certainly enjoyed his time here learning a new language and being educated at a local school where he is one of very few expats. I'd been to Manado a few times previously and always thought it'd be a great place to live -- it's a little more traditional than places like Jakarta and Bali, which gives you a greater experience rather than being surrounded by a large amount of expats on holiday. It forces you to integrate with the local community more. What have been the professional highlights working as an expat? Working back at a mine again has been great as I'm not really one for the corporate office environment. The fact that it's on a remote island in the Indonesian Archipelago has added an extra dimension to that. To fly to work each week and pass several volcanoes - some of which have erupted during my time here - just makes you realise that it's a special place -- something out of the norm and far removed from an office in Brisbane. Being a member of a small team developing a new mine has been a great experience. Whilst I'm not directly involved with that in terms of my project, it's great to get involved where I can and to see it all come together - the progress made even over my short 12 months here has been amazing. I became interested so much in the construction and mining process that I decided to use my spare time