anyway, payton and two co-workers - glenn harrington (from south aus) and brian smeard (from canada; he and his partner actually moved here the same day we did) are collaborating on a research project looking at the shallow (and some deep) groundwater in an area called the great artesian basin. they went on a seven day sampling trip pretty much straight north of adelaide, almost to the border of the northern territory and along the edge of the simpson desert. since those landmarks probably don't mean anything to you, let me clarify - they were in the middle of #%$@ing nowhere! the boys sampled pre-drilled wells and largely followed a 4WD trail called the oodnadatta track (anywhere south of nowhere in this country is on a four wheel drive track - not like you think of in the mountains, but flat, sandy, scrubby, shrubby, hot, dry, sandy, extremely remote four wheeling) - the thriving metropolis of oodnadatta consists of two bars and a hotel and healthcare is delivered via the royal flying doctors who come maybe once a month. camping consisted of a big fire, drinking XXXX (called 4X) beer - a queensland favorite... and it is HORRIBLE beer - and tossing your "swag" (a large bed roll) on the ground. there are ranches out there, they call them "stations" here (and a pasture or large field is known as a paddock), and they are huge. hectares and hectares. which, if you look at the land, makes obvious sense because the single scrubby brush per 10 acres is hardly enough to feed a single sheep, much less a flock. so ranchers around here don't drive trucks, but fly planes to check their land and livestock.
it turns out payton, glenn and brian all get along real well... except brian REALLY (i mean REALLY) likes the dave matthews band - an unfortunate blemish in an otherwise really nice guy (kidding brian. sort of.) so, payton has the fortune of collaborating with two other young scientists (both fellows are finished with post-docs and are full-fledged research scientists) who are excited for and interested in their work and careers, and all three share interests outside of work; friends and colleagues. a lucky combo. as payton said, he has a lot of technical training to bring to the table, but has a lot of practical knowledge to gain from working with these guys. glenn is married to a gal named nikki (also a hydrogeolist doctorate) and they have two daughters - zara is three and she and nova play well together, and laila is six months. brian's partner, jessica - also a geologist! (i have to have conversations with myself when we hang out just so i have something to talk about with someone) - is ADORED by nova. seriously. nova wakes up in the morning and says.. not mama, not daddy, but "jess-a-ca... want to see jess-a-ca".
so the guys had a blast growing dirty beards, hitting emus (a sad but true accident), drinking bad beer and sampling ground water. the good thing about this for me was that it finally lit a fire under my ass to socialize! nova is now enrolled in swim lessons and kindergym and we even had a couple playdates (you can bet that's right up my alley!). we hung out with jessica and nikki and her girls, went to a big open-land zoo called monarto with a polish family and a german fellow from payton's work (THAT was interesting), and wondered endlessly how single mothers do it... and that digressed into how ANYbody does it with more than one kid... and after that, i just started hoping payton got home soon!
and so, the two parents to one child ratio is now happily restored and less than a week after payton got home, we took off for a camping trip to coffin bay.
No comments:
Post a Comment