THE Outback Barbarians took the opportunity to tour Hoover Dam near Las Vegas this week, and came away with a lesson in sheer human determination and resourcefulness. The Hoover Dam, named after former US president Herbert Hoover, is one of the engineering marvels of modern history. With a wall rising 726 feet (221 metres), it contains five million barrels of concrete - enough to build a four-foot-wide pavement around the equator. Built during the depression years of 1931 and 1935, the dam was the largest Federal contract ever awarded by the US Government at the time. Engineers had to first build two tunnels through the neighbouring bed rock to divert the Colorado River from its ancient river bed so the project could commence. An entire neighbouring city called Boulder was constructed at the same time to accommodate the thousands of workers required. A manufacturing plant was also erected at the dam to build 16 huge turbines needed to generate hydro-electricity. The turbines were so large it would have been impossible to transport them from any distance away. A huge refrigeration plant was also built on site to cool the concrete to hasten the construction process. Amazingly the entire project was completed two years ahead of schedule. Sales of hydro-electricity generated at the plant - which produces enough electricity to power 1.3 million homes each year – have now completely repaid the US Government for the full cost of construction of Hoover Dam and continue to cover the dam’s entire operation and maintenance costs. The dam is filled by floodwaters from melting snow from the Rocky Mountains each year and supplies water for domestic and agricultural use to Nevada, Arizona, California and Mexico. Barbarians flanker Simon Steinhoffer, a CQU engineering graduate who works as a civil engineer for Cardno Engineering in Rockhampton, said the scale of the facility was awe-inspiring. “We learned a lot about dams and intakes at university but nothing like this scale,” he said. “The scale of civil services involved as well, the fact they had to build an entire city as well as the dam is amazing.” Simon said the fact the dam was built during the great depression probably contributed to the speed of construction, because workers had to fight for their jobs and work hard to keep them.

YOU’RE 300 metres above Las Vegas on the viewing deck of the city’s tallest building. The desert city sprawls out beneath you for miles in each direction. Passenger jets and helicopters pass by at eye level. What do you do? Jump over the edge. At least that is what several Barbarians players did when they discovered three rides at the top of the Stratosphere sky needle – aptly named Insanity, Extreme and the Big Shot. Insanity shoots a roller coaster carriage off the side of the tower – the same height as the Eiffel Tower in Paris – while Extreme dangles four rotating seats out over the edge of the building, with nothing but three-football field lengths of air between its victims and the Las Vegas sidewalk down below. Big Shot is a 300 metre high version of the Dreamworld’s giant drop. Sam Rollinson was among the brave few to try all three and reckoned they were each as daunting as each other. A few of the Barbarians left their lunch 300 metres up as well.

LAS VEGAS is not so much a city as a massive industry designed to part people from their money. It is almost impossible to get anywhere on the strip without having to pass through a casino first. Whether you’re looking for a bar, a café, a ticket office, you have to pass through row upon row of slot machines, card tables and roulette wheels on the way. The city’s population of two million people exists in the middle of the Nevada desert for one reason alone – to sustain the Las Vegas strip with all its luxury hotels, casinos, restaurants and shows. The scale and nature of developments along the strip is remarkable and has to be seen to be believed. Seventeen of the world’s 20 largest hotels can be found on the strip. The New York New York hotel recreates the entire New York city skyline with the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and the Brooklyn Bridge all there. The Egyptian themed Luxor has a Sphinx and a Pyramid which shoots a light into the sky so bright and long it can be seen by satellites. The main casino in the MGM Grand building features its own glassed-in lion enclosure where you can gaze on a roaring lioness a few feet away while dropping money on the slots. The Barbarians have enjoyed the visit but the biggest complaint has been the lack of “normal” bars along the strip. Most establishments require you to gamble or else charge exhorbitant prices at the bar. The Barbarians were rapt when the boys from the Black Jacks took them to a suburban sportsbar following their match where they could have a beer without the casino experience.

THREE choppers carried 17 Outback Barbarians from the Las Vegas airport through the Mojave desert to one of the seven wonders of the natural world on Sunday – the Grand Canyon. The aerial convoy flew over Hoover Dam and Lake Mead – the largest man-made lake in the States – then snaked its way east along the Colorado River in Arizona and into the soaring heights of the canyon. The Barbarians were able to land near the river and explore the local scenery. The excitement doubled for Rocky prop Andrew Walker when he nearly stood on a live rattle snake, but fortunately managed to spot it just in time. The scenery of the towering, steep-sided gorges – carved over millions of years by the Colarado River - was breathtaking to behold at every turn, and an experience the Barbarians will never forget.