Wednesday in Perth

This week has gone fast for me.  I flew off the rig on Monday evening. This adventure entails a helicopter ride for 50 minutes.  You get off on Barrow Island.  You go through the terminal and then check in to fly a chartered plane that will carry other workers who have flown in to the island from their work assignments.  In addition to oil , there is a lot of mining going on around the shore line.  The fixed wing airplane ride is 2 1/2 hours long.  Then you jump in  a cap that drives on the wrong side of the road and boom you are in a hotel at 9 pm.  Long day.  This hotel is right in the middle of downtown because the Transocean office is downtown.  Perth is pretty and nice size town but because it is on the western side of Australia and it  takes 6 hours to get to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, it is not growing fast.  People from Sydney can fly to Bali, New Zealand in 3 hours and they fly that way instead of coming to Perth.  Perth is definately the farthest , southwesterly big city in the world.  I have been involved in meetings with the check signers here in the office and today my relief flys in and we do a handover.  Tomorrow I get to start for home.  It is weird to think that I start on Thursday morning and get home on Thursday afternoon and fly for 31 hours!!!