Floating walkway becomes floating missile

Workscope - A 300m piece of the Brisbane city riverwalk tore away early one January morning during one of the worst floods to hit the hit South East of Queensland. The total destruction was unbelievable on and surrounding the river. Then as the waters subsided the clean up began. One of our jobs was to cut off and remove the left over piles from the runaway riverwalk. With some piles location unknown and zero visibility, finding and what state they were left in proved to be what some called 'a good experience'. We manufactured a guide to make sure our cuts were going to be clean as we broco cut (ultrathermic lance) the outer steel on the base of the pile. Being concrete filled this threw in another challenge as we weren't sure if there was steel running down the interior. Some were even piles inside of piles. Requiring an area of steel to be cut, then the concrete jack hammered out and another final cut inside. The piles were then knocked over and removed with big slings and lifting chains by the crane barge and transferred to an awaiting tug and barge.

Equipment - broco cutting, pneumatic jack hammer, lifting chains and slings, search lines, general visual inspection, general hand tools

Highlight -  Working in total darkness may not seem like a highlight but in fact it made it more challenging and therefore more rewarding even for the most meaningless task. Broco cutting in zero visibility has to be one of the hardest things to do. Dealing with 100% oxygen and electricity underwater you need treat both of them with respect. If the cut is not deep enough and you don't get right through the steel, too deep and you get a build up of gas and unwanted oxygen explosion. Not to mention the potential for a little shock from the electricity.    

Trapping the wildlife or vice versa - Weipa

Workscope - The Mission River Bridge is located in Weipa in far North Queensland. The job was too reinforce all the piles that support the bridge to ensure the continual supply of bauxite to the refinery. Bauxite is the raw product that is later turned into aluminium. With some tricky angles and long heavy support shells it made for some interesting rigging especially in the low visibility waer. The shells were bolted around and then later filled with grout to give the whole pile some much needed strength. With a great crew of about twenty the work seemed to flow easily and with three divers in the one area it needed too.

Equipment - welding, broco cutting, high pressure water jetting, grit blaster, pneumatic tools, close and general visual inspection

Highlight - With a thin net surrounding the work area you are constantly cleaning out the dead/ly marine life.This is not so much of a highlight but there are times when you get to save one and smile as they swim away. Apart from the sun baking crocodiles and sharks that fill these waters it's the ones that you can't always see. The box jellyfish and irikanji are two of the very dangerous jellyfish that inhabit the waters as well. Giant turtles, shovel nose rays, grouper as big as cows, barramundi and queensfish fill in the watery gaps.

A thousand eyes staring at you - Kumul Oil Platform PNG

Work Scope - The Kumul Oil Platform is located in the gulf of Papua New Guinea. A short helicopter trip from the land based camp Kopi or a slightly longer steam in a tug boat from Port Moresby. Kumul is an oil pumping platform with a SPM (single point mooring) which connects with the tanker for the offloading of oil.The job requires annual inspection all underwater components including pipelines, CP (cathodic protection) attachment points, replacement of the export floating hose, changing out of broken/damaged SPM wires and chains, ACFM (alternating current field measurement) on selected platform welds.

Equipment - ACFM probe, UT (ultrasonic thickness) meter, CP meter, high pressure water jetting, hydro torque spanner, broco cutting, video survey, general visual inspection

Highlight - Being the only structure for miles this place is teaming with fish and big fish at that. Although lucky/unlucky enough not to have a close encounter with some of the resident sharks there are plenty of other animals to keep your eyes busy.Maybe a travelling whale shark or there are plenty of metre plus fingermark, barracuda, giant trevally, spanish mackerel and the elusive black bass. These all keep an eery close watch on you as you swim around their home to depths close to 50m.  

Electric boogaloo with a Numb Ray - Gold Coast Desalination Plant

Work scope - Flying out to work everyday in a helicopter over the white sands of the Gold Coast was something special. The desalination project is a reverse osmosis plant that supplies water to South East Queensland. Diving on Nitrox (a different percentage gas of nitrogen and oxygen) we were able to stay underwater longer and also reduced our need for decompression. Our job was to install the intake and outlet risers. The intake is located in about 20m of water and collects the seawater by gravity. The outlet uses a diffuser, designed to disperse the concentrated brine using the energy of the ocean.

Equipment - airlift, pneumatic rattle guns, high pressure water jetting, broco cutting, crane rigging, general visual inspection

Highlight - The new artificial reef brought all sizes of marine life to inspect the latest Gold Coast attraction. From migrating humpback whales, dolphins, kingfish, octopus, and the very stealthy numb ray. Numb ray's don't have a barb but instead send out an electric shock as a defence, making the unsuspecting diver dance around the ocean floor after stepping on it. 

Sea Snake Garden at Hay Point Coal Loader

Workscope - The Hay Point Coal Loader is located 40km south of Mackay in tropical Nth Queensland. Our small team were commissioned to inspect and report on all the pile legs under the conveyor belt and conduct a seabed survey . This job is done annually to ensure the coal is delivered safely to the ships. Whilst diving twice a day, we were sometimes at the mercy of the wind and tides which meant early starts and late finishes.

Equipment - ultrasonic thickness meter, cathodic protection meter, magnetic particle inspection, high pressure water jet, crane rigging, broco cutting, general visual inspection

Highlight - This whole area is a green zone and cannot be fished or dived on. We were lucky to have the opportunity to dive with reef fish, huge cod, turtles and friendly sea snakes at every turn of the corner.