By LIBBY MIDDLEBROOK
The coalminer is sucking on his second cigarette.
It has been five minutes since 56-year-old John Alder emerged from underground, and he has little to talk about apart from nicotine and the wonder of nature's sunshine.
"Just give me a few minutes, would ya, love?" he asks, flicking the ash from his cigarette with a blackened finger.
"Having a cigarette is the most important part of my day, along with seeing the sunshine."
Mr Alder spends eight hours a day working where cigarettes are banned, 200m below the earth's surface at the Solid Energy coalmine near Huntly.
While the rest of the country heads to the beach over summer, Mr Alder and 30 fellow miners spend their day in tunnels drilled 5km into the mine, scratching coal from the earth.
Don Middleton, who once broke his neck after being buried in coal, still claims to love the job he has done for 49 years.
"The work's dirty, but the money's clean."
At the start of each shift, the Solid Energy miners attach 6kg of gear - including an oxygen supply in case of an accident - to their waists.
For the next eight hours, they labour underground in tiny, dusty spaces collecting coal.
The only time Mr Alder is reluctant to work is when the fish are biting.
"A bad day's fishing's much better than a good day's work, mate."
If you think working 200m below ground in almost pitch darkness is hardly ideal, then consider Rochelle Deane's job.
For two years she has been the bird curator at Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter Underwater World, 4m below Tamaki Drive.
In temperatures of minus 3 degrees, she spends her day trudging about in snow and swimming in freezing water, taking care of the company's 75 penguins.
While the sun is shining along the Auckland waterfront, Ms Deane has to shovel three tonnes of snow a day throughout the penguins' enclosure.
"Well, I suppose down here the weather never really changes. It can be pretty disorienting working under the ground, but you get used to it."
The penguins make up for the lack of warmth and sunlight in entertainment value, says Ms Deane, who manages a group of king and gentoo penguins.
"I don't think there are many jobs where you get to laugh and smile all day long.
"The kings are quite snobby and peculiar. They're quite promiscuous. You've got gay ones, lesbian ones and superstar studs that all the females want."
While Ms Deane can rug up and do her job comfortably despite the cold, tunneller Phillip Harker cannot stand up when he works.
Each day Mr Harker, of Harker Underground Construction, squashes himself into stormwater pipes, working on his knees to remove tree stumps, dirt and clay so new pipes can be pushed through the earth.
This month, he was working on a new Ellerslie stormwater drain which involved digging a small hole in the ground and installing a piece of pipe.
It is Mr Harker's job to crawl inside the tunnel and dig out dirt, allowing more drains to be pushed through the ground.
"It gets pretty grubby down here but we find interesting things. It's always cool enough during summer, too.
"There's just something about working underground that's pretty amazing, but it's hard to put your finger on."
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