Paige Gets To Visit Her Daddy's Work

Last weekend Ben had to be on site to work so I thought it would be a good opportunity to take Paige for a visit to see where her daddy works.
Everyday a company bus goes to and from town to the mine site so it was perfect to jump on for a day visit. Paige was very excited to be going on the bus, the first thing she said when she woke up was "I'm going to be seeing my daddy's work today".

The bus trip took about two hours on a very bumpy road. I am always quite amazed that the roads are not two lanes wide they are only single lanes. With all this land you would think that the road system would be better with wider lanes. Ben tells me of many accidents he sees to and from site so I was surprised that we didn't see any on the way.

On arrival to site we had to go through a security check. It is the most diligent check I have ever seen on a mine site. The personal check all parts of your bags and will pull things out to get a better look. .

Ben walked down from the office block to meet us, Paige was very excited to see him just like usual. We headed up to see where Ben worked each day.

Picture: Paige and Ben at his desk

Paige was really funny she didn't want to sit in Ben's chair but was full of questions "Whats this" she kept saying and followed Ben everywhere. She liked looking at the rocks which she found on one of the shelves. Ben shares an office with another employee so I was glad the other employee wasn't there at the time as I am sure he wouldn't had gotten any work done. Ben decided to take us for a drive to show us around site and the mining areas. As a safety rule if we got out of the car we had to make sure we had a safety vest, glasses and hard hat on. Paige didn't like that rule and it took us a while to convince her. On our drive around we stopped at the workshop to show Paige the trucks and digger that where there. We drove into the pit and Paige saw the trucks being loaded and we collected some rocks. Paige was very cute walking around looking at things. I pointed out a drill rig and told her that her Matthew Pop used to operate one just like that and told her how I used to drive trucks. Paige said "Mummy I might drive trucks as well" both Ben and I laughed.

Picture: Ben & Paige standing in front of a truck at the workshop

Picture: Paige and Ben looking for rocks

Picture: Ben showing Paige a rock

We then drove around the site a little more and then drove up to a look-out that you could view one of the pits from. To the right you could see the enclosed mill area. It is a little strange seeing a mill area all enclosed, they do this because in winter it would be to cold to run.

Picture: View from look-out

Picture: Bernadette & Paige standing at look-out

It was now time for lunch so we headed to the mess area. I was surprised at how many people turned to look at Paige as we walked in. A couple of people did say she looked like a doll, I think it is because she has curly hair. As we sat to eat on of the workers asked Paige if she wanted to eat at his table, but she wasn't too interested in that. After lunch we went to see where Ben's room was. He had just moved rooms a couple of weeks ago so I expected the room to be a bit smaller and he was lucky to have his own bathroom which his last room didn't have.

Picture: Hall way leading to Ben's room

Picture: Paige laying on Ben's bed

Picture: The living areas of the camp and mess including the contractors gers

Picture: Cannabis plants that grow wide in the area

After spending about four hours on site it was time to catch the bus home. Once again we had to go through security checks. Paige was really up set leaving as she didn't want to go home, she wanted Ben to come with us. I am glad she fell a sleep on the bus because she was very upset. On the way home we saw an accident which was not an unusual sight due to drivers not driving to conditions. I think that some of the Mongolians must get their licences out of a vodka bottle.

I am glad that Paige and I where able to visit the mine site where Ben works. I think Paige enjoyed seeing where her daddy works.