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New Zealand has a well-deserved reputation as a country rife with opportunities for adventure. It's a destination location for skiing, kayaking, diving and outdoor sports of every imaginable type.
That rugged appeal is a magnet for adventurous locum tenens doctors. It should come as no surprise that New Zealand is also a breeding ground for some of history's most renowned explorers.
Heroic journeys
This year marks the 100-year anniversary of Sir Earnest Shackleton's storied expedition to cross the continent of Antarctica. On October 21, 1915, the crew of Shackleton's ship Endurance watched as implacable sheets of ice crushed their ship, sending it to the bottom of the Weddell Sea.
Many credit the salvation of Shackleton's party to the skill and seamanship of the New Zealand-born captain Frank Worsley. And today, 100 years later, another Worsley is facing the ice, cold and inhospitable winds of Antarctica.
Going it alone
Henry Worsley, a descendant of the Kiwi skipper of the Endurance, is following in the family footsteps, according to the NZ Herald. He's doing it in a very literal way by attempting to become the first person to complete a trans-Antarctic crossing unsupported and unassisted.
There are so few firsts left in the world. Technological advancements in travel, cartography and equipment have empowered generations of explorers to tackle so many of nature's most daunting adventures, but Worsley's mission – should he be successful – will be the first of its kind.
Worsley is traveling alone and unaided with enough gear and supplies to last for 80 days. In that time, he will cross nearly 1,300 miles of the most forbidding terrain on earth. He will make the first ever solo descent down Shackleton Glacier before moving, finally, to the end of his journey on the Ross Ice Shelf.
You don't have to risk the frozen fields and yawning crevasses of Antarctica to find adventure. But rest assured that in New Zealand, exploration and discovery are significant parts of the country's past, people and culture.