Hank Golaboski is a diesel mechanic by trade living in Whitianga and has been lucky enough to work out in the field in most of his jobs.
He loves working on different projects in different locations because for him it makes the job more enjoyable and he experiences more challenges and gain different experiences. He was fortunate enough to be accepted to work on Scott Base in Antarctica for 13 months starting this September.
”I have never had the opportunity before now to consider something like this with life commitments, but currently have none so when I saw this opportunity, I thought I couldn’t pass it up. So I applied and was accepted on the basis of a lot of medical and suitability tests.”
Thank you
Hank wrote to The Informer to thank his community.
“This would not have been possible without the help of the amazing services we have in this town. As I will be wintering over in Antarctica, I needed to go through a rigorous medical and dental process within a short period of time. The awesome work by many people to complete all the medical and dental checks at short notice was what made this Antarctica trip a reality.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all involved. Dr Jorritt and the team at the Mercury Bay Medical Centre, the nurses at Pathlab, Mercury Bay Radiology, Tamsin at Mercury Bay Smiles who fitted me in at short notice, the staff at the Mercury Bay Library for all the printing, scanning and emailing they helped me with, and Dive Zone for the First Aid course I needed. The only thing I could not compete in town was the ECG Tolerance test. Cardiac Services in Hamilton handled that, once again at short notice.
Thanks again, without all your combined efforts this adventure would not be taking place.”
We spoke with Hank about his expectations.
“I just want to go down there and do the job to the best of my ability, and learn as much as I can about Antarctica and the challenges it is facing with climate change. Also getting out and about when the weather allows is going to be spectacular.”
“In the summer, Scott Base can cater for 150 people at a time. In the winter there will only be 12 of us left there. I grew up on Great Barrier Island and also went to boarding school which was a big plus for my application. We will see if that is enough to get me through the winter with 11 other people I will have only just met.”
As a side note, the Antarctic Summer average temperature is between -2 to -7 degrees and the Winter average is around -28 degrees . On a cold day it is around -45degrees.
We will be hearing from Hank on his return. We congratulate him and wish him well for this adventure of a lifetime.
