Perthistence Pays

Maybe as a preamble here I should apologize for all the bad puns. I can't, however, guarantee that I won't continue to populate my blog posts with them.



But now on to the exciting stuff-- I did it! I'm now officially licensed to kick butt and take names. Or work offshore. Sort of the same thing really.
This involved flying all the way across the Australian continent from Sydney to Perth, in Western Australia. Notice the "Economy Class" label in the gate sign here? In Australia business class and economy class actually get on board through different doors and different corridors. Kind of reminds me of the way English pubs will often have two entrances for upper class and lower class sides. Kind of suprising. As far as I've been able to see in my limited (but growing) experience with Australian air travel, it doesn't really speed up the process at all.





I've been in Fremantle, a coastal town just down the Swan River from Perth, the capital of Western Australia, for 2+ days now. I haven't really had a chance to do any sightseeing, as I've been pretty busy over the past two days. However, I'm staying at a really nice resort on the swan river with a really comfortable room, nice views, and two pools and a spa. (Pools seem to be as ubiquitous as driveways here).

I've just finished my TBOSIET training-- Tropical Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training. Maybe I should rename this my acronym post. TBOSIET consists of four parts-- General Offshore Safety Training, Fire Fighting, Sea Survival Skills and the pinnacle: HUET, or Helicopter Underwater Escape Training.


In a nutshell, I spent two days escaping from smoke filled buildings, putting out various types of fires, jumping off three meter platforms into water, getting into life rafts, being winched from the water onto a platform, and getting strapped into a helicopter simulator which then sinks and turns upside down, and from which you have to escape by either opening a door or removing a window and making your way to the surface.

It was a bit harrowing, as I don't swim, but in the end the two days were really fun and something I never would have had the opportunity to do if I hadn't come to Australia to volunteer on the SEA SERPENT program through the University of Sydney.

All in all I'm more resolved than ever to learn to swim this winter/summer, and I feel much more confident about how to conduct myself in case of an emergency.

I'm also really looking forward to the opportunity to go offshore in a few weeks, which is the motivation behind my doing the TBOSIET course in the first place-- you are not allowed to go offshore in Australia without this certification.

(And see, Jess, I got some pictures of me in these last posts just so you'd believe I'm really in Australia).

OK, long wet day and now I'm going to relax in front of the TV.