranium has been mined since 1954.

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HAVING ULTRA-HIGH-INTENSITY BLASTING COULD PROVE A RARE TRIUMPH FOR BOTH THE MINING SECTOR AND THE ENVIRONMENT. WORDS: RILEY PALMER

AUTHORED by Orica’s Dr Geoff Brent and his research team, UltraHigh-Intensity Blasting – A New Paradigm in Mining outlines a new method in open-pit mining that has since been heralded as a step-change in conventional blasting practices. Where previously, mine-to-mill studies have demonstrated the higher efficiency of mineral processing through increases in blast energy, these increases have, until now, been deemed unsafe due to the resulting flyrock, vibration levels, airblast and wall damage. The new technique, however, enables the safe utilisation of ultrahigh blast energies. Speaking on behalf of the research team, Dr Brent says: “The key to the breakthrough has been to use the rock itself to contain the explosive energy by the selective deployment of state-of-the-art digital electronic initiation systems in novel blast designs.” The process uses innovative electronic blasting systems to facilitate dual blast layers within a single blast event. This enables the energy in the lower layer to be increased significantly – to up to five times that of conventional energy – fragmenting the ore far more extensively than conventional blasting methods do. Orica managing director Ian Smith indicates the significance of this research in the context of global

environmental issues. He cites its importance in relation to energy consumption and carbon emissions in particular – two issues notorious to mining. “The use of electricity to mill ore is usually the largest consumer of energy on a mine site,” he says. This new blasting method has the potential to cut carbon dioxide emissions associated with grinding by up to 30 per cent. The economic implications of reducing emission penalties and energy costs are also considerable, as are the financial benefits of increased productivity. “Independent modeling has indicated that increasing the explosive energy by several-fold can lead to increases in mill circuit throughput of up to 40 per cent and saving tens of millions of dollars annually,” says Smith. Given the worldwide trend of decreasing gold grades, open-cut gold mining, in particular, would benefit from ultra-high-intensity blasting. “More ore needs to be ground

and processed in order to achieve production targets,” says Dr Brent, “and this method has the potential to generate a step-change in mine productivity, particularly in complex or lower grade ore bodies. It can render ore bodies that might ordinarily be uneconomic both affordable and practical to extract.” Furthermore, the study indicates the management of dilution of gold ore within a blast. Another benefit of this technology is that it can be operated in relatively close proximity to key mining infrastructure such as mine highwalls. This is due to lower levels of vibration resulting from ultra-highintensity blasting in comparison with conventional blasting methods. The significance of this research has been acknowledged by the industry: Dr Brent and his research team were awarded the 2014 Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC) Medal at the International Mining and Resources Conference.

“The key to the breakthrough has been to use the rock itself to contain the explosive energy.”

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PROPERTIES TO AVOID

The heads-up on which properties are not a good investment.

MICHAEL YARDNEY

From Metropole Property Strategists

Michael Yardney is a director of Metropole Property Strategists, which creates wealth for its clients through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy metropole.com.au propertyupdate.com.au

AT ANY GIVEN time there could be more than 350,000 properties for sale in Australia but, to my mind, less than five per cent are what I’d call ‘investment grade’. Let’s look at what type of property an investor should not buy. Properties the banks don’t like There are certain properties that the banks don’t seem to like, and against which they will lend a lower loan-to-value ratio, meaning you’ll need to fork out a bigger deposit. Importantly, if the bank is wary of the property, rather than thinking you know better, take it as a warning sign and consider looking elsewhere. Generally, banks restrict lending to properties that appeal to a limited resale or tenant market, including: Serviced apartments. Buying these carries a lot more risk than buying an ordinary apartment

does, as you’re relying on the operator to get it right and on the tourism and business markets to remain strong to maintain occupancy. These properties have a limited resale market (because only investors buy them, you’re cutting out up to 70 per cent of potential purchasers), a limited letting market and, often, expensive ongoing management costs. Small units. Most banks prefer apartments to comprise at least 50 square metres of living space, not including balconies or car parking space. However, with our changing lifestyles, some will now lend on properties that measure 40 square metres. Studio apartments and student accommodation. These have restricted markets because of their size. Large off-the-plan developments. Banks are

concerned about concentration risk and therefore restrict how many apartments they will lend on in some large, new complexes. There are additional potential issues with off-the-plan properties that would make me wary of this type of investment.

Properties and problems to avoid Out of place. I would only buy a property that fits in with the overall character of the neighbourhood. While I personally love terrace houses, if it’s the only one in a street of bungalows, I’d look elsewhere and buy a property that’s consistent with the streetscape. Wrong location in the street. Even the best streets can have sections with an unattractive mix of properties, or properties that are too close to the shops or main road. Choose livable

Importantly, if the bank is wary of the property, rather than thinking you know better, take it as a warning sign and consider looking elsewhere. 57

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streets and make sure you buy the right property in the right section of the street. Wrong position in the block. Avoid apartments in sub-optimal positions in the block. You know what I mean: the ones overlooking the car park or situated near the waste bins. Encumbrances on title. Check the title carefully for easements, covenants or overlays that could restrict your capacity for future extensions or rebuilding. Other title troubles. Banks will restrict their lending for apartments on some older forms of title, such as company share or stratum titles. Body corporate problems. When buying an apartment, carefully peruse the minutes of the last few owners corporation meetings. Are there any issues with the building or excessive expenses planned? Has a sinking fund been set up to handle future repairs or refurbishment? 58

I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t buy yourself a weekend getaway property. What I’m saying is don’t pretend you’re buying it as an investment.

Avoid main roads and secondary locations. Sure, people live everywhere – but when the market slows, secondary properties are harder to sell, and they fall in value first. Holiday homes or apartments. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t buy yourself a weekend getaway property if you can afford it. What I’m saying is don’t pretend you’re buying it as an investment, because you’re likely to end up with an asset that isn’t meeting your lifestyle dreams and doesn’t deliver your financial objectives. No car parking. While an absence of parking may save you some money today, it will always limit an apartment’s

appeal to tenants, home owners and future investors. Rental guarantee apartments. Remember, the cost of the rental guarantee – which is usually inflated to make the return look better than it really is – is added to the purchase price and used by the developer to justify inflated prices. In other words, you’re paying the developer up-front to guarantee the rent for you. And it’s not uncommon for the rent to drop when the rental guarantee period expires, leaving you with a hole in your budget. National Rental Affordability Scheme. The NRAS is a federal government

initiative designed to tackle the issue of affordable housing whereby investors receive a tax incentive to provide housing at below-market rental rates. A very specialised type of property.

The take-home The overall lesson is this: If you want your property portfolio to outperform, you need to own the type of property that will appeal to a wide demographic of owner-occupiers who generally comprise the bulk of purchasers. They also tend to buy emotionally, pay higher prices and push up the price of properties similar to yours. And these are the types of properties the banks are willing to lend up to 80 to 95 per cent on. Now, that’s interesting, isn’t it?

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The perils of buying sight unseen

BUYER BEWARE ZORAN SOLANO From Hot Property Specialists Buyers Agency

Recently I came across a blog that contained advice from two of Australia’s most predominate property pundits recommending that investors buy sight unseen. As a buyers’ agent, there have been many times I have witnessed first-hand, mistakes made by investors who decide to purchase sight unseen only to regret it later on. I do understand the argument for not letting your preconceived ideas affect the purchase of a good investment opportunity, but there are things that online real estate sites, statistics, reports, and selling agents’ photos don’t show you. Things such as aspect, the level of the backyard, the proximity to unsightly neighbours/ neighbourhood or a main road are unlikely to be visible from a photograph. It is often the ‘unseen’ factors that are the most likely to affect the re-sale value of your investment.

Case example Just recently we were searching for an investor looking for a premium investment property. We came across a beautiful house in the blue chip Brisbane suburb of Bulimba. On paper it ticked the boxes; large block, relatively new house, low maintenance, good depreciation, strong potential rental yield, flood free etc. From the photographs online and the information sourced from data reports, the property was looking great and the client was excited. I arranged a personal inspection because my local knowledge told me that there were high voltage power lines in that location, which were not visible in the photos. I realised that photoshop changes had been made to remove the power lines from the professional marketing photographs. When I forwarded my clients the report on the property they were surprised but happy to have dodged a bullet. As buyer’s agents, we realise

that many investors don’t have time or the knowledge to undertake the proper research needed when looking for properties interstate or overseas. Flying into a city to inspect properties of interest can be a waste of time and money and can create a high stress situation. But recommending that investors buy sight unseen is downright irresponsible. It makes sense to engage a buyers’ agent to do the legwork and undertake an independent inspection and review of any investment property as your personal advocate on the ground. It could save you thousands. Zoran Solano is the office manager and senior buyer’s agent at Hot Property Specialists Buyers Agency. He has been a buyer’s agent for more than five years now and is recognised as one of Brisbane’s leading agents in buyer representation. hotpropertyspecialists.com.au (07) 3170 3760.

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THE LAWN TAMER

Large property? Cut down on mowing time with a Ferris Zero-Turn mower. If you live on acreage and enjoy looking out on a sea of emerald green as far as the eye can see, you understand the importance of having the right equipment to cut and maintain the lawn. No-one with a large tract of land wants to spend their ‘spare’ time on endless hours of lawn maintenance with a small tractor style lawnmower, especially not when there’s a

Rob, and he knows machinery. If you’re accustomed to lawn maintenance being a chore, the Ferris Zero-Turn has decidedly taken the challenge to transform a labour of love into a pleasant at-home experience. If you have rough terrain, be prepared to be amazed as Ferris’ patented suspension allows for a smooth ride at the same rate of speed you would mow an even lawn, leaving a

Just in time for summer, Ferris is introducing three new models, the F125XT as well as the 52” IS 2100Z and the 61” 2100Z Zero-Turn ride-on mowers. Ideal for large plot owners, the F125XT can mow up to 4.3 acres per

hour while the 2100Z can reach a rate of 5.1 acres per hour so you can spend less time working and more time enjoying. Of course, safety always comes first with Ferris. Strict testing assures for a safe and comfortable ride, while a 2+2 year limited warranty will leave you worry free. Call 1800 356 632 to locate your closest dealer.

Ideal for large plot owners, the 2100Z Zero-Turn can mow up to 5.1 acres per hour. quick and viable method of cutting the grass. Don’t believe something like that exists? Take it from Rob Mellor, Briggs & Stratton Commercial Category Manager for Australia and New Zealand. “There’s something special about the smell of freshly cut grass, and with a Ferris ZeroTurn mower, you can enjoy the sweet aroma while you swiftly and efficiently get your lawn into shape – all without having to break out into a sweat,” says 62

freshly manicured green space in its wake. “Many operators don’t realise that they slow down over uneven terrain,” says Rob, “until they test drive a Ferris mower with suspension and notice the mower deck follows the movement of the wheels and the flow of the terrain, resulting in a beautiful, consistent cut.”

The Ferris IS 2100Z Zero-Turn ride-on mower is ideal for large plot owners.

*AITA Statistics Ytd December 2013. #Source: Logistik Magazine 2013. Pictures are for illustration purposes only. Actual colour of products may differ from picture displayed.

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PUZZLES 1

CROSSWORD 2

The Quiz 4

ACROSS 1. Stretch (for) 4. More evil 7. Resupply with guns 8. Mumbai is there 9. Animal skin disease 12. Peruses 14. Brazilian dance 15. Synagogue scholar 16. Proper name 17. Reasoning

QUIZ SOLUTIONS: 1. Saturday 2. Hats 3. Mosaic 4. Rose 5. Stretching and yawning 6. Eye 7. Perth 8. Chrissie Hynde 9. Divergent 10. Drachma 11. Or near offer 12. Mike Baird 13. Hamilton Island 14. A diary 15. No Doubt 16. Glove 17. Malaria 18. Liverpool F.C. 19. Utah 20. Salyut 1

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FINDAWORD Solution: ART GALLERY

DOWN 1. Kingdom 2. Set-up 3. Haul strenuously 4. Spew forth 5. Shaping garden 6. The R of HRH 10. UK racecourse 11. Roomy 12. Resist authority 13. Fast jet effect, ... boom

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Which day of the week is named after the Roman god Saturn? What does a milliner make? What is the ancient art form that fastens pieces of tiles to create a picture? What is the national floral emblem of the United States? If someone is pandiculating, they are doing what? Astigmatism affects which part of the body? Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo hails from which Australian city? Who was leader of the late ’70s band The Pretenders? What is the name of the Veronica Roth novel that has spawned a 2014 film of the same name? 10. What was the currency of Greece prior to the Euro? 11. In classified ads, what does ONO stand for? 12. Who became the 44th Premier of NSW, following Barry O’Farrell’s resignation? 13. HTI is the airport code for which Australian destination? 14. What was Samuel Pepys famous for creating? 15. Which band did Gwen Stefani belong to before launching her solo career? 16. ‘Handschuh’ is a German word meaning what? 17. Which disease derives its name from the Italian for ‘bad air’? 18. You’ll Never Walk Alone is the anthem of which English Premier League football club? 19. In which US state was the first ever KFC restaurant? 20. Launched in 1971, what was the name of the first space station?

FINDAWORD - Colour Find all the words listed hidden in the grid of letters. They can be found in straight lines up, down, forwards, backwards or even diagonally. The leftover letters will reveal the mystery answer. AQUA AZURE BEIGE BLUE BROWN BUFF CYAN GREEN GREY LILAC LIME MAGENTA MAROON MAUVE NAVY OCHRE OLIVE ORANGE PRIMROSE PURPLE TANGERINE TERRACOTTA TURQUOISE WHITE YELLOW

L E V I L O Y F F U B

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THE PER F

LEADING AUSTRALIA SINCE 1989

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