On the weekend I returned to Perth exhausted after 12 days of intense work costing a road construction project in Port Hedland. This was my first visit to Port Hedland, the main town in Western Australia’s Pilbara and Australia’s highest tonnage port.

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company and newcomer Fortescue Metals Group transport iron ore on massive 2 km+ long trains to Port Hedland to be shipped to Asia and the world.

I was originally going to stay for 3 days but the trip duration was extended twice.

I stayed in a donga (transportable building) in Camp Kooyong close to the airport, waking up at at 5:15 am in order to start work at 6:30. Camp Kooyong was full of FIFO contractors, working long hours away from home.

It was easy to see why so many contractors had beer bellies. Good food is served up buffet-style every day and there is no limit to how much can be eaten.

An iron ore train travelling under the full moon at dawn

I worked in Wedgefield, close to South Hedland, a satellite suburb of Port Hedland. They use big wheelbarrows here…

My office was the “crib room” (lunch room), another donga, and I shared my table with a microwave – visible at the far end 

BHP Billiton’s iron ore train engines dwarfs a car

A massive iron ore ship in Port Hedland Harbour getting loaded for export

Everything in Port Hedland is big – many road trains have 4 trailers

Port Hedland Airport

Port Hedland “International” Airport, has 1 flight per week to and from Bali, Indonesia but multiple flights daily to Perth.  One can tell it is a contracting town as the airport security scanning area has seats reserved for taking off steel-cap boots!

Half marathon finishers received a medallion

This morning, in cool, overcast weather, I ran 21.1 km around the beautiful Swan River, finishing the 2009 Perth Half Marathon in 1:57:47. I was aiming to go under 1:50 but I’m very happy to get under 2 hours, particularly considering a) the congestion at the start, b) 2 toilet breaks and c) inclement weather. Courtney Carter, the men’s winner ran 1:07(!), to become the 2009 WA State Champion, beating over 900 fellow participants in the process.

I ran a 1:01:11/56:36 negative split* which I’m proud of. My mirrored splits (cumulative time bracketed):

1st half

0-2 km: 11:56 (11:56)

2-4 km: 12:25 (24:21)

4-7 km: 17:17 (41:38)

7-10.55 km: 19:33 (1:01:11)

2nd half

10.55-14 km: 19:21 (1:20:32)

14-17 km: 16:46 (1:37:18)

17-19 km: 10:12 (1:47:30)

19-21.1 km: 10:17 (1:57:47)

Daryl of Frank And Daz Take On The World fame also ran today. Running part of the way with him was inspiring. What a legend!

My next challenge is to double the distance and run a full 42.195 km marathon! I will achieve this in the first half of 2010.

*A negative split occurs when the 2nd half is run faster than the first. Many runners are tempted to run fast at the start only to suffer later on, often affecting their overall time.

This morning I ran 6 laps of Lake Monger equal to 21 km and my first ever half marathon distance. My 3.5 km (lap) splits were 18:42, 20:35, 20:10, 20:05, 19:22 and 18:43 for an overall time of 1:57:37. I’m very proud of my achievement and am now confident of finishing the upcoming Perth Half Marathon on 21 June.

Tonight rain hit Perth for the first time in May. The balmy 25 degree Celsius days have finished for now. My car appreciated the wash as no doubt the local plants and animals did. Lake Monger slowly receded with the dry weather and hopefully this trend has reversed.

My flatmate Chrystelle saw Nirvana live in concert in Los Angeles!

Western Australian today held its fourth daylight saving referendum. On this occasion, like the previous three referendums, the NO vote won and Western Australia’s three year experiment with summer daylight saving has ended.

I voted as a Western Australian resident for the first time in the state electorate of Churchlands.

Australian citizen residents of Western Australia were asked to write down either a YES or NO in response to the following question:

Are you in favour of daylight saving being introduced in Western Australia by standard time in the State being advanced one hour from the last Sunday in October 2009 until the last Sunday in March 2010 and in similar fashion for each following year?

I voted YES because I enjoy the extra hour of light in summer evenings and the larger difference in times makes business more difficult to conduct with the rest of Australia. A majority of Churchlands voters agreed with me although we were outvoted by the remainder of the voting public.

In the great scheme of things, daylight saving is not a big deal, although the campaigning from both sides of the debate wanted you to think otherwise. Outside the polling booth were flyers promoting the YES vote. Is “What legacy do you want to leave to your kids?” a dramatic enough title?

* The past 3 weeks I’ve been very busy working at Brierty Ltd’s head office in Maddington, an industrial suburb south east of the airport. This is my first client placement and I’m learning fast. The folks at Brierty are great and their office is more relaxed and spacious than Turner & Townsend’s. Bjoern and I share a donga (portable office – basically a glorified shipping container) with Steve, Glen and Adi.

* Legendary actor Charles “Bud” Tingwell died. RIP. There was only ever one ‘Gramps’ in Charlie the Wonder dog:

* This week I bought return plane tickets to Bali with AirAsia for only $215!

* On Sunday, I ran the Mothers Day Classic, completing the 7 km run (2 laps of Lake Monger) in 34:04. Rob and Cheryl also had a run. I was lucky enough to win a spot prize: DKNY’s Red Delicious perfume.

* Tuesday evening I ran further than I’ve ever run before: 14 km (4 laps of Lake Monger). Today I repeated that feat. My current running aim is to finish the Perth Half Marathon on 21 June.

* Last weekend a trailer and helped Bjoern and Ola furnish their formerly sparsely-furnished home. Lifting tables and desks up stairs is fun…

Before the end of 2010 I aim to:

* Gain Project Management Professional (PMP) certification

* Buy a house/unit/apartment

* Enter the next level of consultancy

* Complete the 2010 Istanbul Marathon