When students start their tenure at Auckland Grammar School, one of the first things they learn are the School's values: excellence, commitment, respect, humility, courage, integrity and pride, which are core to upholding the School's position and vision of pre-eminence in boys' secondary education. Many Old Boys still live by these values, including Rob McLeod '81.

Under the guidance of 'absolute legendary' headmaster, the late Sir John Graham, Rob is proud to be called an Auckland Grammar Old Boy. "The School has very strong, positive values, and has produced world leaders in so many fields. It has given me a launching pad for several careers now, and the self-confidence I gained at Grammar was key."

Rob was a very keen sportsman who competed in Rugby, Athletics and Rowing, gaining success with the Fours crew at the annual Maadi Cup regatta. His athletic prowess is something he doesn't take for granted. "My Grammar activities disciplined me in fitness and I found I could push myself a lot harder than I had ever thought."

Being a border at Tibbs House also meant that Rob had to learn very quickly to adjust to his new surroundings. His time at the boarding hostel also helped him gain vital life skills that would eventually guide his career path. "The experience of living away from home and adapting to new situations quickly helped enormously in my varied careers, especially the military."

As part of daily life around the hostel, students are required to complete chores and Rob was fortunate enough to gain experience working part-time in the kitchen, which cemented his love of cooking. "I was always interested in becoming a chef, and was determined to make it my meal ticket. My mother gave me the choice of university or a trade qualification, and I knew the Royal New Zealand Air Force offered a catering apprenticeship, which I began the year after I left."

Joining the RNZAF in what would have been his final year at the School turned out to be the best choice for Rob. Initially based at Whenuapai then Ohakea, Rob went through various courses from butchery to fine dining, pastry work and baking, to cooking for hundreds of people. He even had the chance to cook for royalty - "I remember cooking morning tea for the Queen when she passed through Ohakea during a royal visit. I sadly didn't get to see her, but the food was amazing."

Signing on for four years 'return of service', Rob soon realised that he had more opportunities available to him and he applied to attend the SAS selection course. At just 19 years old and in the pinnacle of health - thanks in part to the activities he took part in while at Grammar - he arrived at Papakura, hopeful that he would be able to keep up. But it wasn't without its challenges.

"I was the object of incredulity by the Army guys – I was not really surprised by the ribbing though, I just kept quiet and followed the instructions. Every day was extremely tiring physically, and mentally. I just kept going day by day, I lost 25kgs, but I manged to pass the selection course, to everyone's surprise." Rob officially joined the SAS the day after completing his final exams for his apprenticeship, and eventually qualified as a free-fall parachutist.

One of Rob's all-time career highs was organising and leading a skydive over the Southern Ocean for the millennium celebrations. Rob had heard stories from other people who were planning to be the first to see the sunrise on January 1, 2000 from cruise ships, an airplane or from a remote island in Fiji, so Rob came up with a more daring idea. "I realised the Chatham Islands, 800km off the coast of New Zealand, were the most Southern islands nearest to the International Dateline. I knew if we could skydive over the dateline we would be in with a chance of being the first ourselves!"

Rob, along with five others, hired a fishing trawler to pick them up after the jump, before hopping in a twin-engine Cessna to drop them over the International Dateline. In his own words, everything went accordingly to plan - "the weather gods were kind, and a TV film crew joined us to film the jump!"

After taking off early on the morning of New Year's Eve, the team flew at 3,000 ft 180km out to the drop zone. Once they had confirmation that it wasn't a big swell, the aircraft climbed to 10,000 feet, and has the sun was just coming up over the horizon, they jumped. "We looked out at the huge expanse of ocean with the tiny speck of the Trawler below. We pulled our parachutes pretty quickly to enjoy the view, we could not see any land. The pilot circled us all the way down, the TV crew filming everything - it was mind-blowing!"


Rob and his crew splash-landing after their skydive for the millennium celebrations

Making a lifetime of memories was something that is very important to Rob and is something that he does not regret for a moment. "If you have a good idea, a fun idea, try and do it. Life goes by so quickly, and money cannot replace memories of achieving dreams you chased. I decided to make the majority of my memories instead of following a ‘safe' career path, and decided to earn less money later. It was all worth it."