I Love This Job

As the training draws to an end (yep, training finishes on Friday April 1st), I look back on all that has happened since August 2010 and can only think that I have the best job in the world. Of course, these thoughts may change at some point, but seriously, I have nothing to complain about.

The training began with a flurry of information about how to be a BOM Observer: reading cloud types and heights; recording rainfall, wind speeds and temperatures; and sending weather balloons up into the air. Next up came the technician training - there were a few new machines to get my head around in a very short amount of time, then I was put to work in the NSW regional maintenance centre (RMC) and ended up in all sorts of odd places. Such as inside a RADAR dome:

Finally, after months of waiting, came the AAD training schedule. I now have a forklift license (yep, they were silly enough to give me one); I've been trained in search and rescue (SAR), specifically on steep slopes; and today we finished the fire and ERT (Emergency Response Team) training.

I'll say it again: I love this job.

Fireman Leon

Maquarie Island

Macquarie Island, or Macca as it is often referred to by locals, is located at 54°30' S 158°57' E. This is half way between New Zealand and Antarctica. Luckily for me and many other expeditioners who are able to get there, the island is managed by Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service (TASPAWS) and is considered part of Tasmanian territory.

There's plenty of in depth information out there on the web and yes, the Wikipedia page is fairly accurate. Also check out the AAD information.

A few interesting points to consider:

• Macca sits on a fault line and is one of the few (or is that only - I don't remember) islands where the ocean floor and Earth's crust are exposed directly.
• It is home to a plethora of wildlife including: elephant seals; 4 types of penguins; various varieties of birds and fur seals.
• Introduced species include: wekas (eradicated); cats (eradicated); rabbits; ship rats; and mice. This year there will be a huge operation to try and eradicate the rabbits, rats and mice from Macca. Should be facinating to be in the middle of that particular project.

There's so much more and not enough battery life....

Until next time.

The Job

So, as stated in the previous post, I'm working for the BOM. This job is officially titled a Technical Officer, Level 4 (TO4). When on base the title is generally changed to Met Tech, meaning Meteorology Technician. Doesn't quite make much sense yet, but I'm getting there...

All four Antarctic bases (3 continental an 1 sub-antarctic) are run by the AAD who are also a Federal Government agency. In order for them to distinguish between them and the BOM, they refer to all BOM officers as Met *title*.

As the Met Tech, I'll be conducting about 70-80% observation work, which includes: describing the cloud types and height according to the BOM's classification rules; and sending weather balloons into the air with pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed/direction sensors on them. The other 20-30% will be the technician work, which is mostly maintenance and repairs. The equipment includes: all ground based sensors; the office network and PC's; and the electolyser (a machine used to generate hydrogen for the weather balloons).

There's a few extraneous jobs for other agencies, such as CSIRO, that I'll be helping collect data for and maintain generally maintain the equipment.

There are also various station duties that everyone on base helps out with, or has a leading role with and I'll go into those at another time.

Greetings and Salutations

A little over a year ago I found a job advertisement on the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) website asking for people to go to the Australian bases in Antarctica and on the sub-antarctic Macquarie Island. I made the application and after a long process involving a Big Brother style camp, a psychological interview and an extensive medical check, I somehow got the job. I will spending about a year on Macquarie Island and getting up to as much mischief as I can.

This blog is about all the adventures that occur over the year and please remember, there is no guarantee or schedule as to when any updates will happen.

Feel free to ask questions, I'll answer them if I can.

The next couple of posts will be about the job and other housekeeping information.