Uniqueness, challenge, savings chance

Press, 30 August 1988, Page 21

Uniqueness, challenge, savings chance

When Paul Wilson returns from Antarctica in October he intends to head straight for the sub-tropical rooms in Christchurch’s Botanic Gardens. It will be the plant life as much as the warmth that attracts after spending 12 months at Scott Base. Paul, aged 21, is the storeperson for the 1987-88 New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme, and during the winter months he has overhauled and repaired field equipment, packed the food boxes for the coming summer, and generally checked all the programme’s gear in Antarctica. Like many of the winteroverers, Paul has spent much time in the bush, mountains and other wilderness areas of New Zealand. In interviews before they travelled to Antarctica, many of the 12 Winter-over crew predicted that they would miss “the green” most. One man, Bob Geddes, who had spent the previous seven years in Papua New Guinea, said coconuts would be his great want. However, there is some plant life at Scott Base — even if it grows in artificial conditions and on a very small scale. The hydroponics garden has produced celery, silverbeet, peppers, tomatoes and pumpkins,

as well as marigolds and pansies. Paul Wilson was also worried that he would feel confined in the base during the winter months and that he would not be able to motivate anyone else to go out with him. (Scott Base rules insist on at least two people travelling together at all times). However, in the latest newsletter from the winteroverers, we learn that Paul and the base electrician, Alastair Pastier, have been cross-country ski-ing and have also manhauled sledges to Castle Rock and overnighted there. The average daily temperatures from April to September are between minus 25 and minus 31 degrees Centigrade. Not all of the present team at Scott Base specifically applied to winter-over in Antarctica, but when they were offered the year-long job instead of the fivemonth summer one they decided to take it. The uniqueness of the environment, the adventure and the challenge, the opportunity to save money, and the chance to work as part of a close-knit team were the most common reasons given for applying for the jobs at Scott Base. The chef, Brendan Davjs, from Dublin, Ireland, was the only one who specifically said he liked the dark, the night-time. The winter-

over team experiences about four months of total darkness. Three of the men have wintered over at Scott Base before. Many have spent time in other isolated environments, such as the Chathams or Campbell Island. Terry Ashdown, the engineering manager, spent three years in the Arctic, with the Northern Canadian Power Commission. Before that he moved all round the world — showing the “gypsy” quality common in this year’s team. Terry is one of the two married men at Scott Base. He has two teenage children. He says his wife was “not hostile” to his taking the job, although they both would have preferred it if he had gone down for the summer only. Bob Geddes’ partner was “not 100 per cent” pleased at his decision to return to Scott Base for a second winter, although they were hot together when Bob went in 1978-79. Bob, aged 34, has been married three times. He like Antarctica for the peace and quiet. “It just seems there is too much interference with life here,” he says. No doubt, many of the winterover team will have had enough of the peace and quiet by October.