d concord - I have worked with, but not for the Skytraders guys, the guys I worked with were a slick crew, easy going and great to get along with, the company is a pretty good operation and the crews are really looked after. The head office for the company is in Bowral NSW. As far as I am aware they have an excellent safety record, only one small issue with a door ajar early in the year and clipped the airstairs on taxi, never heard the outcome.
The "Snowbird" is a modified 319LR, (flying fuel tank) and is on contract for the Australian Antarctic Division most of the Antarctic summer operating on the NZ to Mcmurdo (USA Antarctic Station) or Hobart to Casey Station (Wilkins ice runway) Antarctic. They also run 2 CASA 212's for intra Antarctic work of a summer. the crews I worked with are very professional, easy to get along with and enjoy their jobs.
I can tell you that the Antarctic flight departs Hobart around midnight local and takes between 5 and 5.5hr flight down weather depending, on the ice for between 1 and 2 hours and then return Hobart.
I did hear that to work on the 212's the guys paid a bond to the company and committed to a 5 year contract. This is to prevent people from going south for one season. There is a fair amount of training goes into the crew for ice and snow work.....not 100% on bond issue and I will stand corrected and apologize if I am wrong, best you make your own investigation to confirm.
If you are interested in working on the 319 then, yup, good company, good crew and the work is very interesting.