HIS BAGS are packed for a very big adventure. Australia beckons and Darragh Musgrave is ready to go walk-about. Having worked in Ireland as a geologist since graduation in 1992, his sights are now set on journeying to the other side of the world to work and to see the antipodes "in terms of the evolution of the planet".

For geologists, the world is not made up of grassy hills, sweeping vistas and lowing cows. They see the shapes and structures which lie hidden underneath. "Everyone who does the degree will never again be able to look, in the romantic sense, across a valley without seeing the geological breaks, the glacial effects, without imagining in their heads how this has evolved," he says. "In a way that's sad, but the enjoyable part for me is understanding the evolution."

Musgrave is from Inniscarra in Co Cork. His interest in geology stems from growing up in the country by the River Lee in a family which was always aware of the environment. "When we were small my father was always interested in the landscape, pointing out trees, all kinds of animals, birds, everything, the lie of the land. I remember once going to a quarry fossil-hunting and we had a great day."

He went to study science at UCG because it had an oceanography department and he was initially interested in marine science. However, in second year he took up geology "as an interest rather than as a main course". Gradually he realised that he was not as interested in marine life as he was in rock formations, applied geophysics and remote sensing. As the four-year course progressed, he found geology more and more interesting. "I tended to gravitate towards geology," he explains.

In fourth year Musgrave spent six months in the north of Spain, attached to Universidad de Ovideo, doing field work and studying, as part of his course under the Erasmus programme. He did mapping work in a national park in the Cantabrian mountains. "It was incredible," he recalls.

After graduation with an honours BSc with geology as his special subject, he decided to look for a job immediately. More and more geology graduates go on to do a Ph D or Masters. There were eight in his class, including three girls - six went on to further study.

Musgrave's first job was with the Geological Survey of Ireland as a trainee field assistant, working in a range of areas, including the groundwater department, compiling maps and helping with field Work. "It was a very good apprenticeship because it's the public sector and you're learning about Irish geology as you work, meeting consultants." After graduation the hardest part, he explains, is getting work and it was good to start out with the Geological Survey of Ireland.

For the past three years he has worked for Bernard Murphy & Associates, a small geological and geophysical consultancy company based in Blackrock, Co Dublin.

"People in Ireland don't appreciate how much geological work is going on around them," says Musgrave. The work involves investigating landfill road schemes and sites, finding water levels, looking at the quality of rock. He lists new road schemes and developments where geologists are in demand. In the past few years geologists have also been involved in environmental investigations.

"Maybe it's our generation but most of my friends want to see the world," he says. "It's our oyster. I Just want to see a bit of the world."

So it's off to Australia for Musgrave. "I could be there for the next five to ten years depending on how things work out."

He has a must-see' list for Australia - the gold mines, Ayers Rock, the Great Barrier Reef and the western coast.