A Smell of Rocky at Warwick

1 May 2004

The truck was suppose to depart sharp at 9, however.. due to late loading time, we departed around 10. The journey was awesome.. cantik gila beb.. subhanallah ciptaan Allah... we moved to a much colder place... heading to Ipswich.. then Warwick.. about 4 hours driving from uni..

Kalau sunshine coast terkenal dgn big pineapple.. Stanthorpe (the place where we staying) terkenal dgn big apple tak sempat la pulak nak tgkap gambar big apple tu..

Sampai je, we had our lunch at matilda.. somehow australian they really love matilda eventhough both of my lecturers are not australian.. but i guess derang dah dpt badi aussie. Then, we headed to Crystal Mountain District, Warwick. Place where we do the mapping.

Paulo and Kurt head the tour to the lithological unit (cam jenis2 batu yg ada) kat area tu. What so interesting about Crystal Mountain???

well basically, it is one big granite intrusion along with several felsic and mafic dykes that have undergone several brecciation processes (tak paham tak pe). then this brecciation leads to the mineralisation of sulphides mineral (pyrite, chalcopyrite, phyrrothite), and oxides to certain extends (geothite, hematite, magnetite)...Senang cerita.. to prospect the Cu orebody in the area.. Well usually when u find Cu, the question u should ask yourself is where is your gold??

hehhehh we havent found our gold la of course.. however, we know where is the gold ...

where Gold mineralisation took place

first day, we were separated into group of three... i was with Janina (pronounce as Yanina), and Cindy... Janina is a german lady, very hardworking, highly motivated, determined lady. Cindy.. well, she is so organised, but hate dirt, hardly touches any rocks, low sugar level, therefore she takes choc every ten minutes (kidding), and she has to rest every 15 minutes we walk...

Malam

so after finish with the tour, we headed to the Stanthorpe showground, camping.. luckyly they have like a barn and we built our tent in the barn... first night at Stanthorpe was horrible... ujian Allah malam tu... i cant sleep in the first place, masuk nak tido dlm pukul 11 tp rasanya pukul 12 baru lelap... tp.. tak lama... i woke up at 2.30 and then every half an hour bgn... such a good sleep...

Stanthorpe sejuk gila... 2°C...

2 May 2004

We continued mapping... we have to cover around 8km² for less than 2 days.. Paulo said, MIM geologist took 4 days to map the area.. kitorang dengar.. gelak je laa.. Paulo nih mmg suka bg kerja lebih2 kat org...

tgh2 map tu sempat gak laa tangkap gambar nih...

from left: Janina, Cindy, me..

ada org tgk gambar dan tanya kenapa barang2 kau cam berselerak sgt.. nampak clumsy.. apsal tak letak dlm beg.. as a geologist... nih ha brg2 yg kena wajib ada...
-geological compass(take measurement and orientation of the structure)
-geological hammer(utk ketuk batu and look at the fresh surface coz u cant tell what type of rock is it unless u look at the fresh surface)
pencil to draw map and write notes
magnetic pen test whether there is any magnetic mineral hand lens- minerals are subtle sometimes u cant see with the naked eye on the field
pen knife u need it for variety of purposes..
glasses it is a compulsory to wear one especially when u smash the rock...
MAP tak dak habis laaa..
notebook u cant remember everything u see in the field, note book is essential to take notes especially when u can only write what u see on the map not the description of what u see...
good pair of boots u need ur feet to work... and u dont want to have a sprank ankle on the first day of the field

partly essential tools on the field
1. water kalau tak dek takut dehydrated...
camera a good scientific research is u allow somebody to locate the area exactly where u found such and such things
beg yg kosong u dont want to stuff everything in the bag, coz later on the field, u r about to collect a lot of rocks.. this is essential for further studies of the rock coz u have to put the exact name to the rock... kalau setakat tgk kat field dan tak bawak balik.. nanti lupa dan mungkin akan miss the crucial part...

so untuk menjawab saranan sorang kawan suruh beli lah beg besar2 dan letak semua yg disangkut di pinggang itu dlm beg.. amatlah tidak digalakkan... firstly everything that u see u have to write on the map and describe in the notebook.. if u have to stop every 10 meters to take out everything.. tak siap la kerja... secondly bila dah stop and write everything, kene amik measurement, dan utk kenal pasti btol2 apa yg kita tgk kena la ketuk batu tu... again time consuming beb...

so dlm beg cik nur mmg masa pergi hanya ada... botol yg penuh dgn air, raincoat (in case hujan), dan sandwich utk lunch kalau lapar... tp bila pukul 5 dah siap kerja... dlm beg cik nur ada berjenis2 batu yg beratnya boleh menjangkau 5kg... hehhe no pain no gain...

malam tidur cam biasa..tp malam nih lagi sejuk... sampai 0°C.. pakai jumper 5 lapis mcm teddy bear je rasanya... tak kesah laa better jadi teddy bear dari mati kesejukkan.. my sleeping quality has increased... i slept at 11 and woke up at 2.15 .. then woke up hourly .. at least its better than very half an hour... ada hikmah tu Allah suruh bgn setiap jam... sekurang2nya.. kita tak dek la tido lena gila sampai tak sedar apa jadi keliling.. ye lah... tido dlm khemah... bukan tak percaya kat org lain.. tp org putih ni kengkadang pelik sket.. ingatkan depa ok.. rupanya dah toxicated... apa2 lah..

3 May
continue mapping... and... we finished la basically... bring back the rock sample... and... around 4 we were heading back to brisbane.. sampai rumah around 7.30...unpack.. do my loundry.. makan... tido...

Kesan field trip
1. I lost both of my pencils (2 hari je 2 benda yg hilang..)
2. Satu luka besar dekat peha ditusuk pagar berduri (jadi geologist kat aussie nih kene belajar panjat pagar sekali)
3. Kaki terpeleot masa nak turun dari Crystal Mountain... tp dah ok dah..
4. Pergelangan tangan yg terseliuh (asyik ketuk batu je sbb nak tgk fresh surface kan.. mainly igneous rock yg keras.. setiap kali ketuk mesti ada bau terbakar dan di tempat2 tertentu keluar spark)
4. Makin hitam.. normal la tuu..

Now..
the job hasnt finish on the 3rd of May of course... there are around 50 samples (in hand specimen and thin sections(that makes it 100)) we have to analyse... a couple of geophysical, geochemical data... fluid inclusion analysis... and a couple more job still pending... final report... a geological prospect of Crystal Mountain... where to drill the core.. how big is the ore body... is it worth of drilling.. berapa jauh the mineralisation took place... all sort of question that has to be answered ... doakan cik nur...

Kesimpulannya
bg org lelaki.. jgn kawin dgn geologist.. sbb depa nih... firstly.. buat kerja berat cam org laki juga... tp kadang2 tak compitible terseliuh laa hitam laa luka sana luka sini...nanti.. dahla masa bnyk habis kat field balik nak dengar leteran derang pasal sakit itu dan ini... secondly.. masa bnyk habis kat field.. nanti takut korang kene makan gerai je tiap2 hari.. thirdly.. ramai lagi calon lain.. out of 30,000 org student kat uq... average 60 org je undergraduate buat geology.. pilihan masih terbuka kan...