Farewell Sydney

What exactly do you pack for a two month sortie into the arctic tundra? My first instinct was to jam all the essentials into my knapsack and be done with it. Sadly I had to abandon this plan when, one laptop and one jacket later I found myself completely out of packing space. I then reverted to one of my old faithful rules "When in doubt, throw it out". Unless I was unequivocally convinced that an item would be essential for my trip, it would be left behind or better yet thrown into the trash. Ultimately I managed to fit everything into two carry on bags. It was just enough baggage to keep the parents happy, although Mum was considerably distraught after I informed her that by morning, everything would be repacked to fit into my infamous "Whistler" backpack.

One of my final preflight tasks was to disconnect the electricity from my old unit at Pyrmont. In between bursts of typically annoying hold music, the prerecorded voice message blurted out insightful pearls of wisdom such as "If you suspect there is a gas leak, never inspect the area with a naked flame". Clearly this organisation does not have a lot of respect for the IQ of its average customer.