With two and a bit weeks to go until ‘D’ day a lot has happened.  In December I finally met the 12 people that I am going to be living with for the next 10 months.  I was so nervous, many sleepless nights about how I was going to start to build the team dynamic but most critically what to wear for that first meeting….

• Red high heels, black dress
• Navy blue dress, fun little polka dot flats
• Birkenstocks, polka pot silk blouse & jeans

The combinations are always endless but which personal statement did I want to present on day one of meeting the team.

In the end it was not quite as expected…… first day turned out to be quad training…. so I presented a spectacle in dust and jeans, I even had black teeth from the dust …. 

very attractive but at least having a motorbike license meant that I wasn’t a complete klutz on the quad and Thank God for facial cleansing wipes.

Unfortunately for my carefully planned wardrobe choices the weeks did not get any better and by the end of the month my team had seen me in a full dry suit, very dashing.  And the best outfit Tas Fire bright yellow jacket…. not only did the colour clash horribly with my complexion and hair but the smallest jacket came to just below my knees and the sleeves needed to be turned up four times which meant the shoulders were at my elbows…..

The pictures above are bad enough but I am not going to put up one of me in a bright yellow fancy dress jacket.  I never really think of myself as short until I have to wear mens clothing, then I suddenly realise how much bigger men are.

So I have not made the first impression that I really wanted, I spent the first three weeks of our team building time feeling like a bumbling idiot falling over in boats and stumbling around a fire ground with my oversized pockets full of every-one’s cameras.

It was a very odd few weeks especially because in my normal life and job I am quite confident and know pretty much exactly what to do in every situation…..machete’s in helicopters, bus rollovers, man flu – no problem.  Quad bikes, rubber dinghies and fires OMG, I think they should put the Station Leader through the courses first especially if every-one else on the team has done it at least twice!!!

So anyway with Christmas over and only a couple of weeks to go, I am starting to get nervous.  TEN MONTHS living in the same place, a single bed, possibly a shared bathroom, 12 men only one other women (although she is ace, thank-you power greater then me)…. OMG what was I thinking.  It’s like a pregnancy now I am committed and I just have to do it!!!  I’m sure I am going to look back fondly but at the moment I think I am bonkers.  Fortunately the team is amazing, they are so generous and are looking after each other and me.

It is more of a personal stress out, even the little things.  I am not high maintenance by any stretch, in fact I am so low maintenance that I was going to go ‘no poo’ while in Antarctica, I had visions of returning with lustrous natural hair…. instead I discovered the mousy brown that I haven’t seen since grade 12, I couldn’t stand it and reverted to my ‘normal’ dark red/brown over Christmas.  Now I am freaking out because I only packed one emergency pack of dye.  I’m still having issues over how to pluck my eyebrows and my fake lashes are going to fall off and be irreplaceable but I have taken steps to ensure I have nails.

Apart from the superficial there are more serious stress out moments were I see myself sitting in the corner of a daggy couch looking out at a blizzard bored brainless, fighting with my hubby on the phone because I have not been home much over the last 2 years or just plain depressed and not washing my hair or getting out of my pjs.  This is going to be a test in resilience that is for sure.