Richard,
No offence taken - its not what I do either so I had no idea on wage scales. I'm on the ships where we have been doing 4 months away so 6 months away but not cooped up would be great, but I'm not sure if I've the right skills to be a plant mech. Although if I was chasing the money I wouldn't be here either as commercial companies are paying a substantial amount more.
From what I've seen of the Plant Mech job it has parts of a tech's/fitters job in a plant workshop in the UK, but combined with a lot of operation of machinery, and generally getting all the jobs done to keep the bases operating.
Its definitely not all workshop based.
Technology is moving in, which I'm not a big fan off for remote places, or when you can't pop into the dealer, unless you are able to stock stuff that no main dealer would, although that still wouldn't stop the hassle of delving into the guts of a gearbox for a faulty sensor.
If you need it and its not on the shelf you aren't getting it for several weeks if a plane is going that way, or several months if its the middle of winter and -50degC.
Or you can try and make it yourself which is increasingley difficult with more modern machinery.
I suppose that is the main difference between a workshop fitter and a Mech in Antarctica and consequently we have some clever blokes who do impressive things where the manual says take it to your dealer/fit a replacement part.
Farmers sons often turn out to be excellent, and one is now a top man, due to the 'Make it happen' attitude.
(If you're reading this it's meant as a complement, and a thank you for letting me help (play)!)