17 November - Australia here I come -again!

So, fresh back from Malawi and Sussex I find myself on the way back to Vienna Airport and the  Senator lounge yet again. This time it is for a bit of a holiday to see Australia and catch up on a few items of personal business.
The route this time was Vienna-Frankfurt with Austrian Airlines and  then to collect a QANTAS flight to  Singapore and change to another QF flight to Brisbane. The Austrian flight was rather odd as we were delayed but nobody explained what was going on. The weather was misty and so a few minutes extra between take-offs was not unexpected - but 40 minutes!!!? And no explantion from the pilots at all- very poor form. I was concerend as the transfer at Frankfurt is never good and if you are heading to a One World flight it involves a train journey and a new check in etc etc. at the terminal on the far side of the airport. Still I made it on time in the end and there was still time for a small G&T at the Cathay Pacfic lounge before boarding the flight (B747) to Singapore. A front row seat upstairs in Business made life bearable  as we headed off into the night.
The flight to Singapore passed well and we arrived  on schedule and  in a twilight Singapore. Off to the lounge for a break and then catch the Airbus 330 to Brisbane. A good fllight but like the Boeing the seats are not fully flat as they are in BA and the Airbus 380 so sleep is not as easy to achieve as it ought to be at these prices.
An 0700 arrival in Brisbane was on time and in hot dry weather with little delay for the luggage and a very fast route through customs and quarantine. Finding the cab rank took a little longer than expected as the signposting is far from optimum but soon I was on the road to stay with friends in Chapel Hill.
These are friends from the Brunei days and I am godfather to their youngest. It transpired that Friday would be the big family dinner to mark the end of his university exams and so by chnace my timing was perfect. I spent the day with  a former colleague who lives just around the corner, also in Chapel Hill, and we discussed her report on a recent fellowship tour around the world (whihc had included Vienna and the Agency as a stopover for  discussions) and mining legacy issues in general and the need for the Government of Australia to start doing something about clearing up the mess in a structured way. Later that day, after a bit of shopping etc, I also had dinner and discussions with a former colleague who had recently relocated to Brisbane in the course of his work with a major mining house. It was good to see him and the family again as well as having time to chat about some very serious issues.
Finally I was back at my friends' house and catching upon sleep.

7-8 November: London again

This time it was saturday morning and I was back at Vienna Aiport en route to London, less than 24 hours after my return from Africa. This was a trip to see my sister Ali for her 60th birthday and to visit my father who lives with her and her husband Tim.
Once I had arrived Tim and Ali went away for their weekend together and I  sat with Dadwag  and was joined by my other sister Soo and then her husband Mike also arrived in time for dinner on saturday.
It was quiet weekend but very enjoyable before I  had to head off back to Vienna on sunday afternoon. The BA flights were  OK  although the sunday evening flight was delayed as seems to be the case most times. This just makes it difficult to get the last train from the airport into town in Vienna.

2 November - A new mine

When I was in Malawi previously it had been on a fact finding mission  in relation to a new mine proposal. Ths time it was to visit the project and see how thngs were now that the mine had officially opened.
The town of Karonga has grown and is busier since 2007, one impact of the new project which has been a major economic boost for the region.  The road from Karonga to the mine is still being upgraded and about half of it is stil  a gravel surface in poor condition. The local tucks are not well mantained and there seems to be one broken down around every other corner, usually in the centre of the road.......

There is also the matter of two way traffic; when these trucks meet it is often in a narrow section so somebody has to pull over, and these guys do not like to stop..........

.......still our driver was pretty cool and never pushed his luck so we had a slow but safe journey.

The mine tour was fascinating and the  transition over two years was amazing. These two pictures say it all...............

November 2009

Same view in July 2007!

We had a great visit with plenty to discuss and a lot of topics for the follow up meetings planned for the next day.

As we needed to be off the gravel road and  back into Karonga before dark, for road safety reasons, we could not hang around too long but the visit was comprehensive. 

 Back in Karonga there was chance to  take another loook at the incredible room I has been  given at the hotel...............

The bedroom with mosquito net................

and the semi-imperial bathroom; sadly the water pressure was so low the basin taps did not run!

The next day began with a few meetings before starting the return journey to Lilongwe.  We also checked out a couple of places aspossible venues fro afuture training course. This place was in an idyllic location on  the beach.........

....but sadly they are still building and have along way to go before they could deal with  30 people for a one week residential course!

.............see the unfinished structures at the back!

The daylight drive along the shore of Lake Malawi was very scenic .

and unlike my previous trip we did see some wild life.............................

 there are monkeys in the picture if you look closely!

The journey  was uneventful  and  we saw plenty of typical african scenes on the way....................

small shop with girls carying loads on their heads,

tomatoes for sale at the roadside,

new shops being built ,

roadside charcoal sales...............

and Malawi fast food - the guy is holding up a couple of kebabs made of whole field mice!

There was also a chance to photograph the shadow of our truck  as the sun started to set near Lilongwe......

Back in Lilongwe I was installed at the Lilongwe Hotel, a good place with  a reasonable restaurant; my two nights there were fine.

The next day and a half were spent in meetings before catching the  plane out of Lilongwe back to Johannesburg and Frankfurt before finally landing back in Vienna on Friday morning.

Return to Malawi: 31 October-5 November

So  another Saturday afternoon and yet again I was on my way to Vienna airport and preparing for what should be the last mission of this year - but not the last journey!  The taxi came at 4 pm as I was keen to see the outcome of the qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix before I departed.  It was indeed a very exciting contest  and I already knew that I would not be able to folow the race as I would still be travelling the next day. Given the time of the flight and the schedule of the airport train  a taxi was the safest solution. Anyway the Vienna weather had turned cold at 3 degrees or less and I was happy to be off to a spot of sunshine.

I was last in Malawi in 2007 when I was part of a mission to visit the site of a proposed new mine and discuss regulatory issues with the Government. This mission in Malawi was to look at the new mine, which opened in April of this year,  and hold more discussions with the Government about staff training and technical issues.  To think that I would see a mine where two years before there had only been bushland was exciting.


My journey was in three stages. The first an Austrian Airlines flight to Frankfurt and then  two flights with South African Airways, first  to Johannesburg and thence to Lilongwe. The flights went pretty well with no turbulence  and certainly the seats were more comfortable than the ones on the Austrian flight  recently.

Coming in to Johannesburg we flew in over fantastic tailings dams  from the gold miines which I really must get a picture of one day! The funny thing was that just as we were landing I realised that a fellow passenger was a chap I know from a German company  and so we commented how it was we missed each other at Frankfurt airport and then on the flight when we were in the same cabin.  He was off to work in Namibia  so we had a quick chat before we headed off to our respective flights. The 2.5 flight hours to Lilongwe was fine and Malalwi was hot and a bit humid with the countryside looking parched as it is almost the end of the dry season - a bit like the "build up" back home in Darwin, although that is usually more oppressive  as we live at sea level and Lilongwe is at 4035 feet so  bit cooler. Anyway with only carry on luggage and  a visa free entry I was soon outside and meeting my host from the Government .

We promptly went off to a local resort to wait for another government truck and another Government representative from  a different department  to join us before we all set off to drive in convoy up to Karonga in the north of the country, the closest town to the mine. No beers for any of us with 6-7 hours driving  ahead! 

The drive goes across what I guess is high veldt with  some very interesting rock outcrops sticking up all over the place.

Much of the country is cultivated and there are a lot of people arround which can make the driving a little hazardous as the ox-carts, bicycles, pedestrians and any number of buses and trucks all crowd onto the roads.

 Still the road is generally in good condition and we made fair time to a re-fuelling halt at Mzuzu.

Before Mzuzu we drove through extensive pine plantations with plenty of small saw mills and timber yards visible from the road.

Sadly there was also evidence of some large forest fires that had gone through some of the areas; these fires were still burning in places, so the smoke was an additional  factor for our driver to contend with but he took it all in his stride and did well.

The light was fading as we left Mzuzu so when the road desecended to run alongside the shores of Lake Malawi at around 1700 feet it was too dark to see much.  The road after the descent was especially good and we finally reached our destination at 8 pm  and the new hotel that was to be the base for our operations over the next 2 nights.