‘What on earth are you doing here?’ asked a surprised friend of mine who arrived at Port Lockroy as a tourship safety guide, and bumped into me in the hallway of Bransfield House.
It seems like the more time you spend observing wildlife, the more there is to observe and the more interesting you find them.
Working for hours at a time in sub-zero temperatures when you are cataloguing means you move very little.
My experience of the Antarctic Expedition ships we travelled on, is that they go to great lengths to keep their guests happy and healthy. The hospitality on board from the crew is often exceptional, and I was struck by the enjoyment and creativity they brought to their work.
Sometimes getting to Antarctica is as simple as getting on a plane in New Zealand and stepping off 5 hours later into sub zero temperatures. This year’s work expedition to Port Lockroy, (the British base on the Antarctic Peninsula managed by the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust) was a whole other story.
The 2021-22 summer Antarctic season saw a seven-person conservation team spend nearly two months working on an extended monitoring and maintenance programme at the Ross Island explorer bases of Robert Falcon Scott at Cape Evans and Hut Point, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s base at Cape Royds, and Sir Edmund Hillary’s hut at Pram Point.
For me the whole experience of travelling to Antarctica felt more like travelling to another planet. Luckily I had Lizzie, Nicola and Martin – the seasoned and awesome AHT conservation crew I’ll be working with over the next six weeks – to shepherd me through this foreign process.
We began at the United States Antarctica Programme (USAP) departure lounge, a whole separate terminal at Christchurch International Airport, where our bags were weighed and checked, followed by a quick video from the head of the USAP. We then hopped on a very old American school bus. We were shuttled across the road, and directed to board the US Airforce’s C-17; this in itself was an amazing experience.
Mike Gillies Mike Gillies on arrival at Scott Base
It was totally different to boarding a regular international commercial flight. Think very loud, lunch in paper bags, basic, and military green. The flight took about five hours. When we were approaching McMurdo there was a muffled announcement over the planes intercom, and then a mad flurry of passenger activity. All of the passengers were throwing on their ECW (extreme cold weather) gear. Me as a newbie followed suit, sitting in the C-17 sweating, but prepared and ready to face whatever Antarctica had to throw at me when the plane landed.
Mike Gillies Mike Gillies is a long way from home at Scott Base
Maybe I was ready for the weather, but what I wasn’t prepared for was the Antarctic’s onslaught on my senses. Upon landing I walked down the gangway, and then – smack! I was instantly overwhelmed… that first breath of Antarctic air is unlike anything imaginable… extremely cold and dry, but the most pure air ever. Then the overwhelming visuals… vast ice fields as far as the eye can see; mountains which seem so close you could touch them but are miles away; Mt Erebus puffing away in the background; and the whole time these behemoth red American dinosaurs (think ski field shuttles on steroids) are carting people and gear around, to and from the airfield to McMurdo. Where on earth am I…?
Written by Conservation Ambassador Mike Gillies
Congratulations to Mike Gillies, who has been selected as the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s 2018/2019 season Conservation Ambassador.
A keen heritage carpentry hobbyist, Mike is a Recreation/Historic Ranger for the Department of Conservation (DOC) and resides in Murchison, where he regularly works in remote locations in the Nelson Lakes National Park.
Mike Gillies Mike Gillies
With a Bachelor of Recreation Management (Parks) from Lincoln University and nine years working as a Ranger for DOC, heritage conservation is both a profession and passion for Mike, who has a fascination for traditional building techniques, particularly historic hut building in New Zealand.
As Conservation Ambassador, Mike will support AHT to implement the ongoing maintenance and monitoring of Hillary’s, Shackleton’s and Scott’s Huts on Ross Island.
Along with his backcountry skills, Mike’s expertise includes hewing and dressing timber using axe and adze, making wooden roofing shingles, and traditional timber joinery. He is an avid collector of historic wood working hand tools, as well as traditional carpentry and woodworking publications.
Mike says he couldn’t believe his luck when the Conservation Ambassador role came up, as although he’d long been captivated by stories and images of Antarctica, he’d never foreseen an opportunity to actually get there.
“I am incredibly keen to participate in this programme and view heritage conservation in the toughest climate in the world.”
Welcome to the team Mike!
There’s an Antarctic specific occasion which only a few folks ever get to celebrate, and this week AHT’s programme manager Lizzie was one of them – 1000 days on ice!
Over the last ten years with the Trust, Lizzie has spent a winter at New Zealand’s Scott Base, and many summers working at the historic expedition bases of Scott, Shackleton, Borchgrevink and Hillary, as well as work on the Antarctic Peninsula. So that’s 142 weeks, 33 months, 2.7 years, five expedition bases, over 20,000 artefacts, and one magnificent cake made by the fantastic Scott Base chefs.
Lizzie says, “Cheers to the AHT and Scott Base teams over the years – Antarctica is a beautiful and challenging place to work, but the best thing about it is the pride and passion folks here bring to the job.”
Antarctic Heritage Trust Conservation team members Martin Wenzel, Lizzie Meek, Nicola Dunn and Mike Gillies celebrate Lizzie’s 1000 days on the Ice
Antarctic Heritage Trust has finished the last major job of saving Sir Edmund Hillary’s hut at Scott Base – installing a new roof.
The Trust raised nearly a million dollars to save the hut, also known as the TAE/IGY Hut, which was built by a team under Sir Ed’s leadership in 1957 just before his famous dash to the South Pole.
While working to conserve Hillary’s (TAE) Hut in 2016, the need for a weather-tight long-term roofing solution was identified.
Programme Manager Al Fastier says the Trust wanted the roofing solution to last a minimum of 35 years but more likely 50 to 100 years. A plan was then developed to overclad the historic roof, meaning the original roof remained intact.
A key feature of the newly restored hut is the painted aluminium roof, complete with new battens painted in the original bright orange.
“It gives it a real point of difference,” says Fastier, a long time visitor to the ice.
Antarctic Heritage Trust Assembling the battens for the roof
“I’ve never been that cold,” says Burgess, who had to race indoors on the odd occasion to regain feeling in his hands.
The project manager for Architectural Metalformers is used to working through complicated roofing projects in rural, commercial and urban environments – less so in the world’s harshest environment.
“The opportunity to waterproof such an important New Zealand building with our product, while endeavouring to make it visually similar to the original aesthetic could not be passed up, regardless of the weather complexities,” Burgess says.
Not one to opt out of a challenge, Burgess combined his more than 20 years in the business, with further research, to come up with the robust long term waterproof roofing solution.
The Trust acknowledges, Architectural Metalformers, Pacific Coilcoaters, Sika NZ, Nexus Foams and Dulux New Zealand for their donated products and technical assistance.
Antarctic Heritage Trust Chris Ansin, Al Fastier and Geoff Cooper taking a break on the roof of the hut.
Antarctic Heritage Trust Antarctic Programme Manager Al Fastier working on the roof
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Antarctic Heritage Trust
Administration Building, International Antarctic Centre
38 Orchard Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Administration Building, International Antarctic Centre
38 Orchard Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
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