Dane Thomas

Isolated Network Manager

As we do the majority of our work in the asset management team remotely from Cairns these trips to physically see the assets are very valuable and inform our future projects and strategy.

05.30 AM

Dogs are ready to roll for their morning walk, I’m never as excited as they are but it’s not raining so I’ll roll.

Energy Queensland - Dane Thomas dogs

06.00 AM

Breakfast and a cup of tea with my wife Jackie and quick play lego with my two daughters, before the taxi arrives.

07.30 AM

Normally I’d be on my motorbike heading into the our Bunda Street office in Cairns, Queensland for a quick coffee and into the “normal” day, however today we are flying off to Horn Island to kick-off a few days of site visits of our isolated assets in the Torres Straits. This means dialling into a leader meeting from the airport while sipping on a coffee.

09.00 AM

Landed on Horn Island and collected bags from a tractor towed trailer before walking to our ride for today, a helicopter! For this trip, I’m joined by Graduate Engineer, Jake who is rotating through my team and my manager Glenn. The Pilot takes us through the safety procedures for the aircraft and we do an “I’m Safe” ensuring we are all ready to go for the day.

Energy Queensland - Dane Thomas in the aircraft with the pilot

11.30 AM

Onto our second Island for the day – Dauan Island which is also the top of the Great Dividing Range and 11km from Papa New Guinea. We land on the football field and are greeted by local power station attendant Joseph, whose family are the traditional owners of Dauan Island. Joseph was kind enough to give us a tour of his Island and Welcome to Country, when Glenn and I dialled into the Department Leadership Meeting. Before leaving the Island, Joseph took us to see some traditional rock art depicting catching of cray fish – amazing believed to be a thousand years old.

Energy Queensland - Dane Thomas in the field

12.30 PM to 05.30 PM

We spend the rest of the day dodging bad weather and Island hopping in the Helecopter, visiting a further four Islands before touching down back at Thursday Island. The highlights for me were seeing the wild life on the many reef islands. One of my fav’s is Stephen Island, which has a very unique rock formation used by the locals to catch fish on the low tide. During our time in the Torres Strait we completed asset inspections of our Power Stations and networks. We also took the opportunuity to meet with local council representatives and Remote Embeeded Generation Crews and local power station attendants. As we do the majority of our work in the asset management team remotely from Cairns these trips to physically see the assets are very valuable and inform our future projects and strategy.

Energy Queensland - Dane Thomas island hopping

05.30 PM to 08.00 PM

We head back to our rooms to clean up, followed by quick dip in Ellis Channel, before checking a few emails while enjoying the view from my room. I’m now starving, so meet up with my fellow travellers and head up to the Grand Hotel for dinner and a couple of relaxing drinks overlooking the channel. After dinner we duck down to the jetty to try our luck catching a fish. Plenty of bites from small colourful fish – biggest fish of the night known colloquially as a “mother-in-law”. I give it a kiss and send it back. All in all, an exciting and very full day.

Energy Queensland - Dane Thomas with a big fish

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Australian Catholic University acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which we live and work, and we pay our respects to Elders both past and present.