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I'm [INAUDIBLE].
I'm a hydrographic systems operator, and buffer onboard
HMS Mermaid.
The hydrographic role is quite different from the majority of
every other branch in the Navy.
We will generally be surveying every day.
We'll get an order to say, OK, this area needs to be
surveyed, and then we'll get the ship ready, off we go, and
we'll generally be about three months at
sea on a normal trip.
We utilise multibeam echo sounders to get pictures of
the bottom.
I guess people describe it as knowing the graphs.
I mean, you're just going up and down.
Generally, areas that have never been surveyed before, so
you're finding reefs that haven't been charted,
sometimes wrecks and things like that, so it
can be quite exciting.
Not everybody has this type of job where we just go and work
in remote parts of the country that no one will ever go to.
You just find yourself on these random little islands in
the middle of, say, the Torres Strait, and just camping there
a couple nights.
Overseas-wise, I've been to Singapore, to [? Numea ?] in
French Polynesia, the Solomon Islands, all around Australia.
There's currently a team down in Antarctica doing some work
at the moment, so you get to go some pretty cool places.
When you come back, you get a fair bit of downtime to take
holidays and go see family and stuff.
I guess I see myself in the future just progressing
through the ranks.
There's always that opportunity to do something
different in the Navy.
You're not really going to get tied down into one spot.
Once you've done your basic training, you're pretty much
[INAUDIBLE].
going out at sea, and living the good life.