What it's like to live and work in Antarctica

When it came time for Winnie Yum to complete her medical internship, she knew she wanted to do so in a remote area where she would gain a broad range of experiences. 

The now-32-year-old chose Mount Isa, and as well as picking up a plethora of skills and embracing the small-town charm of the city, she also met her partner, electrician Nelson Athanasiou. 

Seven years on, they applied to spend a year at a much smaller community — the remote Davis research station in Antarctica.

These are Winnie's words.

My journey from Brisbane to Mount Isa

I went to school in Brisbane and studied medicine at University of Queensland. That was a six-year degree, and I did go to a couple of the rural clinical schools for UQ, so I lived in Bundaberg and Toowoomba, mainly, for two years. When I wanted to do internship, I looked at going as rural as possible and that was Mount Isa.

Because Mount Isa is so remote, it's got a really good community and every sport and activity you can think of. Flights in and out are very expensive, so you get used to living in a small, tight-knit community, which I really liked.

I already had rock climbing as a hobby, and perhaps surprisingly, Mount Isa had a reasonably active outdoor rock-climbing community. 

I connected [online] with Nelson, who was part of a group, so before I'd even moved to Mount Isa, we were chatting. I drove in from Townsville and arrived one evening and the next day, one of the first things I did was go rock climbing with him. 

We became friends very quickly, then we started dating, and we've been together for seven years.

Working in Antarctica has always been in the back of my mind

The opportunity to work in Antarctica was something I first heard about in high school, and then as I did medicine, I found out there was a doctor's role down here, so that always was in the back of my mind.

The application process was scary in the sense that we each had to apply on our own merits and the doctor's application was a different timeline to Nelson's application as an electrician. 

We were lucky we both had jobs that had roles down here and I applied for the job quite a few months before Nelson was able to apply for his position for the same season. When we both got through, we were lucky, as well, that we were able to come to the same station.

We had moved to Ararat in south-western Victoria two years prior and had bought a place there and often joke the move was preparation to go [to Antarctica], because it was 40 degrees when we drove down from Mount Isa over two days and in Ararat it was 15 degrees during the day. 

We have a cat and a dog, so we had to get someone to look after the animals and sort out what to do with the property, but Ararat is a very small town as well, so I was able to arrange everything quickly. I've got a colleague and friend house-sitting for us.

The reality of living and working in Antarctica

Life down here is pretty easy and simple. There are no food expenses, there's no rent, no fuel, no utilities (bills); All that's covered while you're living down here. Because we're so far away, there's not much online shopping I can do either, because I'm not going to get it for another year.

Mount Isa really prepared us for small communities; your colleagues are your friends, that you also see socially. The hospital [in Mount Isa] provides a huge range of services, but it's small enough that there are very few doctors, so it meant I could learn a huge variety of skills, which you need down here. 

Even the most senior doctors would get involved in all aspects of patient care and that's similar to here. We work by ourselves at Davis Station, so you can't delegate jobs to a more junior person because there is no junior person.

We get incredible sunsets in summer, when we finally get sunsets, because there are a couple of weeks in summer where it's just 24-hour daylight.

The colours of the sunsets here are particularly vibrant, but it's not just a half-hour experience where you sit outside and enjoy it like you do in Queensland; it's this beautiful, slowly changing constant colour in the sky that you get for hours.

We're grateful to be here together

Nelson and I have been so lucky to be able to come down here together. It really changes the experience in many ways to be able to share it together.

It's made it a lot easier and there are no more tense moments than there are at home, probably less because there are less chores to be done — and less arguing about who does what chore. If anything, it's been better.

I'm embracing the adventure and having my partner here with me means that if we have any difficulties, it's shared. We're away from family and home, but we very much have each other, so it's a lot easier for us than perhaps some of the other expeditioners who have families and partners back home.

Ironically, we've almost talked to our families more because everyone's interested in Antarctica, and we're constantly sending them photos. Ten years ago, it would have been a satellite phone call every now and then; now you can post and call and talk to whoever you want, whenever you want.

We've got (research and supply vessel) the Nuyina coming; they're meant to be here in early November, and we're scheduled to be back in Hobart late November, early December.

We'll have been on the station for just over a year, and away from Australia for about 14 months.

Some people say it's sort of like a college experience, but with adults, and I guess it is like that. In many ways, it allows adults to remember how to play.