Antarctic Heritage Trust is excited to have a new creative project being developed using augmented reality (AR).
For me the whole experience of travelling to Antarctica felt more like travelling to another planet. Luckily I had Lizzie, Nicola and Martin â the seasoned and awesome AHT conservation crew I’ll be working with over the next six weeks â 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 â 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
The Trust was honoured to have New Zealand Prime Minister Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern launch a new book, âHillaryâs Antarcticaâ, at an event in the New Zealand Parliament Grand Hall in late October.
Congratulations to Mike Gillies, who has been selected as the Antarctic Heritage Trustâs 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
The Conservation Ambassador initiative offers conservators or other heritage experts in the early stages of their career the opportunity to work on the Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project in Antarctica, the worldâs largest cold-climate heritage conservation project. This year AHT partnered with DOC to find a Conservation Ambassador to work alongside our experts, and develop their skills in a unique and challenging environment.
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 Hillaryâs, Shackletonâs and Scottâs Huts on Ross Island.
Along with his backcountry skills, Mikeâs 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 couldnât believe his luck when the Conservation Ambassador role came up, as although heâd long been captivated by stories and images of Antarctica, heâd never foreseen an opportunity to actually get there.
âI am incredibly keen to participate in this programme and view heritage conservation in the toughest climate in the world.â
Welcome to the team Mike!
As part of a new partnership with Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate, Antarctic Heritage Trust is taking two Year 13 students kayaking in Antarctica with a kiwi Olympian.
Mele Fetuâu and Lana Kiddie-Vai will be on the Trustâs fourth Inspiring Explorers’ Expeditionâą in early 2019.
Antarctic Heritage Trust Mele Fetu’u & Lana Kiddie-Vai
The team will travel to the Antarctic Peninsula from South America aboard a One Ocean Expeditions vessel as part of a scheduled expedition.
Olympic kayaker Mike Dawson with Mele Fetu’u and Lana Kiddie-Vai
Trust Executive Director Nigel Watson, who will lead the expedition, says it will be an unforgettable experience.
âAntarctica has the power to change lives. As well as exploring that magnificent place and learning about the legacy we care for, our Inspiring Explorers will go kayaking under the mentoring of Olympian Mike Dawson and the One Ocean Expeditionsâ team. We are very excited.â
More young people aged between 18-30 will also be on the expedition⊠they are currently being selected from hundreds of applications nationwide.
Nigel Watson says the Trust and Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate have a special connection.
âThe school cares for Sir Edmundâs former home in New Zealand (which is now a leadership centre on the Collegiateâs grounds) and the Trust cares for his former home in Antarctica. We share a genuine sense of kaitiakitanga for Sir Edmundâs legacy.â
AHT Executive Director Nigel Watson speaking to guests at the partnership event at Hillary House Leadership Centre.
Nigel and Olympic kayaker and youth ambassador Mike Dawson met the students for the first time last week, at an event held at Hillary House, to celebrate the partnership between the Trust and the Collegiate. Mike says it was a special moment meeting Mele and Lana.
âTo get to meet these amazing young people and their families inside the study of Sir Edâs old home, with members of the Hillary family there, felt pretty special.â
SEHC Senior School Principal Dr Peter Uys and AHT Board Chair Mark Stewart
Lana says the reality of going to Antarctica for the first time is already starting to set in for the two Collegiate students.
âIâm really excited but Iâm also a bit nervous. Itâs going to be so cold! But that is all what makes it an adventure.â
Through sponsorship provided by the Woolf Fisher Trust, the Trust is also bringing a young teacher from the Collegiate on the expedition. The teacher will be announced along with the rest of the expedition participants in early 2019.
This is the Trustâs fourth Inspiring Explorers’ Expeditionâą following a crossing of South Georgia in 2015, the summiting of Mt Scott in 2017, and the successful 560km crossing of the Greenland ice cap earlier this year. The Trust is partnering with One Ocean Expeditions for the 2019 expedition.
AHT Board Chair Mark Stewart, Lana Kiddie-Vai, AHT Executive Director Nigel Watson, Mele Fetu’u and Mike Dawson
Thereâs an Antarctic specific occasion which only a few folks ever get to celebrate, and this week AHTâs programme manager Lizzie was one of them â 1000 days on ice!
Over the last ten years with the Trust, Lizzie has spent a winter at New Zealandâs 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 thatâs 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 â 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
Re-introducing Scott Base Central Otago Pinot Noir, Pinot Noir Reserve and Chardonnay Intrepid spirits across Aotearoa already count Scott Base wines amongst their favourite drops and now these old friends are getting a new look. The new labels reflect the unpretentious quality for which Scott Base vineyard is well known. âSophisticated and unfussy â just like the contents of the bottle,â says Director of Wine Josh Scott. âThe brand has really matured in the last few years and we wanted the bottles to show that. Of course, we wouldnât dream of changing the wine itself, these are family favourites and […]
âLike seeing Antarctica for the first timeâ is how Lizzie Meek (Programme Manager â Artefacts) described her experience at Stonington Island on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Theyâve battled hurricane conditions, heavy snowfalls and illness, but the 6-person Antarctic Heritage Trust Inspiring Explorersâ Expedition has reached the finish line of their 560-kilometre crossing of the Greenland ice cap.
They made the journey on skis while pulling 60-kilogram supply sleds behind them.
The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust selected four young explorers for the expedition from a pool of nearly 200 applicants. Two Kiwis; Brando Yelavich (24) and Hollie Woodhouse (33) and two Australians; Bridget Kruger (30) and Keith Parsons (28). They were joined by AHT Executive Director Nigel Watson and Ousland Polar Exploration master polar guide Bengt Rotmo.
Keith Parsons Bridget, Hollie, Brando and Keith after reaching the east coast of Greenland
The team left the west coast of Greenland on May 4 and arrived in the small village of Tasiilaq (on Greendlandâs east coast) on Saturday, 2 June. Hollie, Brando and Nigel are now enroute to New Zealand.
The crossing is the Trustâs third Inspiring Explorersâ Expedition and proved to be the most challenging one yet.
Nigel Watson says the teamâs final day saw them ski for 21 hours.
âWe set off at 10am. A possible polar bear sighting had us on edge, but it turned out to be an illusion! We continued to ski and eventually saw mountains â there was great excitement after seeing nothing but a flat, white horizon for weeks. We stopped for a hot meal at 1am before reaching the end of our journey at 7am â there were hugs and tears of relief.â
A helicopter then picked up the team and took them to Tasiilaq.
Hollie says arriving into the village was unbelievable.
âThe relief in finishing is immense and to finally walk on solid ground after 4 weeks of skiing was a strange feeling. We stayed in a great hotel, dinner was nothing fancy but it was the best. Being warm, showered and seeing each otherâs faces properly for the first time in 4 weeks was an odd experience.â
Keith says finishing the journey is bittersweet.
âOn the one hand we have accomplished something rather special and momentous, but at the same time it means the end of the experience and everything that went with it: the ice, the struggle and mostly the time together with friends.â
Heading into the great white expanse of the ice cap.
Brando, who completed the first solo circumnavigation of New Zealandâs coastline, says the expedition has been tough.
âPhysically my biggest challenge was my joints and my feet adjusting to the repetition and the pulling of the sled for 29 consecutive days. Mentally I was consumed by the repetition⊠the walking and the white were mind numbing at times. It was a great mental challengeâ.
Bridget, who has worked for years as an outdoor instructor and adventure therapist all over the world, says this journey was bigger than anything she has done before.
âIt was a huge journey that I was really able to delve into because I wasn’t a guide, just a client with the space to really be me and deal with the massive mental and physical challenges we faced. I’ve never done a winter expedition of this length before with this extent of conditions so it was an incredible opportunity to grow through that.
The Expedition honoured Fridtjof Nansen, the renowned polar explorer and humanitarian, who completed the first crossing of Greenland 130 years ago in 1888.
New Zealand outdoors company Kathmandu are an expedition sponsor, with the team road testing their new XT Series, designed for extreme environments.
Once home, they will begin tailored outreach programmes supported by the Trust, with the aim of sharing their experiences, and encouraging others to get out and explore.
Trust Executive Director Nigel Watson says that will be the most important part of the expedition.
âThe whole reason the Trust undertakes these expeditions is to encourage people to get out and explore the amazing world we live in. By sharing their story, the team has the opportunity to inspire someone else to do something they never have before â an experience that could be life changing.â
The team take a breather for a photo after reaching the end.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
7 Ron Guthrey Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
Private Bag 4745, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
Antarctic Heritage Trust
7 Ron Guthrey Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
Private Bag 4745, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand