Guest Gollywobbler Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 Hi All I need somebody who can explain the weather in the Northern Territory please. We have a member called Scott who is a Construction Plant Operator, involved with building and repairing roads and the pipes etc that go underneath them. Scott's occupation is in great demand in the Northern Territory. What I know about road building can be written on a stamp but I have been helping to compile a list of road building companies in the NT. I decided last night to ring up one of these companies to ask how the land really lies with them and how they feel about sponsoring migrants for the 457 visa. The guy who answered the phone was very helpful but he is a laconic Aussie who does not waste words! This guy is in Katherine, about 350kms South of Darwin. He told me that they currently have two members of staff on 457 visas, he is potentially interested in Scott and to send him Scott's CV. I was so taken aback that one cold call completely out of the blue should produce such an encouraging response that I didn't think to ask the guy anything else and anyway he plainly didn't want to chat too much. So I asked Scott to give him a ring, which Scott did. This gentleman in Katherine told Scott to send his CV and said that the company is about to shut down for the Wet Season. I know what a tropical monsoon is - I was born & brought up in Malaysia. However I don't remember life not continuing as normal during the wet seasons? The outdoor workers stayed indoors during rain but apart from that it was business as usual. Why would a road building company in Katherine close down for the Wet Season, please? How long would they close down for? Until March/April? I do know that Katherine is low-lying and the town itself is prone to flooding because of the river that runs through the town. Would a road building company based in Darwin close down for the wet season as well? I imagine that Darwin is urban and therefore should be all-weather terrain? Also, how far south do you have to go in order to escape the tropical weather at the Top End? Alice Springs is 1,800 kms south of Darwin and to judge from the pix of Alice Springs and the surrounding area, the climate is completely different from the climate at the Top End? Or is my supposition about this nonsense, please? I didn't even think about the weather to be honest. I assumed that road building and repairing would happen all year round so I am completely flummoxed by what the Aussie told Scott. Any advice/information would be very gratefully received. Many thanks Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wiccanwitch Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 hi gill the bloke on the phone was very upfront and just asked scott to send his cv in scott was a bit stroke back when he said he was closing down for the wet season? think scott didnt understand why couse like he said he has to work in all weathers and the only closing down he knows is at xmas as they all get 2 weeks off he said he didnt understand it either and that is why he was gobed smaked when the man said it couse he never heard that before just hope somone can shed some lite cheers gill susan scott and boys xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tim Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 Gill from my limited knowledge the wet season is upon them now and lasts a good few months. At this time of the year roads do become flooded / washed away in the NT. I am not to sure about the main roads but I would think it is possible. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wiccanwitch Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 will this help gill ? Bumper Wet season in north and west of Northern Territory - Bureau of Meteorology, Darwin, NT, media release, climate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 Hi Wiccan Yep, Katherine is a wet place and it is very wet there at the moment apparently. It could be to do with the typical path that a tropical cyclone coming in off the Gulf of Carpentaria - to the north east of the NT - would take. I gave up on trying to understand weather patterns in the Southern Hemisphere several years ago when I discovered that bathwater swirls round plug holes the other way round down in Oz. It could be as well that the company in Katherine is a relatively small, old-established, local family firm. Their business card is old fashioned and they don't have a website. The guy said they have a total staff of 55, which might be quite small by Ozzie standards. But since they are interested we might as well send Scott's CV. That will be with you for a shufti later today. There is a lass on another forum who worked on a cattle station in Katherine for several months at one point. I've put a thread on that forum and I hope that Kismet will make contact. I will do some more digging and see what else I can discover. I think Tim is undoubtedly right that a lot of rain and probably even a small cyclone would cause minor roads to get washed away and/or flooded. However the Stuart Highway from Darwin to Adelaide is one of the most important roads in Oz. I know that it is now sealed road all the way and I assume that the original road has been upgraded to a point that makes it usable in all weathers. The land around Katherine is very much cattle country. In that local area there may not be much need for all-weather roads as long as the Stuart Highway remains open. I have a feeling that this could be a local phenomenon which we discovered by nothing but sheer chance. We will find out, Wic! We can't have Scott being washed away! Cheers Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wiccanwitch Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 cheers gill no we carnt have scott washed away couse who will i have to pick on then lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Hi Wic Please tell Google to find Google Australia. Go into Google Australia and tell it to confine itself to Australian web pages. Then tell Google Australia ' Wet Season + Northern Territory.' There is stacks of information about it and some stunning pix of Katherine Gorge. It is exactly as Tim said. Roads become flooded and apparently the wet season causes a lot of road damage. They even alter some of the school bus routes in Darwin itself, presumably because some of the roads are low-lying and prone to flooding as soon as it rains. Outside Darwin the authorities close several of the outback roads altogether. Doing that helps to minimise the damage to the roads during the wet season plus I guess it also saves even bigger, heavier trucks etc needing to go on these roads in order to retrieve smaller vehicles that have become stuck. What is clear is that the whole local calendar is simply organised around it. It is just one of the things that the Aussies don't say much about because they assume that the rest of us know what they know! The tourist information is the only stuff that really explains the wet season to any extent and every brochure says to phone the nearest tourist information centre for advice about the road conditions before you set off to go somewhere during the wet season. So I think that mystery is solved. An e-mail will be on its way to you within an hour or so with a couple of final queries about what to put on Scott's CV. Cheers Gill xx Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Sydney Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 I used to live in the NT, apart from the main roads - the roads which are pretty rough anyway are flooded or washed away. Impassable to all vehicles At present there is just not traffic to build all weather roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 My parents lived in the Kimberly for many years and its wet and its hot and its horrible in the wet. A lot of the women folk go south for the wet. You do get used to it though, Dad worked outside all year round as an Electrician and they had a farm as well. The road trains cannot get through all the time in the wet and often they have to wait for the water to reside before they can go on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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