22-24 September; Freiberg, Dresden and Singapore

I had been expected to do the tour of the Wismut mines on Thursday but as it was going to be much th same as the tour we did in May from Gera I decided to miss it. Instead, after a leisurely breakfast Russ, Alex, Oleg and I  joined up to drive with Alex to Dresden where we had a meeting with Stefanie Hurst the head of radiation protection at the saxony Environment Ministry. That ended  at about lunchtime so we strolled around the old part of Dresden and had lunch before Oleg went for his train to Berlin and  Alex  drove Russ out to Leipzig Airport for his trip back to Vienna. A and  I then tried to find a hotel and ended up in the motel on the autobarn at Dresdenr Tor as all the hotels were full. The Pope was in Leipzig and so the overspill of tourists and pilgrims had fillled both cities!
Still the motel was fine and cheap enough.
next morning Alex and I went on a bit of sightseeing in Dresden  as I had never been inside the Frauenkirche. That was fantastic, we also took in a few of the other sites before meeting up with Stefanie for a farewell coffee after lunch and then i was of to Dresden airport with Alex.
Like Leipzig Dresden airport has  row upon row of last minute travel agents'offices offering cheap holidys to everywhere - seems a bit too last minute even for my planning style.
The airport is small but it worked OK and the Lufthansa Senator lounge was OK. the flight to Frankfurt was only 45 minutes or so in a B737-300 and then the usual marathon walk across FRA to get to the flight for SIN. NO upgrade and the plane was packed but we left on time and  all was well. I had seat 1K right at the front which is interesting. When we landed at SIN we pulled up at the gate and then teh APU failed and the cew had to wait fro ground power to be connectede before they could open the doors  and let us off. the ususal trail through immingation and customs and collecting one's luggage as you cannot interline bags onto Jetstar. Still I know the system and the route from T3 to t1 using the train and then the checkin for Jetstar. So now I am in the QANTAS first Class lounge with the good satay and lovely shrimp sarnies before the 4.5 hours horror ride  on Jetstar with my knees up around my ears that will put me back home into Darwin at 0430 Sunday morning

Freiberg: 21 September - UMREG 2011

Today was the day for our annual UMREG meeting; the Uranium Mining & Remediation Exchange  the day was very long but really good workwise. We had to start early with a lot of presentations to fit in and I was chairign for about two thords of the dy - but not speaking this time. At 0845 I began the opening session which was the triumvirate of myself, Alex Jakubick and Don Metzler - the executive committee. Then we had an opening speech from the Head of WISMUT and then the technical papers came one after until we finished about 1800. Time for Russ Edge and I to slink away for a quiet beer and then off to the old training mine for the committee dinner with all the UMH and UMREG helpers as well as the international programme committee members.

Freiberg: 19 and 20 September

The  flight from Munich to Dresden was in a CRJ 700 and I met another conferernce attendee on the way and we managed to negotiate the railway from the airport to Dresden main station safely and then just managed to buy our tickest for the expressi to Freiberg  in time to catch the train with less than one minute to spare. So on  a very grey Sunday afternoon we arrived in a very wet and rainy Freiberg. There were 5 other people waiting for  THE taxi on duty but when it came we found we were all going to the same conference but different hotels but we fitted 7 people and bags on board and off we went.
I am stayin in my usual place heet the Hotel Am Obermarkt - pretty central, comfortable and cheap enough with a great buffet breakfast and good staff. Soon enough I was off on the 20 minute stroll to the Univeristy (in the rain) for the registraion and  reception for the conference. Lots of old mates around and a few drinks and sandwiches and suddenly it was time to be  back in bed - I was tired I decided!
Yesterday (Monday) I was away early to meet more old chums before speaking in the opening plenary session of the meeting.
Today (Tuesday) I have been chairing a session all day on the uranium mining renaissance and this evening I willbe at teh poster session - again with old mates and a few drinks and sandwiches....
Tomorrow more old mates will be around when we have our special meeting of UMREG (the Uranium Mining & Remediation Exchange Group). It will be good to catch up with so many old friends from the industry.

September 17-18: Darwin to Munich

Well there we were again - back at the airport in Darwin. This time it was to make the triennial trip to  Freiberg, Germany for the Uranium Mining and Hydrogeology Conference, #6 in the series and I only missed #1 so far.
The trip began with ethe usual graggy flight on Jetstar, that awful low -cost subsidiary that will one day be all QANTAS has if the pesent CEO there has his way. Talk about dumbing down... The cabin crew have such average english that it is hard to grasp what they are on aboouot most of the time. Food and drink (even water) cost extra and the seats are very small and close together.  Also you cannot interline bagage unless you pay extra and then only onto a QANTAS flight. Not a real airline in the words of the staff themselves
Still it is only 4.5 hours to the sanity of Singapore Changi airport. This time I was transerring to Lufhansa and a flight to Munich with, again, a first class upgrade after all those points. 
the aircraft was an Airbus 340-300  with only 8 seats in First ansd we were only 6 passengers so it was very nice indeed. Greta service, good food and excellent wints; but the seat was not as good as in the B-747 of JUly's flight where we got two seats each! Still I got a good sleep and I am now sittimg in Munich waiting for 5 hours to catch the next flight to Dresden. Then a train to Freiberg and hope to be in the hotel Am Obermarkt (my usual haunt in Freiberg) by 1700 to go to the reception and registration for the meeting at 1800.

Still travelling: August 2011

Well it has been pretty hectic since rthe rteurn from UK and I am still on aeroplanes.
Work has taken me to Alice Springs (again) as well as Gove and Groote Eylandt on mine inspections. And then it was off to Uk fro a week to look after my father for a couple of days and meet up with son Michael before we both headed off to Suffolk for  the wedding of his cousin/my nephew.
The weather fro the wedding was fantastic and as we had all atken over a lovely old country hotel it was a really great occasion.  Sadly I had to rush off on the next morning to head back to  Darwin and arrived back on Monday at 0430 - jusat enough time to collect bags, clear customs, geta cab home, shower and chnage and b at a downtoen hotel to join up with other Chief Inspectors of Mines from Australasia to go underground at a gold mine about 150 km south of Darwin. Another site visit on Tuesday; meeings all day Wednesday then an 0530 start Thursday to go to  Jabiru for more meetings over 2 days (and a social golf competition).
Now a week at the office with only one field trip then next weekend I am  back to Freiberg, Germany for a uranium mining conference and the last of my "european dates" for this year.