Good question really, even if I wrote it myself. I applied to come here as a plumber but in all reality the type of plumber this place requires is not the sort of plumber I became. Fortunately for me, when I did my apprenticeship back in the days that dinosaurs roamed Antarctic, I was signed up as a mechanical plumber, which at 16 years old had no real significance. But in 2017 it means I get to work in Antarctica doing stuff I learned all those years ago. Good career choice way back then. In Broome and most of my working life, yes WORKING life, don’t laugh, I have done general plumbing which is what I like doing and is quite handy down here but really is only about 10% of the work I have to do. Most of my work is about maintaining plant rooms. I regularly chuckle to myself when I read the signs on the doors that say NO ENTRY. AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY. That’s me! I can go past.

When I walked into the first plantroom on my station plumber tour I thought OMG or equivalent. I think it was the Redshed Plantroom which is really the basement of the building we live in. I looked around the jungle of pipes and pumps and other plumbery stuff looking for something familiar. Then I saw it. Buried amongst other stuff, half way along a far wall was a hot water cylinder. Great, something I know about! But that was about it really. There was also a washing machine but I can’t really count that I guess. We then went on the plant room tour which is free and open to all new incoming plumbers. The outgoing guys, who were glad to be handing over and heading home just waffled on about controllers and alarms and stad valves and duty cycles and auto fills and burner resets and jacking pumps. I looked at Eddie who seemed to be comfortable enough and even understanding what they were on about.

There are about a dozen main plantrooms if you exclude hydroponics which is technically a room of plants and not a plantroom. As I get more organised I’ll write more about some of them and the buildings they are in as they are quite interesting and a necessary part of our survival down here. Having been here a while now I am way more comfortable and on top of it all. I hope! I actually feel like I’m an authorised person now.