Peabody Wilkie Creek Mine Site and Origin's Darling Downs Power Station Site Vist

On Tuesday, 5th of July, all of the QRC scholarship students and QUT Dean's scholars were invited to visit the Peabody Wilkie Creek Mine Site and Origin's Darling Downs Power Station. This was a very interesting and insightful day which started off by me personally, catching the 4:55am train into the city to meet at 6:15am to leave from outside of the QRC office. The Peabody Wilkie Creek Mine Site was a real eye opener. to start the day we were all breath tested with the threat of being asked to leave if we blew above 0.000, fortunately we were all safe. An introduction was given and many amazing facts were revealed. one of the main ones that stuck with me was that for the last round of hiring for unskilled positions, Peabody was offering 18 jobs and had 2300 applicants. however skilled employees are in need and are constantly being hired. The Wilkie Creek site has many plans for development and is continually working with the local community to ensure harmony. a huge emphasis is placed on safety at Wilkie Creek to ensure the smooth running.

End of Year 2 Semester 1

the second year of engineering saw us all decide on our respective areas and split into our engineering streams. this meant some of the friends that i made in first year i no longer got to see as often. I wouldnt say second year got any harder. however in saying that, the work was obviously much more complex but due to increasing our knowledge base from first year, it wasnt any more difficult than simple first year truss analysis, which at the time was very complex, but is now second nature to all civil engineers. this is all proof that we are learning more and slowly taking the steps to becoming professional engineers.

However the end of the semester period was the most full on exam block i have ever had. in first year all of my exams were in the first week of exam block, so despite being an intense week, it was over very quickly. this semester however, my exams were spread out, finishing on the very last day of exam block. this meant i had approximately a month since week 13 to finishing my last exam.

it was tough to work at such an intense level for such a long period but i somehow managed. the most successful technique i found was to wake up early. the earlier you wake, the more day you have so the more things you can fit in while maintaining a balance by doing other activities. i think that is one of the best habits to develop. although tough, getting used to waking up early would be one of the best habits to develop.