History of an Adventurer
Worm hole on the Franz Josef Glacier
In 1999 , my BA/LLB at Canterbury University was completed, and the world was ready to be conquered. I had unofficially majored in rock climbing and ski patrol, and I started my ‘Kiwi OE’ hoping to make use of my mountain skills.
I worked as a professional ski patroller in North America, before adventuring around Europe. A role as a paralegal in London, and an outdoor instructor in the backwaters of England enabled my travel addiction.
Reality bit hard and left teeth marks when I returned to New Zealand. I eliminated the other 295 contestants and became a ‘Trainee Manager’ for Tranz Rail Ltd in 2002. I survived both the Toll Rail merger; and a role as a Network Safety Specialist for two years.
Between 2004 and 2007 I spent time working in the oil industry as a Health and Safety Adviser, worked as an HR contractor, and then became the HSE/HR Manager for B & D Doors Ltd. At the age of thirty I realised that life was not about working eighty-hour weeks across three different time zones, or working out how to ‘nicely’ make people redundant.
The role of Hut Custodian at Temple Basin Ski Area, my university snow Mecca, seemed ideal. Unfortunately, there was no snow and an exceptionally short season. In 2007, Temple did not officially open, and I became a refugee at Broken River Ski Area cleaning toilets.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) Franz Josef Waiau offered me the role of Community Relations Ranger in November 2007. After organising many community events, providing education programmes for local schools, and wrangling with conservation legislation, I decided that the bureaucratic life was not for me. I have finally found nirvana where I get paid to create, and I now call myself a published website copy writer, globe-trotting travel writer, and raconteur.
I worked as a professional ski patroller in North America, before adventuring around Europe. A role as a paralegal in London, and an outdoor instructor in the backwaters of England enabled my travel addiction.
Reality bit hard and left teeth marks when I returned to New Zealand. I eliminated the other 295 contestants and became a ‘Trainee Manager’ for Tranz Rail Ltd in 2002. I survived both the Toll Rail merger; and a role as a Network Safety Specialist for two years.
Between 2004 and 2007 I spent time working in the oil industry as a Health and Safety Adviser, worked as an HR contractor, and then became the HSE/HR Manager for B & D Doors Ltd. At the age of thirty I realised that life was not about working eighty-hour weeks across three different time zones, or working out how to ‘nicely’ make people redundant.
The role of Hut Custodian at Temple Basin Ski Area, my university snow Mecca, seemed ideal. Unfortunately, there was no snow and an exceptionally short season. In 2007, Temple did not officially open, and I became a refugee at Broken River Ski Area cleaning toilets.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) Franz Josef Waiau offered me the role of Community Relations Ranger in November 2007. After organising many community events, providing education programmes for local schools, and wrangling with conservation legislation, I decided that the bureaucratic life was not for me. I have finally found nirvana where I get paid to create, and I now call myself a published website copy writer, globe-trotting travel writer, and raconteur.
