The Adventures Continue!

I apologise to everyone in that it has been a while since I posted anything, especially since I had more to share from my trip this past April.



Before I left Sorowako to return to Canada I had the opportunity to visit the site where they have initiated construction of a new power dam on the Larona River, power from which will be used to supplement the power required for the Sorowako nickel processing plant.



This first picture is of the Larona River and you can just make out the tail end of the diversion tunnel that was being constructed at the time to carry the water from the river around the construction once it begins. The dam will be built where the bend in the river is.

This next picture is looking downstream and shows Terry, the geologist working on the project keeping track of the rock types they encounter and providing geotechnical control. Across the river is the bailey bridge used to access the diversion tunnel side. The main road is up on top of the right bank.









After seeing the construction site my guide for the morning, Paul, was kind enough to take me to the Balambano dam site upstream from Karebbe, about 5 km. Here is a view from downstream of the dam. It was built using compacted dry mix concrete, the same method planned for Karebbe.

There is one other dam further upstream called Larona, after the name of the river. The power from the two current dams is used for the electric furnaces. Because of the constant power surges and the fact there is no other load on the system this power cannot be used for other uses as it is too "dirty" so a diesel fired generator system is used for domestic and non-arc furnace use. They currently, I believe, are in the process of converting to coal to reduce costs.



After leaving Sorowako in April I met up with Janice in Vancouver where we spent a weekend with our good friends Don and Jan Blackadar. Here we are with some of the cherry trees in full blossom. It would be over a month later before the leaves started to show back in Thompson!











A week ago (July 3rd) I began the long trip back to Sorowako, but just for a 2 week stay this time. It was a long flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong with the flight arriving in the early morning at about 6am. Here is the airplane I would soon be flying from Hong Kong to Denpasar. I especially like being on the upper level as they have some nice storage compartments if you have a window seat in Business class. This time, unfortunately, I was on the lower level.










On arriving in Denpasar I was met at the airport by Awang, who I had met back on my January trip. After I had checked into the hotel he took me for a drive to the Hindu Temple site of Tanah Lot to the north west of Denpasar, right on the coast. On that way we stopped off to get some fuel. Like everywhere fuel prices have risen sharply and now are at 6000 rupiah per litre (I had just paid 1$ per 8800 rupiah at the airport). Note the long line up of motorbikes waiting to get fuel! This service station is operated by the national oil company Petramina. I saw no others around so they pretty much have a monopoly, but at 6000 rupiah per litre everywhere the Indonesians aren't being taken advantage of.






As mentioned in a previous post, motorbikes are the primary source of transport throughout Indonesia. Here is a scene of a crowded parking area along one of the main streets on the way to the temple.

The main part of the temple is set upon a rock promontory that at high tide becomes a small island. That is Awang on the right side of the picture. It was very busy at the temple with mostly Indonesians milling around and taking in the sights.

The temple is constructed on top of pyroclastic flows (fragments ejected from a volcano that descended in a large gas filled cloud with a high speed gas layer at the bottom that deposited sandy "basal surge" sheet flows as can be seen at elbow level behind Awang. The large block in front is material deposited from the main flow and contains much coarser material mixed with finer ash. So, as you can tell I was excited to kill two birds with one stone: see some interesting architecture dating back a few hundred years as well as interesting geology!







While at Tanah Lot we saw several kids with a large python. Obviously the snake wasn't hungry as I sure he was big enough to at least try swallowing one of these young fellows if he so desired!

As we were there late in the afternoon I was able to get a picture of the sunset framed by another structure at Tanah Lot, this one on a promontory pierced by a tunnel. By the way, because they are so close to the equator sunrise is about 6am and sunset is about 6pm.

The next morning Awang picked me up at the hotel and took me back to the airport where I continued the journey to Sorowako. At Ujung Pandang (Makassar) I transferred to the plane that took me that last part to Sorowako. The air carrier has changed and rather than a Dash-7 they are now using an ATR. Unfortunately the air strip at Sorowako is not very long and so the ATR has to do a lot of braking very quickly upon landing as, unlike the Dash7 it is not designed for short take off and landing (STOL). I was a bit nervous on landing as we came in pretty fast. The Dash 7 is able to land at a much slower speed which is why it is so well adapted to short run ways like here. They will have to lengthen the runway, or relocate it, if they plan to keep using this new plane.

It has rained every day I have been here so far and not the typical thunder shower as I have experienced every other time but those long socked-in steady rain type days. It has put a damper on outdoor activities including getting out for a walk. Yesterday I decided that I needed to get out of my room for a while so took a drive down to Malili, the next major town about 60km or 1 hours drive away (it is a pretty winding road). It is located near the mouth of the Larona river where it enters the Gulf of Bone. Here is a picture looking upstream of the village and many of the fishing boats.

The company maintains port facilities just down stream in the estuary where they bring in supplies like sulphur and coal and ship out the nickel matte which is then sent to Japan for refining into finished nickel.

Well that's all for now. See you later! Sampai jumpa lagi.