Planning for the Future, part deux

I did a bit of research after writing yesterday's blog.

There's a mob in Perth (the one in Western Australia, not the one it was named after in Scotland) called Mining Training Services that will train you to drive one of those big tip trucks for $2970. Now, considering it's costing me about $1300 next week to get my Heavy Rigid licence, which will allow me to drive normal trucks, I think that's pretty good value.

To top it off, if you have a look at their website, they also do recruiting.

I have to admit, I'm really tempted. I'm not saying I'm going to jump straight in and go for it, but it's a distinct possibility in about six months time when I've sorted a few other things out.

------

I've pretty much picked what subjects I'm doing next year and most of them will be the first year subjects that I need to get out of the way and should have done ages ago, like Chemistry, Maths and Statistics.

September will be great, only four days for the Chemisty res, as the other subjects either don't have res schools, or they aren't compulsory. April is a different matter as I'll need to take off at least eighteen days. That means I'll almost certainly have to use some more of my long service leave.

It's not all bad though. The April trip means we'll be spending four days sightseeing around Armidale between subjects, which means plenty of time to take photos of the Autumn leaves (or fall leaves if you prefer). I might have to take the Toyo with me again.

Also, the Geology res includes four days out at Lake Keepit doing field mapping. The last time I had a residential like that was first semester last year when I did Invertebrate Zoology. We spent four days at Arrawarra Field Station on the coast just north of Coffs Harbour. That meant getting up in the morning, wading across the creek, then walking about a kilometre up the beach to class. At lunch time we'd all walk back to our cabins at the caravan park for lunch, then repeat again for the afternoon. From the deck on our cabin we were looking straight out to sea, all for about forty bucks a night.

Hard to take? Not at all.