Wizard
Chapter 6

Copyright© 2014 by Anthony Concept

I had been talking to one of my contacts when he mentioned a rumour going around about a mining company wanting a village built out in the dessert, it was to be a bare earth to completion contract. If I was interested he find out more about it, I thanked him and told him we were interested. A few days later he contacted me with a phone number and a name. I called the number and was soon talking to a Vic Windsor.

"Mr Windsor, Tony Merlin for Aussie Dongas, I understand you need a village built, can you tell me a bit more about it please?"

"What say we meet face to face, say Wednesday afternoon, then we can go over the whole project?"

"Wednesday sounds good to me Vic, where do we meet?" He gave me the address of his office and we agreed on a time.

Jack and Taffy were excited with the news until the full implication of the project dawned on them.

"Uh!, Tony, as much as I would love to be involved in such a project, we have to be honest with ourselves, we just don't have the capacity to handle something this size."

"Remember when you asked me how you would pay me Jack and I said that I was sure something would come up that would benefit my own company?, this is it. Wizard and Dongas will take on the contract together."

"Wow, I hope it works out alright uncle, it's a big risk."

"Let's look at the proposal first Taff, Tony seems confident enough."

Jack, Taffy and I met with Vic Windsor on Wednesday and had a good look at his project, it was a biggie but with the two companies pulling together we could handle it. Next stage was to call a meeting with my team and Jack's. It was a biggie, not only the buildings but they required all the infrastructure as well, sewage disposal, electricity distribution, the whole box and dice. We had our meeting and Sam and Joey indicated they wanted to handle the Wizard component, I was happy with that.

Over the next three months the team put up a fully costed proposal for the buildings for preliminary discussion. Vic has happy with what we brought to the table so we were past stage one. A site visit was the next step. I suggested Jack and I should fly out to the mine and take a whole stack of photos and do a few levels and soil tests.

"Ah!, Tony I don't want to sound like a sook, but am shit scared of flying."

"Can I go instead Uncle, I'm a full bottle on site levels and things?"

"What do you think Tony?"

"It'll be pretty rough out there Taff, you sure you can handle it?"

"I'm not a little girl Tony, of course I can."

"OK" famous last words.

We arranged with Vic to fly out to the site on Wednesday, in the meantime we sorted out what equipment we would need to take with us. GPS, Laser level, Soil test bags, the list goes on.

"I don't know what sleeping facilities are like out there Taff, I suggest you pop down to the sporting goods shop and buy a couple of sleeping bags." She took off and came back an hour later with bags and like a woman extra things as well, there must be a shopping gene.

"I bought some floppy hats Tony and some sun block, I also bought a pair of hiking boots,"

"Good thinking Taff. We'll need to take two laptops in case one drops out, I'd hate to lose all the data we collect."

Wednesday morning early, we were at the airfield to meet up with Vic. He looked a bit surprised when he saw Taffy.

"I thought Jack would be coming Tony."

"Uncle Jack has a fear of flying Vic, I'm his replacement, and don't worry, I'm a big girl who can fend for herself."

"OK, if you are sure you can handle it, then good onya."

Everything loaded, I suggested Taffy sit up front with one of our cameras to take photograph the site from the air. We would be taking stacks of photos and this would be the first.

It was a bumpy flight, flying over the dessert meant lots of hot air welling up. Taffy was excited, I think she took a full card just on the flight out.

"It's pretty rugged Vic, how many kilometres is it by road?"

"It's about 200km Tony, that's mainly on secondary roads and worse. As far as the 'rugged' bit goes, it's also very unforgiving, beautiful but unforgiving."

When we reached the mine site, Vic made several circuits so as Taffy could get some more shots. We finally landed, flies and heat, I could see Taffy stiffen up but no complaint, she went up a notch in my books.

I noticed Vic making sure the plane was tied firmly down to several concrete blocks.

"We often get Willy Willies out her Tony, enough to flip a small plane like this over on its back."

"I'll need to keep that in mind when we start constructing."

"Because we were expecting Jack to come, we set up a double bunk donga for you, sorry Taff, I hope you are comfortable with that."

"Like I said Vic, I'm a big girl, I won't run screaming if I see Tony in his underdaks."

We dropped our gear in the donga and then Vic gave us the tour. There was a cook house cum mess hall, an ablution block, a few scattered dongas, a large gen set and an artesian bore. The office was attached to the mess hall. Apart from earthmoving machinery there was a rough maintenance workshop. A cut had been made in the desert floor and overburden was being dumped in a hollow some distance away. That was it.

 
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