On the road to somewhere……else.

Welcome to Port Augusta, South Australia. This is my second cluster area, working in 8 schools, primary and secondary. Unlike Port Hedland, my first visit as an outreach officer in February 2016, was not my first visit to Port Augusta. Everyone and anyone who travels by road or rail across this great country Australia has a very limited number of routes; National Highway 1, the longest national highway in the world apparently (although the section called the Savannah Way is pretty rough) or National Highway 2 (via Mount Isa and Tennant Creek.) There are other 4WD routes but if you want to travel from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean most traffic either takes NH2 or the southern part of NH1 and if you take NH1 you will go through Port Augusta.

And that’s what most people do; go through Port Augusta. You stop for petrol and amenities and that’s it. When Tim and I traveled from Darwin to visit his parents in Adelaide, we went through Port Augusta. It’s the last stop before Adelaide and the first on the way home. Its nickname is Porta Gutta because to be honest, what you see from the main road doesn’t do it any justice. The landscape is not green and welcoming with the fields on the way in from all sides, filled with grey salt bush, a few sheep, the occasional emu and road kill. Port Augusta used to have a coal fired power station as well, which probably contributed to the Gutta aspect.

Once you spend some time in Port Augusta, however, you discover a typical Australian regional town with all the pluses and minuses that comes with regional living. The closure of the power stations has created a real downturn in the local economy but there have been concerted efforts to create new jobs particularly in renewal energy with solar and wind. Unfortunately one of the solar projects hasn’t ‘got up’ due to funding.

The weather can be extreme, with the temperature hitting an all time high of 49.5⁰C on 24 Jan this year and weeks and weeks of no rain and high temperatures; even though it is on the water, the humidity can be very low. Other days it is so beautifully calm and the waters of the Spencer Gulf are like a millpond. When it does rain, it can absolutely bucket down

Port_Augusta3jpg — Port Augusta in the rain

and then, later in the year, you can be blown away in a major dust storm.

Port_Augusta4 — Port Augusta in a dust storm

Where I stay in Port Augusta, at the Majestic Oasis Apartments, is a lovely place with wonderfully friendly staff. (http://www.oasisportaugusta.com.au/ ) I essentially get the same room every visit which has a great view out over the gulf. Waking up and looking out over the water is a great way to start a day when you are away from home.

Port_Augusta6 — View from the balcony at the Majestic Oasis Apartment.

The big thing about Port Augusta is that it is on the way to somewhere. It is a great base to explore the Eyre Peninsula, the Flinders Ranges, the Claire Valley, the Yorke Peninsula, Gawler Ranges National Park and beyond. Spending many a weekend in Port Augusta, I have had the opportunity to visit all these places expect Gawler Ranges, which I hope to get this year, as well as a far north as Broken Hill and as far west as the Head of the Bight.

So next time you’re on your way to somewhere else, why not spend a couple of nights in Port Augusta, even if it’s only to visit somewhere else.

PA56 — Sunset over the Spencer Gulf from Port August

Back on the road again

Had my first real trip for the 2019 with a three week stint in Port Hedland, WA, which includes South Hedland. For those of you that may not know where Port Hedland is, it is in the Pilbara. Still none the wiser, check out their website: www.porthedland.wa.gov.au

I work in the 5 primary schools and the 1 secondary school in the immediate Hedland area as well as Marble Bar, which is 200+ km south-east of Port Hedland, into the outback. Marble Bar (www.aussietowns.com.au/town/marble-bar-wa) holds a world record but not a lot else, other than some amazing rock formation in the river.

20180824_094406 — Example of the rocks at Marble Bar.

20180824_093954 — Wide angle of the De Grey River which contains the rock formations that give Marble Bar its name.

While visiting the school, I popped down the local store , which by the way, sells fantastic homemade sausage rolls and other good Australian tucker, and when I got back to the school, I sat out on the porch outside the admin block. It was 45 C and there was silence; no insect sound, no bird sound, no human sound, just the gentle, hot breeze moving through the trees. It was just too damn hot and anything with sense was indoors in the air-conditioning.

I wasn’t planning on talking about the Pilbara, but if you have never been there, it is an incredible place, probably for all the wrong reasons. It is huge, the skies are vast, the land is red and everything is big. Sometimes it green, but mostly it’s red and brown.

PH3 — The dirt and the sky – Port Hedland, Western Australia

When I’m driving around this beautiful country I listen to audio books as you can’t always rely on the radio reception; my favourite in the Pilbara is Andy Weir’s ‘The Martian’ because I may as well be there, i.e. Mars.

The roads are pretty good because there are lots of mines around the place and huge road trains, 4 trailers long,

20170226_183858 — Road train heading to Port Hedland

work the smaller mines on the road out to Marble Bar or south towards Newman. The biggest hazard is probably live stock as cattle stations are so huge the paddocks aren’t fenced. Low flying flocks of small birds can be a bit of a problem too. I once took out about 4 wild budgerigars when a flock suddenly swooped in front of the car. I was devastated and stopped and ran back to check. While I’m standing on the side of the road looking at these poor little birds, a guy stopped and asked if I was okay. When I explained, he looked at me, shook his head and said, “These things happen,” then drove off. He was probably thinking a few other things as well.

But let’s backup a bit; to get to Port Hedland, I catch a 4 hour flight to Perth from Melbourne, generally sit round for a full working day (during eastern day light saving, there is a 3 hour time difference,) then fly 2 & half hours to Port Hedland. When I visit I stay for 3 working weeks because it is far too far to go for just 10 days as you loose 2 days just getting there and back.

When I first visited in February 2016 my overwhelming memories are of bigness; the roads are big, the trains are big, the trucks are big, the ships are big…. I’m sure you’re getting the picture. The trains can be between 90 and 330 wagons long, over 3 km in length. You don’t want to get to the rail crossing when one of the long ones goes past.

Distance is relative. No, I hear you cry, a kilometer is a 1000m wherever you are, but I would argue distance and length are two different things. Let me give you an example. Late last year, my very dear Uncle Rob passed away after a prolonged battle with cancer. Unfortunately I was in Port Hedland at the time of the funeral, which was in Auckland, New Zealand. I wrote down some of my memories of Rob and sent them to my brothers who would be attending the funeral. Afterwards I was feeling emotional and I needed to see as well as talk to a friend. Fortunately, Jac, my friend and colleague, was in Karratha, so I called her up and said, “Do you want to have a coffee?” As her answer was positive, I jumped in the car and drove to Karratha for coffee and then drove back again (a 500km round trip.) Telling this to locals, their response is, “Fair enough, done that myself more than once,” while responses from family and Melbourne friends was more likely, “You did what?” So back to my argument, distance is relative; when the nearest town is 250km down the road, a 500km round trip is a quick trip, while 500km in other places is at least an overnight journey.

20180311_134437 — The Claw, just outside Hedland, at the Marble Bar turnoff.

I love working in a place like Hedland as the people are generally so welcoming. Nearly everyone is from somewhere else, which means their immediate families are not around so people make their new families and support and care each other. Some people dropped in for a couple of days and are still there 20 years later; others last 6 months at the most. It is not an easy life, living in the heat, dust and isolation but if you are prepared to give it a go it can be very rewarding. I work with a number of young graduate teachers who have ventured out into the unknown, along way from home, friends and family, but the experiences they have, both professional and personal, will shape who they become. Some view it as the best, some as the worst. Part of my job is to hopefully give them positive and rewarding insights into teaching mathematics that will stay with them throughout their teaching careers.

A monster of a storm brewing over Hedland during the wet season.

If you ever get the chance, visit the Pilbara. You might be glad to leave but everything about the environment is overwhelming

At sunset, even the industrial landscape is beautiful.

Sums, sets and sunsets

20170222_183933

Mathematics has beauty and romance. It’s not a boring place to be, the mathematical world. It’s an extraordinary place; it’s worth spending time there.

Marcus du Sautoy

Professor du Sautory words ring so true to me and is something I live and breathe every working day. It, however, is at times a struggle to persuade others that it is true. I have an incredible job; along with 7 colleagues, we travel the width and breadth of this amazingly beautiful and diverse country, Australia, working with teachers, school leadership, students, parents and the general community, trying to encourage and enable people to spend time in the wonderful world of mathematics. At the same time, we get to experience some stunning, and not so stunning, parts of the country. While we outreach officers are out on the road, there is also a talented team that manages marketing, media, research, careers awareness and mentoring around the country, as we all work towards raising the profile of mathematics across every aspect of the community.

I have had this job for 3 years now and, with 2019 the last year of the project, I decided to blog my way through the next 12 months, sharing stories, thoughts, discoveries, hopes, mathematics and sunsets.

The idea for this blog came from Chris, my brother-in-law, when he suggested I write a book called, ‘Sums, Sets and Sunsets,’ about my job and travel. Why sunsets? Well, it has become a standard practice among the team to share what we refer to as ABS (Another Bloody Sunset or Sunrise) and I frequently share my ABSs on my FB page so friends and family can see the beauty that this country can throw up.

I also thought it would be a great opportunity to share the amazing journey I have been on, both professionally and personally as, while I have 35 years plus experience as a teacher, the last 20 as a numeracy specialist, the last 10 as a teaching and learning coach, I have learnt so much over the past 3 years, I seriously wish I had another 35 – if only I knew then what I know now and what I will no doubt learn in the coming year.

I decided to go with a blog because there may be others out there in this wonderful global world that are interested in what I do, I think, I hope and I see. If there are, I hope you will join me on the journey.