Well dang!
Turns out I won the New Zealand Antarctica tech job but didn’t get a place on the boat for the Australian Antarctic Division this season.
So no Davis Station for a third season in a row or last voyage on the Aurora Australis before she retires.
What happened? So much for my plans.
The AAD job I’d assumed I’d get fell through, BUT the big surprise was the Plan B job I never thought I’d have a chance of winning actually got up (Summer Tech at New Zealand’s Scott Base) and I’m the Winter standby tech to boot!
So “Winner winner chicken dinner”, as they say!
Looks like I’m off to work with the New Zealand Government Antarctic service for a while in August ( which is kinda awesome as I’ve never even been to New Zealand before).
No Iran or Turkey this year as I have prep work to do (hopefully they’ll still be there next year if the US don’t bomb the shit out of em).
So…it’s back home early for me. My immediate future holds in store a cheap flight back to Sydney for a few days there, then a week freezing my ass off in Canberra to sort out a few things there, then back to Dubbo for a while longer to pick up some gear and paperwork.
Then? New Zealand mid August for pre-deployment training and then September it’s back to the ice !
Travel, travel, travel.
Seriously it’ll be nice to get to Antarctica again just to spend 6 months in the same damn spot for a change,
So anyway, good news is – decision made (well, made FOR me at least).
Here’s to new experiences, a minor course correction and more training than I can poke a stick at.
What a crazy old world eh?
Stay tuned – I could get inspired again soon.
🙂
Man Down! 