We love talking to past ATT apprentices that have taken interesting paths through life. It was a pleasure to talk with Evan Davis-Goff, who travelled to the farthest corners of the earth and confessed he had always dreamt of going to Antarctica, never imagining that his plumbing skills would get him there – and now he can’t wait to return.
Apprenticeship Training Trust ATT - Evan Davis-Goff, Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting Keri Keri in Antarctica
Evan said “Antarctica! What an experience! I hope to go back again one day. The wildlife, such as seals and emperor penguins, and the endless icy landscapes are indescribably beautiful. And the life-long friendships I made were priceless. It was the most amazing year of my life.”
His advice is, if you have even the most remote interest in Antarctica you should look into work opportunities there as a tradie. Evan said “the wonderful thing about being a tradie is the ability to travel anywhere. The possibilities are huge, you can go anywhere in the world because you can work anywhere in the world.”
He started his apprenticeship in his thirties after realising he wasn’t enjoying his job. In a good position to be able to afford to retrain, Evan chose a plumbing apprenticeship through ATT and was taken on by Laser Plumbing Kerikeri in 2004.
The opportunity to travel to Antarctica arose in 2014, after speaking with a friend-of-a-friend plumber who had just returned from a 14-month contract. Evan said “I soaked up every word he said when he described his experiences. He encouraged me to apply to the Australian Antarctic Division and after a highly competitive and gruelling interview process I was lucky to be offered a contract and headed to Hobart for the three-month pre-departure training. It was all very intense. We had training in firefighting, wastewater treatment plants, boiler servicing, TAFE courses and problem-solving workshops over three months.
“We left Hobart on an icebreaker on the 28th of January and arrived in Antarctica on the 10th of February. After a couple of weeks on the voyage we did a handover with the outgoing crew, then the ship departed and we were there, alone, completely isolated for the long winter. It was fantastic. I was lucky to be sent to Mawson station, the jewel in the crown of Australia’s four Antarctic stations, accessible by sea for only a short period each summer between February and March. Our winter-group of 14 included two plumbers, two electricians, a builder, a chef, a doctor, two mechanics, a comm’s officer, field training officer and a couple of meteorological staff.
Apprenticeship Training Trust ATT - Evan Davis-Goff, Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting Keri Keri in Antarctica
“Water is a necessity anywhere and on the frozen continent you might think it is everywhere, but it’s locked in the ice. The problem is to maintain drinking water above its freezing point. Constant checking and maintenance of the systems is necessary. The most challenging issue we had was when the water supply pipe work from the melt well froze up and needed repairing. We worked for five days for 12 hours a day to get the pipes unfrozen and heat trace working again in a relatively-mild minus ten degrees. Myself and Charlie (my plumbing colleague) led the team and we all worked together, it required great communication, problem solving skills, patience, tenacity and some serious real-world plumbing experience.” Antarctica is the driest, coldest and windiest content in the world which is harsh on equipment and people too. In July 1983 the lowest recorded temperature on earth was there at -89.2 degrees.
Returning in 2016 Evan set up Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting in the Bay of Islands, and just over two years ago took on apprentice Jeff Mendoza. Evan said “at the time I was extremely busy, full-time on the tools, and the biggest thing for me was the ease of employing Jeff. It’s great, he turns up to work every day and ATT sends me an invoice, it’s so easy. I didn’t have the time to manage apprentices and I knew ATT because I’d been an ATT apprentice too. It’s so simple and I knew that if Jeff didn’t work out ATT could rehome him, but he’s been a great kid. It works well having the area manager there to smooth over any training or communication issues, there are times when it’s good to have someone there to help us through.
“When I’m not working you’ll find me on or in the water fishing and diving, down-hill mountain biking, or in the bush deerstalking. I thoroughly recommend the plumbing trade, it’s interesting, always changing, with good solid life and trade skills that can literally take you anywhere in the world.”
If you are interested in a snapshot of life as a tradie in Antarctica you can check out the blog Evan wrote during his time there, Iced Goffy: March 2015