Australia!

Cam, here.  I don't often log into the blog as an author, but I thought I some of you out there might be interested in hearing a little about my recent trip to Australia.  I should probably change this girlie font, but here goes anyway.  After my long-winded post, you'll probably be grateful I'm not on here more often!

My division of Schlumberger is focused on natural gas production, which in the US has been a depressed market for some years now.  Supply of gas is high here because many new technologies and methods have greatly increased access to new fields and formations.  This, of course, has driven down prices and our customers can only sell their gas for about 20-30% of what they could four or five years ago.

Now, I know you didn't come to Cam and Kelli's blog for an economics discussion, but it does lead me to Australia.  Aussies have recently made huge discoveries of natural gas, and suppliers and service companies (like Schlumberger) have begun scrambling to be in place to support the boom.  So, the timing is right for Smith Lift to open up shop in Australia.  

Part of this process involves manufacturing some equipment locally in Australia so that is compliant with local standards and regulations and can be serviced locally.  My trip there was to meet with some customers and equipment manufacturers to get things rolling.  

I traveled with Tyson Messick, who is another engineer with our company.  We spent the first week in Brisbane, and then the second week in Adelaide.  During the first week, we also took a quick trip up to Moranbah to visit the field where our first installations will occur.  I also enjoyed being able to catch a session at the Brisbane Temple.  On my return trip, I got a glimpse of the Sydney airport.

Australia was beautiful and different.  I definitely wish we had some of their beaches here in Utah, but I'm not sure I could go without the Rocky Mountains.  The people were friendly and helpful, and it was fun to speak with so many of them.  Despite my best efforts, I kept mimicking their accents when I got into longer discussions with them.  Food was SUPER expensive ($30-50 per plate was common), and I did eat my first sushi (not too shabby).  WiFi was virtually non-existant, and wired internet at the hotels was about $30 a day for up to 400MB.  There was a strange surge of shark attacks during the two weeks I was there.  It was probably because that was Kelli's number one fear if I went to the beach (which I did manage to do on the Saturday between the weeks).  Those poor Australians also suffer without Netflix, Amazon Prime, Pandora, and other modern delights.  Trivial technologies aside, as my flight landed in LA and I looked out over our wonderful country, I realized how extremely easy it is to take our blessings for granted as Americans.  God bless America!

Kelli performed a miraculous job of caring for our three ragamuffins and our home all by herself.  It's no surprise that things went exceptionally smoothly with me out of the picture, but I returned home to happy kids and a clean house and a gorgeous wife.  

Below are some photos I took while out there.