The Actual “Working” Part of being in Australia

I believe it is time for a blog about the actual work I have been doing while here in Australia. I was brought here to work on a LNG pipeline project. The project was to do some pre-construction geotechnical investigation work including drilling and test pitting at various locations along the pipeline. The pipeline is to carry coal seam gas from the extraction location in the interior of Australia approximately 650 km to the export plant along the coastline where they will have plants to cool and liquify the gas to load it onto ships. Due to extreme flooding and various other complications, about 4 weeks after my arrival, the client cancelled the project (not typical).

I have just completed my second rotation of 11-days on/3-days off shift for a different portion of the project. Golder is currently working on phase 3 of the plant portion of the pipeline project. The current phase is to provide engineering guidelines for the proposed 100-m diameter tanks that will hold the liquified natural gas (LNG) before loading it onto cargo ships. The plant is located on Curtis Island, off the coast from Gladstone. The investigation consists of advancing 9 borings in the area of each of the proposed two tank locations. The borings are advanced to 40 meters. We begin each boring using an auger screw with SPTand tube samples every 0.5 m from 0 to 10 m below ground surface then every 1.5 m. When we get refusal with the auger, which usually happens before 10 m, we switch to washboring (mud rotary) to refusal and then switch to rock core drilling. We are able to auger and wash through the topsoil, colluvium, and residual soil (highly weathered bedrock). We have mostly encountered mudstone, claystone, chert, and siliceous mudstone.

The fun part of the project is that we get to take a boat to and from the island every day! We see the sunrise and set every day over the water. It is truly beautiful. Curtis Island is full of animals, most of which I have only been told about and not gotten to see; including wild pigs, brumbies, and dingos. I have, however, gotten to see and hear the kookaburra, lots of spiders, and one legless lizard (that’s the closest I want to come to seeing a snake)!