#spaceexporation

[cellardoorskeptics]

#259: Ecommerce Environmental Impact / A Trip to Mars / Cancel Culture

[thestamfordproject]

2 - The Wedge

We departed one week prior to Easter 2014 fully loaded with supplies, our swags and the equipment we would need for this prospecting journey. The first leg of our trip would take around 12 hours, first east to Kalgoorlie, the major gold mining centre 7 hours east of Perth and then north to Leonora for an overnight stay before making the trip north east to Stamford. The 3 vehicles all went well and after a quick stop in Kalgoorlie to refill the tanks we arrived at our hotel in Leonora at about 6.00pm that evening.

We all enjoyed a great evening meal, I indulged in steak, chips and salad. The steak was nearly bigger than the plate, beautifully cooked and tender as. After dinner we played a few rounds of pool before Craig ordered us all to hit the sack, it would be another early start in the morning. Craig wanted to be on site by just after lunch so the rig could be set up and ready to start drilling first thing Tuesday.

We set out just on sunrise and headed east to Laverton then northeast  on the Great Central Road for an hour before heading north. How Alexander and Ernest made this journey with nothing more than a few horses and cart is beyond me. The road out to Stamford is not well used and as such is seldom maintained by the local authorities. To say it is rough would be an understatement.

We turned onto the Stamford track around 11am and as the terrain undulated we could catch occasional glimpses of the Wedge looming in the distance. A little after 12 we began the ascent up the long eastern flank and finally sat atop the Wedge about half an hour later.

The four of us immediately began setting up camp while Craig and Steve checked the area and decided where the drilling would start. They decided to commence pretty much centre and so began setting up the rig ready for drilling the next day. By the time they had finished we had established camp; no tents since we all had quality swags but pretty much all the other luxuries including an open pavilion to provide shade. A couple of generators ran some LED lights along with three Engel fridge/freezers. Adam and Brett prepared dinner of chicken and rice on a gas stove and grill while I gathered some meagre wood supplies and got a fire going. Graham sat on his arse with a cold beer telling everyone what a marvel to mankind he is and of course to woman kind too. He really is a knob but at least he provided us some laughs and has a good taste in music.

April is a beautiful time of year in this part of the world, average 25° Celsius through the day and down to around 12 or 13 at night. That’s in stark contrast to summer when temperatures are intolerable, quite often reaching well over 40° through November to February. As we settled down to dinner and the sun disappeared for the night we could feel a light chill in the air. Up on the Wedge you could see for miles and the evening was incredibly clear. Some light clouds filled the western horizon allowing the sun to give us a spectacular show. Although there was not a lot of action out here it was days and nights like this that made the Westons and their friends return time and time again.

We sat around the fire chatting about all and sundry. By the time it was dark the near full moon had already been up a couple of hours. It was spectacular and did not detract from the thousands upon thousands of stars in the sky, all so much brighter and clearer out here, away from both the air and light pollution of a big city.

Our talk turned to the universe and what wonders we knew it held and what it may hold. We all agreed the odds were stacked well in favour of there being other planets lucky enough to hold life. After all, with all those suns in our galaxy alone there had to be some chance a planet was just in the right location, had the right chemical balance and geographic stability to allow some sort of life to flourish. And then there were all those other suns in other galaxies. It made us all wonder.

As the conversation petered out Adam and I got up and walked towards the western lip about 20 metres away. We could see for miles, the moon illuminated the desert below in a soft glow, only the western face remained dark, the moon not having reached high enough to soak that area. From here you could still make out the darker shapes of the low shrubs and the occasional rocky outcrop. The only sounds were that of insects and Adam divesting himself of some bodily gases.

It had been another long day and tomorrow would be too and certainly an early start so I decided to turn in. As I drifted off the others too began to settle for the night.

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