Beating the odds of driving

Lae News, Normal
Source:

The National, Tuesday 07th Febuary 2012

ON a very wet morning back in December, Sarah Watson woke up with excitement knowing she’ll sit behind the driver’s wheel for the first time.
Watson is the environment manager at the Wafi-Golpu project, operated by Wafi-Golpu Joint Venture, one of three joint ventures that make up Morobe Mining Joint Ventures. The Wafi-Golpu project is located in the Mumeng LLG in the Bulolo district.
For employees who work at the project, being able to access the site and drive around the remote project area is essential to their work.
The winding and mountainous roads with a number of river crossings are very challenging, but these hurdles did not hinder Watson’s determination when she undertook her driving test the morning of Dec 17.
“I’d been worried about driving at Wafi-Golpu for a long time because of the challenging terrain and numerous creek crossings to contend with but knew that a licence was essential,” said Watson.
“At the time of my first drive from the Wafi-Golpu camp down to Demarkwa, Wafi-Golpu and surrounds had received a good soaking from about a week’s worth of constant rainfall so the creeks were pretty high and that was definitely one of the biggest challenges to contend with.”
Her first drive was also fun as she got lots of cheers and support from colleagues and the locals in the area which helped her pass with flying colours.
The locals, seeing that she was an expatriate, gave her plenty of encouragement.
“With the support of the Wafi-Golpu team, I decided to take the plunge and attend the light vehicle training course.
“With me for moral support was another female member, Jennifer Winzar, who has also now successfully traversed the road between Wafi-Golpu which begins at Demarkwa.”