compulsive vagrant…

It struck me the other day (mired deep in an existential funk, sulking about mortality and life choices) as I packed my duffle bags for yet another relocation, that being homeless by choice rather than by circumstance is actually a bit of a luxury. Especially in the pandemic era we are living through with its …

firewalls…

After 6 weeks battling new IT infrastructure, servers and Internet shitfuckery I'm finally able to get back onto WordPress and hopefully catch up with what the Hell's been going on here since arrival in early October. Oh joy. The urge to write has not overtaken me lately but I'm going to make more of an …

gone baby, gone…

So it's 'Take 3' tomorrow morning for myself and the Scott Base crew's 9am C17 flight to Antarctica, courtesy of the good ole USAF. We were supposed to leave Friday, then Saturday, then Sunday...weather delays are part of the fun (unfortunately). Disinfected buses collect us from our managed isolation facility at 6m and will shuttle …

exodus…

After 5 months of stress, anxiety and dislocation with uncertainty and isolation my bedfellows every sleepless night since March, I'm finally on my way out of the dumpster fire that is Australia 2020. Unfortunately not on a ship (so the Exodus analogy ends here) but rather a grumpy and sour Qantas flight to Sydney and …

Spamdemic…#5

Well of course Thursdays flight was cancelled, wasn’t it. Just for a few brief hours I’d allowed myself to entertain getting to Australia ok. It took a lot of phone calls, luck and pleases to get this sorted, but eventually a super helpful lady at the Thai Airways ticketing counter at Chiang Mai airport ( …

processing…

Back in Dubbo for a week now - a city of endless straight lines and unforgiving heat - these first 10 days of re-entry spent in a seesawing fever/fugue state brought on by the lightning fast onslaught of influenza picked up on Day 1 in Christchurch.  No, it wasn't Coronavirus just a vicious flu and …

November?

Well dang it all to Hell. I'd just finished tappity-bloody tapping this post out on my widdley piddly iPhone screen - my cramped and decidedly not touchscreen friendly fingers frantically tapping out my innermost thoughts and secret desires  (tucked safely in my room having a slight sulk and feeling sorry for myself)  when the WordPress …

Round three…

Well this is a very different Antarctic experience for me... Since we last caught up, there have been a few slight changes and course corrections life wise, but after almost 5 weeks training in Christchurch and a whirlwind tour of New Zealand in that time I've finally arrived this week at New Zealand's Research Station …

downtime…

The last 3 years have been a blur with the seemingly constant travel, new experiences and endless motion being both the best and the worst thing about it. When did 2019 become a thing? Last time I had a real sense of 'normal' it was 2016 and I was fleeing the '9-5' drudgery of an …

Correction…

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. …