Yesterday Jeff, Lorena and I got the opportunity to tour around the gold mine that borders Vanessa's property. The mine is called Northgate Goldmine and you might say that the relationship between Vanessa and them is a bit of an emotional roller coaster. They were nice enough however to take us on a tour both of the mill and the underground mining. Brad took us on a driving tour of the grounds and then we traveled into the portal and down into the mine. We traveled about 500 meters underground and were shown the entire process to extract the gold. For thos eof you that also read Jeff's blog, dont believe him. He fell asleep in the car so he doesnt actually know how far down we went. It was all very interesting but I wouldnt recommend it to a clostraphobic person. To top off the entire experience, we also were able to wear the sweet gear shown in the picture below. Needless to say we all got pretty hot but it was worth it. I asked if I could borrow the head lamp and vest to go out Friday night but they didnt seem very receptive.
Following the tour I figured we might be given a couple gold bars as a present but no such luck. When the company made over 110 million dollars last year I figured they could spare some but some people in this world are just plain rude and greedy.
Later that day we had a girl and her mother here from New Zealand to look at the property. She bought one of Vanessa's horses about a year ago and wanted to see where her horse came from. All I am going to say is that I hope that the other New Zealanders I meet in a couple weeks are nicer than these two were.
And finally to the exciting part of the day. Vanessa and I drove my friend Lorena back down to the airport that night, left the farm around 5:30. After dropping her off, Vanessa and I drove into McDonalds for a healthy dinner and a petrol refill. These crazy Australians dont even call it gasoline over here. Anyways, we got the food, got the gas and suddenly the car wouldnt move. I pushed the clutch down but it wouldnt release from the floor board. Thus the beginning of our adventure. Paul was nice enough to drive the hour and a hlaf down from the farm to the airport becuase he was able to drive the car without the clutch. When he arrived he took one look at the car and discovered that he in fact would not be able to drive it. This left us with our final option to tow it back home. Paul had a thick rope that he tied inbetween the two cars and off we went. I was in the drivers seat of the broken car with the engine running but the car in neutral. All I had were brakes and the radio. We decided to go back on the back roads to avoid traffic. This meant we had to go up and down mountains and through roads that would rival 21 curves. If you dont get that reference be glad. It is a horrible road to drive on. To top it all off, IT WAS RAINING. Lets just say that by the time I got home my nerves were a little fragile after the 7 hour trip to the airport. It normally takes four hours. I quickly went to bed and slept very well after an extremely long day. All just to wake up again the next morning at 7:30 to feed the horses. Mark that down as things not to do while in Australia.
This picture was just an added perk of the day.
