Dr. Gareth Andrews
Dr Gareth Andrews is a Consultant Anaesthetist at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney.
Since the start of the pandemic, I have been working on the frontline of the COVID-19 response for both the NHS in Wales and in Australia.
When not working in the hospital, I spend my time exploring Sydney’s beaches and bushland with my young family
When I Started Exploring
I was born on the Isle of Mull during one of the coldest Scottish Winters on record – a year when the sea outside our home in Bunessan froze solid.
Mum has always said that it was a sign of things come!
My earliest memories are of fishing the hill lochs with Dad on Mull. I was maybe five or six, fishing rod in hand, canvas tackle bag over my shoulder, scampering through the bracken up a mountainside trying to keep up.
They are some of my happiest memories.
MY FIRST MEMORY OF SLEEPING IN A TENT OR SLEEPING BAG OUTDOORS.
My parents instilled a sense of adventure in me from an early age.
Every holiday would be spent in a campervan or a tent next to a beach or in the mountains.
My first memory is being wrapped up in my blue down sleeping bag in our tent in the Pyrenees in a huge storm. Heavy rain and wind lashed the tent, thunder and lightning all around.
I loved it!
WHAT ADVENTURE MEANS TO ME
Adventure is a state of mind.
It’s not just dragging heavy stuff a really long way in really cold places. It’s climbing a tree, swimming in a wild river, surfing a new break.
It’s the way we view the world and our place in it.
WHY I WANT TO EXPLORE POLAR REGIONS
The polar regions are wild and dangerous, empty and stunningly beautiful – the true essence of adventure.
Immersing yourself in the polar world is both an immense privilege and a chance to test your mettle in the Earth’s most inhospitable environment.
WHY I AM CURIOUS
Curiosity to me is our natural sense of wonder, our innate need to question and explore.
WHY I WANT TO CROSS ANTARCTICA
Antarctica is the most wild and desolate, dangerous and stunningly beautiful environment on the planet.
It has fired my imagination since I was very young.
To ski across Antarctica unsupported is the purist form of adventure, it is one of the greatest journeys on earth – nothing to rely on except yourself, the person standing next to you and the contents of your sled.
Rich and I love just being in the polar environment and to be able to spend 4 months travelling across Antarctica is a huge privilege.