The story starts in November 2024 when I was sitting on the couch with my daughter Taylah and saw an Instagram ad. She said, “So what are doing next year Dad? You should apply to go to Antarctica!”

So what are you doing next year Dad?

Taylah had just finished Grade 12 and it was looking likely she would be heading to Melbourne to study pharmacy at Monash University, so I thought "why not, I’ll throw my hat into the ring and see what happens!".

I applied for an electrician role in Antarctica. Eight months later, working my way through the process from forms, assessment centres, technical interviews, medicals, and psychological assessments, I was offered a winter role at Davis Station.

I packed up my life into a storage shed, sold my car, and with the amazing support of my boss and senior executives, I left my great job at Village Roadshow Theme Parks and headed to Hobart to start three months of training.

Leaving Hobart on the 26th of September 2025 on board the Australian ice breaker, RSV Nuyina, we headed south for Davis Station via Heard Island, deep into the Southern Ocean and past the 60th parallel south, the gateway to Antarctica.

It was the 29th of October 2025 when I first set foot on the continent of Antarctica and now six months in, I have achieved so many of my green ticks, from experiencing 24hr daylight, exploring this strange yet beautiful place and staying in remote huts, sleeping in a “bivi bag” outside during survival training, seeing amazing auroras with my own eyes, celebrating a birthday, Christmas and New Years, taking a summer swim and going on an iceberg tour but to name a few.

With winter now ahead of us the temperatures are dropping (-20˚C air temp, -30˚C wind chill) and the daylight is fading slowly into 24hr darkness soon, setting us up for our winter dinner, swim and gift exchange on the winter solstice.

So, six months down and six months to go until I can give my daughter a hug (hopefully the “big red science canoe” comes back lol) what will the next chapter hold, only time will tell, the experiences and green ticks will continue that’s for sure.

Peter Morris

Davis Station - Electrician

A man wearing jeans and a high visibility vest stands on tarmac in front of a large red and white ship labelled 'Antarctica', with grey cloudy skies overhead.
A man wearing blue jeans, a brown jacket and beanie leans against the side rail of a ship, with orange life rafts behind him. In the background you can see an island with large rocky cliffs and a white mountain.
A man wearing brown pants and jacket and a high visibility vest stands on ice in front of a large red and white ship labelled 'Antarctica', with a blue sky dotted with clouds overhead.
A man wearing a high visibility short and a greay and white beanie poses for a selfie in front of a series of grey pipes running just above a brown rocky ground
An orange sunset spreads across a sky that is partially covered with fluffy clouds. In the foreground is a snowy beach and calm water
A bearded man in a blue jacket poses with a younger woman with plaited hair wearing a black jacket.

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