The days of uncertainty with COVID-19 have left me thinking, how I ended up in the United Kingdom, a very long way from my roots in the Te Anau Basin, after being brought up on Mararoa Station and Te Anau, educated at both old and new Mararoa school and Te Anau in the 1960’s and 70’s before heading to boarding school at Waitaki Boys. 

After spending 22 years with Fiordland Travel Ltd as Chief Launch Master, leading an adventurous lifestyle developing some of its overnight cruises – including the Milford Wanderer Discovery programme and overnight vessels on Milford and Doubtful Sound – a chance meeting with my soon to-be-wife Sarah on the Fiordland Navigator changed everything. 

In 2002 I was approached by Maritime Safety Authority to join them on their quest to improve safety within the 3500 commercial vessel fleet around the country and became part of a three-man team to undertake the challenge based with Maritime Safety Authority in Wellington. I decided to give them three years and almost to the day was approached by Seaworks in Wellington to be their Marine Operations Manager looking after commercial surveying and construction vessels in New Zealand and working in Cook Strait. Another call out of the blue then saw me commuting from Wellington to Cairns in Australia to manage Coral Princess Cruises fleet, which cruised to Darwin, Papua New Guinea, Cairns, Barrier Reef, Pacific Islands and New Zealand.

Time moved on and, as a family, we moved to the United Kingdom where we reside today. Life in the UK was a culture shock compared to laid back lifestyle of Southland. It took close to a year to establish myself and obtain a job with the Svitzer Towage part of the Maersk Group, the world’s largest shipping company, as a Marine Assistant at the Port of Milford Haven. They could not believe I spent most of my life in Milford Haven, New Zealand, and here I was at the origin of all the names we take for granted in Fiordland.

Opportunity came knocking around three months later after, tragically, three crew where drowned in Scotland on one of our vessels when it rolled over in heavy fog during towage operations. I was approached to develop and change the safety culture – a short time later, taking up the position of UK HSE Manager overviewing 70 ships and 700 crew for Svitzer. After three long years, the culture was changed. During this period I was also lucky enough to manage a 75m super yacht for the owner of McLaren racing, which ranged from the Med to the Caribbean in the off season. 

Tragically one morning; there had been an explosion on board a ship based in the Middle East resulting in eight fatalities and constructive loss of the vessel. 

Twenty-four hours later I was on a flight to Copenhagen for incident review and shortly thereafter heading to Middle East to join the investigation team from Dubai. The investigation identified number areas for improvement, which required a total rethink of how safety was to be managed across the fleet world-wide.

A new team was put together, including me, to develop, implement and embed the safety management system worldwide to OVMSA (Offshore Vessel Management Self-Assessment) standards for offshore vessels. To date one of the most challenging times in my career, I moved to the position as Group HSE Audit and Inspection Manager, travelling all over the world for five years, sometimes around the world two or three times a month overviewing compliance for 475 ships and 4000 crew, from Sakhalin’s Island in Russia’s East, to South America, including every continent in between. Svitzer Tugs are the world’s largest ship towage provider worldwide.

At last count, in the 12 years I have been away from Te Anau, I have used up three passports with approximately 450 border crossings. One memorable 14-day business round trip required travel from UK to Spain, Brazil, Panama, Dominican Republic, New York, flight across the North Pole to Hong Kong, Vietnam and home again, only to turn around several days later for a three-day return trip to Singapore for a six-hour meeting.

Travel in some parts of the world has its challenges. I came close to being stabbed in a hotel compound carpark in Papua New Guinea, travelled with armed guards (kidnapping being a very real threat) in Central America, stayed in hotels with razor wire around the compound and a guard stationed at my door all night in East Timor, learning to drink Pisco (rocket fuel) a South American drink in Peru. 

The East Timor Sea. PHOTO: Bruce Bradley

The cultural differences and values to life are vast. Some places are very well controlled, in others life is very cheap. But, strangely, despite the hardships in some areas, they survive. 

Some countries live on the edge at the best of times, let alone without the impact of COVID-19. The people you meet are fascinating. We travelled through China for two weeks just before the outbreak of COVID-19 without any issues, a fascinating country and people; its infrastructure leaves the west in the dust. 

Food in some countries can be a challenge, pays “not to ask” what it is. I was only violently ill once – a McDonald’s burger in Muscat Oman in 45deg heat. On a second visit, they had freshly killed goat, a local delicacy, which was immediately cooked over an open fire, and eaten by hand and was far tastier and healthier than the Big Mac.

Once away from New Zealand you gain a greater respect of what we have in New Zealand. As I have travelled home many times over the last 12 years, I see New Zealand changing – sometimes for the good, sometimes not – when compared to other places. 

COVID-19 has brought despair to families and nations across the world, it will also bring some good. The world needs a breather, and one thing I always value is stepping off the plane in Queenstown on my way home to Te Anau, that first lung full of fresh air. No smog, and no people, home at last. Up to the COVID-19 outbreak, the sky here was crossed with jet trails 24/7, and smog always present. Now no more jet trails, the air is clear, just perhaps I may not need to go home again to breathe the best air on the planet for a while at least. When heading back to the UK, those last three or four mouthfuls of fresh air at ZQN last a lifetime.

In my new job with as Marine HSE Manager with CRH, the world’s leading global building materials business with over 82,000 employees, we have had to adapt to COVID-19 and as a result this has brought considerable challenges – furloughing staff, now working from home, restrictions on travel and movements. Although frustrating, it is needed when you live in a country with 60 million people. 

Challenging times, things are improving, there is a glimmer of light, although dim at the end of the tunnel. The motorways are busier, and Starbucks is open! 

Bruce Bradley travelled through China for two weeks just before the outbreak of COVID-19.

I’m often asked, will I ever return home to live in New Zealand after the COVID-19 pandemic? A very good question. The answer is yes, and most likely sometime in years to come in a cardboard box marked “Return to Sender - c/o Fiordland”.

Stay safe Southland, and hang on to what you have. Although the view over the fence often looks good, New Zealand is the best place in the world – look after it!

• If you're a Southlander living (or forced to return home) from living abroad, we'd love to hear your story. Please contact us at [email protected] Likewise, if you know a Southlander living abroad, please encourage them to get in touch with us to we can all learn more about how this coronavirus is changing life for Southlanders everywhere.