TRADIE’S COOL JOB

IT wasn’t until he was aboard an icebreaker en route to Antarctica, that Cairns tradie Dane Eden decided his shorts and pluggers just wouldn’t cut it in the extreme cold.

The diesel fitter, who is more used to running his dog through the Far North’s cane fields and tropical beaches than having to don “survival clothing” before he starts work each day, has signed up to a year-long adventure working in one of the world’s most hostile environments.

In the past month since he arrived on the frozen continent, he said temperatures had dipped as low as -14C, a long way from the 40C-plus heatwave Cairns recently endured.

“In winter, the temps can get as low as -40C, so that will be a bit of a challenge,” Dane said. “My first experience of extreme cold was on the Aur

ora Australis icebreaker on the way down.

“I didn’t have enough layers of clothing at the time, so decided I had to ditch the pluggers and boardies and put the supplied cold weather clothing on. First time I experienced snow was down here as well, just after we arrived, during our station induction. “What a welcome.” Dane is one of more than 100 people a year recruited to work for the Australian Antarctic Division, and he now calls Davis Station home.

He said just looking out the window every day, seeing snow, icebergs and sea ice was an awesome experience.

“On a good day, you can see the ice plateau behind the Vestfold hills from station,” he said. So far, Dane has been on a drive over the sea ice, and voyaged out through icebergs.

He’s also been up on to the ice plateau to the Woop Woop skiway: a summer airstrip carved into the ice, which as the name suggests, is in the middle of nowhere.

“Later in the year, elephant seals will wallow in a cove just below station,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting out to the huts in the Vestfold hills to stay off station, explore the many fjords and lakes, and get to the edge of the Sorsdal Glacier at Cataract Canyon.”

Australian Antarctic Division is recruiting for a range of roles in the 2019-20 season.

For more information, head to jobs.antarctica.gov.au

Pictures: DANE EDEN/AAD NOT SO TROPICAL: Diesel fitter, Dane Eden aboard Australia’s icebreaker Aurora Australis on the journey south, across the Southern Ocean.

ZIPPED UP: Dane Eden’s first glimpse of Antarctica.

BREAKING THE ICE: Dane Eden, in front of Aurora Australis.