It will be farewell to direct debits and hello to dinosaurs for a mother-of-two from Otterbourne.

Jane Granger is jetting off to The Valley of the Moon in northern Argentina, which is famed for its fossils. She plans to spend two weeks camping in the desert and looking for dinosaur remains with volunteers from across the globe.

It will be a far cry from her day job: managing the HSBC branch in West Street, Fareham. "I think this will open my eyes to lots of other things we don't always see in banking."

Jane (35), of Cranbourne Drive, is a little apprehensive about leaving her creature comforts behind. "I've been practising putting the tent up in my garden."

Her adventure is being funded by her employer. HSBC is inviting its workers across the globe to apply for one of 2,000 places on field trips run by independent group, Earthwatch Institute. The institute has received a grant of £11m from HSBC to pay for scientists to oversee the trips.

Jane registered for the scheme earlier this year, and was not deterred by an application form that took over six hours to fill. "Then I got a phone call, and I was told I was going to look for dinosaur bones in Argentina."

She says that her husband, Paul, who also works for HSBC, is now considering applying as well.

One condition of going on field trips is that employees must develop their own environmental project when they return home.

Workers are given a grant of £400 to aid their scheme. Jane is yet to decide what her project will be, but intends to organise it somewhere in the Winchester district.