Episode 123 - Sarah Bouckoms

Kia Ora Whanau. For our second-to-last show of the year Eugene and Matt have the pleasure of bringing you a conversation with Sarah Bouckoms. This episode is a first for a couple reasons: It’s the first time that we’ve ever recorded a podcast in a hotel lobby (Distinction Te Anau, no less), and it’s the first time that we’ve ever had an astro-physicist on the podcast. Do you know what an Ice Cube Neutrino Detector is? Neither did we. Sarah, in addition to being an astro-physicist, also has a Post Graduate Degree in Antarctica Studies and has done field work in Antarctica, the Arctic, and Alaska. She spent 5 years as a high school science teacher in Connecticut working at an all-girls boarding school, and became a qualified wilderness EMT in the US, but has recently returned to New Zealand, the home of her father. She and her family had a horrific car accident when she was a child. Sarah was told in the hospital that she would never walk again: Fast forward a couple decades and we’re catching up with Sarah, the day before the longest run she’s undertaken, and it’s no exaggeration to say we were blown away by this conversation, as you’ll hear. Enjoy.