trashed tarago comedy tour

Well, here we are in front of the tarago. Ready for the big tour to mines in WA. That's me on the left (Big Don), Troy Kinne, Chris Dooley (the organiser and MC, looking despondent because he's not drunk yet) and Big Col...aka Colin Cole. We've just arrived at out first gig: Murrin Murrin nickel mine 60 k East of Leonora. At this mine we had to carry a resuscitator and poison gas detector. If the detector goes off you have 20 seconds to rip open the resuscitator and run to an up-wind position. As Troy said, bit of a bummer if you're on stage and suddenly the audience all dive for their gas masks! The night show was a ripper - about 150 people all hollering and laughing. The morning show (at 7am!!!) wasn't so well attended. Imagine doing a 12 hour night shift, coming back to base to have a meal, drinking a few beers and then staying to watch a comedy show. Audience were geat, just a few in numbers.

 Here's big Col in Leonora. Spends most of his life in London, working as a ship tour entertainer, gambling, doing shows in the UK and selling contraband ciggarettes (bought on the ship cruises) to pommy smokers. None of us have really managed to upset him yet, and I sincerely hope that if and when that does happen, it's not me. This guy loves to bet on horses, which we'll be doing tomorrow, in between driving all the way to Exmouth.

                                  Kalgoorlie businessman whith a sence of humour.

This is Mount Newman, also simply known as Newman. It's a big town in the middle of the Pilbara (North Eastern area of WA). All around this town are mines: Gold mines, iron ore mines, mineral sands etc. People usually work at these mines as FIFOs. This means Fly In Fly Out, which is what they do, most often on a roster of two weeks on, one week off (but this varies). When the are "on" they're working 12 hour shifts, and there's not really a lot to do. Consequently the mining companies have built villages that contain pools, gyms, cinemas, internet, indoor cricket, beach volley ball courts, (free phone on some sites) and excellent food. The accomodation consists of many rows of air-conditioned metal and plastc sheds called "dongas". As Chris says, "They're called dongas coz all you can fit into them is your dick". In the old days - 1960s to 80s - mine sites were really rough, all male, everyone was pissed and stoned, and fights broke out every day. Nowadays it's very different. There's quite a few women, no drugs, each miner has to blow "zero" on the alcohol tester every morning, and anyone who fights faces instant dismisal. They also employ "enviros" or environment officers - generally science grads whose job is to cut down on rubbsih and waste in the village.

                               This is a little fella called Paddy Hanan, supposedly the first person to find gold in Kalgoorlie, the boom town settled in the 1870s in WA.  Kalgoorlie may well become world famous soon, as they're about to make a film about the 600k water pipeline that was built (between the caost and Kalgoorlie) in the late nineteenth century by another Irishman called C Y O'Connor. Many people considered the pipeline as a crazy folly that would never work. Days after it was opened - and no water seemed to be flowing - O'Conner succumed to the barage of criticism and rode a horse into the sea south of Perth and shot himself. The next day the water flowed and he became a celebrated man.

                             A sculpture outside the depratment of housing in Mount Newman. I imagine it's supposed to represent the nuclear family, the big fallic thing being the Dad.

                    This should give an idea of just how big the trucks are in the North of WA. This one has three carriages but some have four. It takes a bit of practice to pass these things on the open road. If you ever have to, remember that they have a signal system: if they flick on their right indicator briefly, it's clear to go round. You can trust them as they have far better vision of the road ahead (due to their height). A word of warning though. Stay back before passing - at least one car length per 10 k per hour. If you tailgate them, a) they can't see you, and b) you can't see what might be coming the other way.