Matt and I are a FIFO family – fly in/fly out. Matt works in outback Australia at a minesite near Laverton, Western Australia. More often than not it’s fine, but sometimes it falls on special occasions like Christmas, and I crack the sads 🙁
This year was one of those years. There I was, stuck in Perth, faced with the possibility that I would be all alone on Christmas day, sharing the turkey with the dogs (jokes, I freaking hate turkey, the dogs can have it all), when suddenly: possibilities! Matt’s workplace was offering to fly family members out to spend Christmas at the mine site! Whilst not ideal (once you’ve seen one mine site, you’ve seen them all), it meant I would be able to see my Matty, where he lives 50% of the time AND see a new part of Australia I would probably never see otherwise.
I flew out at silly o’clock in the morning to be met by some site officials who gave us some breakfast and set us up with a room. After some down time, miner santa came along and gave us some presents (yusssss m&m’s) and fitted us out with hi-vis workwear, ready for a site tour.
I wasn’t allowed to take my camera around the site, and so far they haven’t delivered on the photos they promised 🙁
After the tour I met up with my Matty and we grabbed some dinner and beer and had a Merry old night with his work pals. It was a fun new way to celebrate Christmas!