Dump Clean-Up

[Okeden]

G'day Scrappies

Just spent the last 10 days out at the Quilpie Dump in Western Queensland. My mate with the crushing machine won the contract out there and it hasn't been cleaned out for several years. Mate is doing all the light gauge steel with his crusher and the heavy stuff he is cutting and putting in his scrap bins. My job is the pile of white goods. I am stripping all the goodies and then mate will crush what's left.

Got home about 10:40 last night with a load and will be heading back on Tuesday to finish the Quilpie dump before heading a further 100 km west to Eromanga. The dump there is not quite as big but has some cars as well. Apparently the quality is better out there as there are no scavengers. It is a mining community, so they are not really interested. It's over 900 km to the nearest scrap yard so not worthwhile for back yarders. But I've definitely got to invest in a 5-6 tonne truck which will be more applicable then my ute.

I'll be taking the Go-Pro with me this time so will get some vids for you. In the meantime you'll have to settle for some photos.

First two pics give an idea of the white goods pile. I've brought back a loaded 7x4 trailer, my ute loaded and the back seat of my ute loaded. Next two pics show the "bricks" that mate makes with the crusher, and the final pic is the Mack all loaded and ready to go. Mate is bringing back a second trailer so will road train out next trip. I'm bring the big car trailer with a wire cage to hopefully get everything this trip. Mate has 30 bricks on the load with three scrap bins at the back full of heavy gauge. He also has oversize heavy gauge pipe running down the middle of the load.

Cheers all.

[Chris]

Thanks for the pics Bill - looks like hard yakka, but in a satisfying kinda way!
Looks very dry up there to me.. but then I grew up in nice cropping country, so it's quite possible your pics show normal conditions!
Looking forward to the upcoming vids 👍😊

[Okeden]

Yeah Chris, very dry here. The locals reckon they have been in drought for 15 years. Expecting rain tomorrow and Saturday and a cool change on Sunday. Can only hope.

It's a massive job alright, but that's where the money is.

Cheers

[Inner City Recycler]

Looks like nice country in that "dry as a dogs donger" kind of way. I loved the 2 years the firm had me out travelling.

[Okeden]

Yeah great country ICR but funny weather. Been here a month now and have had 39 degree days, gale force winds, warm nights, cold nights, but no rain. But I do love it out here.

[Okeden]

G'day scrappies. Thought i would give you an update on our job out here at Quilpie in Western Qld. You would have seen the pile of white goods I was faced with, well here are some pics of what is left. The second pic is what I will clean up tomorrow and the first pic I will clean up on Sunday and Monday. The rest of the pics show what I have processed while out here. Bloody hot I can tell you. Cheers

[Chris]

..and not a cloud in the sky! Thanks for the pics Bill - better you than me, I'm thinking!!

[Okeden]

You're right there Chris, still not a cloud. 42 yesterday, 43 today, and a cool change tomorrow - 39 degrees. So I've had the day off today and done some accounting work. Trouble was I was trying to connect via the cloud, but there aren't any. LOL. Actually the internet was bloody terrible this morning but it was apparently the local Telstra tower. It came good after mucking around for nearly an hour trying to get a stable connection. Hate Telstra but it's the only go to out here. Ah well, lots of fun. Cheers Bill

[Chris]

Hahaha, nice "cloud" joke mate!! 🤣🤣🤣
39 degree cool change! Gee, hope you took a jacket!
You are certainly earning your money Bill - good luck to you! 👍👍
Any snakes up there, or is it too hot for them? I'm guessing your mate has an air conditioned cab on his crushing machine?

[Okeden]

Actually Chris, I've got three cardigans with me. And believe it or not, when we got here early last month, I actually wore them, not for long but a little at night before bed and then in the morning. But now they just make up some padding in my bed.

In the last hour we have had a bloody cyclone, or seems like it, and a dust storm. Starting to settle down a bit now. At least the internet is working again. Haven't seen any snakes but seen their slithery tracks along with goanna tracks that are chasing them. Thought I might have found some in the white goods dump, but nothing. I'm happy about that because I don't have my gun with me.

No my mate doesn't have A/C in the crusher, just opens the windows. Reckons that is pretty good. BUT, he has an Ice Pack in his truck. That's like a mini A/C for the sleeper cab. So he's comfortable. I just sleep in the back seat of my ute with the back windows open a bit. A bit squeezy but once my head hits the pillow I don't feel a thing.

Next trip I will have a truck. Just a 5 tonne body truck to give me more capacity. It's not A/C'd but I can sleep across the front seats at full stretch, 6 ft. It's also got insect screens for the windows so you can them wide open.

Feels a bit like being back in the army. Sleep wherever you can. Also eating a lot of tin food but ole mate has taken over the cooking because he reckons my meals are boring. I don't mind actually, he's a bloody good cook.

Cheers
Bill

[Inner City Recycler]

Bill.
I could handle the work but I need a bed at night. You must be as tough as old boots.

[Okeden]

ICR, mate after 74 years, and 7 in the Army, you will sleep anywhere, which I have. Back seat of my ute is quite comfortable actually. Worst place from memory was sleeping under the barrel of my 105mm howitzer in the Army, that's an Artillery gun by the way. It was pissing rain and the only dry part of me was my head and chest, everything else was saturated. But sleep I did. It's all just life's experiences ol' mate. Old boots? Well maybe. Cheers Bill