What preparation did you do for this role? Just boot camp? When I first found out I got the role of Bomber Brown in sea patrol, I went down to HMAS Waterhen and got a tour of the old boat and spoke to a female chef. It was good to get an insight of how the female chefs never let the boys push them around. That was the best piece of advice I got. Then when we all arrived in cairns, we had boot camp.

What did you think of boot camp? It was so much fun! Apart from ‘wakey wakey’ at some ridiculous hour of the morning. I actually slept through it and woke up to Lisa playing a trick on me that we had already arrived in mission beach and I was in big trouble. We all had a good laugh but that was the first and last time I slept in! The best part was learning how to shoot the guns, it was really interesting and exciting.

Behind the Scenes on Sea Patrol 08/08

Exclusive Interview with Kirsty about

life on the Sea Patrol Set

What’s a typical shooting day like? It depends on what time you start but normally I'm awake around 5.00am for a pick up at 5.30am. The girls go in first for hair and makeup, then breakfast and wardrobe. The days on the water are long sometimes 12hrs but you can’t complain the scenery is magnificent and the sun is shinning. We normally wrap around 5 or 6pm and I always grab dinner out then head home and do it all over again.

Early on the second series you had some scenes with snakes, were you working with real ones? Were you scared at all? They were definitely real and I am very scared of snakes. I was dreading those scenes and I just couldn't wait to finish that day it was stressful. The snake handler was great and did make things allot easier. Just before one scene Spider and I had an olive snake wrap itself around our legs and they called action.... As you can guess that take never made it to screen! They are harmless but olive snakes are so big!

Any pranksters on the set? Well Lisa sometimes, Ian and Christian aren't pranksters but they are some of the funniest guys you will meet..

You had a stunt double for some of the more challenging scenes, did you ever think you should be doing your own stunts or were you happy to leave it to a professional? I was such a fan of doing my own stunts... that's the fun stuff! Some of the stunts are really dangerous though, so leaving it up to the professional was the wiser decision.

What did you think of the new Armidale class boat you shot on? Did you find it difficult to navigate you way around? This boat is honestly incredible! You forget your on a navy boat! It doesn't have the character of the older boats but its a first class act let me tell you.

After working on the series would you consider a career in the navy? More so than I would have before, defiantly.

What did you do in your off-time while shooting on location? Anything interesting to get you though those long days? I didn't have many off days on location. On the gold coast though I had a fair bit of time and I learned to surf! Now Im hooked and have my own board.

We heard about you and Jay Ryan’s near drowning experience, Did you sustain any injuries while shooting any other scenes? No thankfully. The drowning experience surpassed every injury possible.

Thanks to Aimee for her artwork used on this page!