I’m feeling a bit guilty about being a bit light on with details of the Core GSE activities yesterday. I’ve just re-read the last post, and I think I’ll add to it. First a pic of us to wet your appetite.
Team at Stockton Hotel
The Port Tour really was very interesting. There were lots of cool things. They have big sheds where they store incoming fertilizer. They are huge. Each shed fits a ship load (joke intended) of fertilizer, which is about 35000 tonnes. If fertilizer has the same density as water, then that means that the sheds would need to be about 100m x 70m x 5m. That’s big. As long as two swimming pools, as wide as one and a half pools, and almost as high as a footy goal post! I didn’t measure the sheds, but believe me, they’re big. (Note: I don’t know the actual density and google wouldn’t tell me in the first 3 results. I think that means no one in the world knows…)
Graham, my host, used to work for Oxidental who are a company that dealt in fertilizer in Stockton. I’m not sure of his jobs title, but he was one of those clever blokes who learns how everything works and then explains it people who need to know. He is a clever chemist, so I think that the Oxidental sales guys would have been very well informed…
When they unload a 35000 tonne load of fertilizer, then use an auger that can move up to 500 tonnes per hour out of the hold. Imagine that! Nearly 10 tonnes per second! How badly would you get squashed if you stood in the way of that??
Sulphur smells...
The exports of sulphur are impressive visually…. And olfactorily! They smell like a grade 8 science laboratory. Or a bedroom with 3 teenage boys in it…
The founder of Stockton was a bloke named Captain Charles M. Weber. Apparently he was very forward thinking. He planned much of the city while he was still alive, and donated land to be set aside for schools, parks and other things. I think he also gave really nice Christmas presents because they absolutely love him here. I thought that there was a lot of stuff named after Lincoln, but I think Weer might win based on just this one city! There's Weber Park, Weber Point, Weber buildings, Weber memorials, even a 'Weber Hole' which was some sort of natural spring under where the Stockton Hotel is now built. Not a great name really... But a great sentiment!
They love him. Oh, and I nearly forgot, my hosts also have a BBQ named in his honour.
Weber Park. Including the Million Dollar Shade Cloth
Sarah is winning the price for taking the most interest in organising her own vocational opportunities. She has been talking to police and highway patrol men all over the place. Or maybe she just has a thing for guys in uniform. Any opinion on that Bobby??
Sarah with policing friends
Finally, another thank you to Vice Mayor Leslie Martin for hosting us in Mayor Chavez's absence. For all you Glenorchy Rotarians out there, I'm pretty sure she is no relation of Terry...
Vice Mayor Martin, Dave Tygett & the team
There, hope that is sufficiently detailed!
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