LEARNING IN SCIENCE authentic science education
Clarifying a future direction Nayland College student Mitchell Chandler tells Melissa Wastney about his voyage to the Sub-Antarctic Islands.
I
n 2013, New Zealand Science Teacher spoke to Mitchell Chandler before he left on his adventure as one of 12 ‘student voyagers’ on the Sir Peter Blake Trust (SBPT) expedition. Welcome home, Mitchell, can you tell us about your journey to the Antarctic?
Our expedition truly began on February 9, when the 12 ‘student voyagers’ (along with the rest of the Young Blake Expedition Crew) met in Auckland to board the HMNZS Wellington. The ship would be our home for the next two weeks. We departed the next day and were farewelled by family and friends. TV One’s Breakfast programme was also there and Sam did his weather report on the HMNZS Wellington as well as interviews with some of the crew and SPBT staff. We spent the next four days travelling down the coast of New Zealand, where we attempted to make the most of the North Island sunshine before we reached what we believed would be the cold, wet and windy Sub-Antarctic. During this time, we took part in
some onboard activities and also had group talks with some of the SPBT crew who were travelling with us. While travelling down we saw some amazing wildlife including dolphins, seals and seabirds such as mollymawks, petrels, and albatrosses. On 14 February we arrived in Bluff and then travelled on to Invercargill where the DOC centre was, so that our gear could go through quarantine. We were all extremely nervous about this experience, as noone wanted to be told they couldn’t go because their gear wasn’t up to standard, or have to hold everyone else up while they went and recleaned certain items of clothing. Fortunately, I passed without a hitch, and while there was some recleaning and seed picking that had to be done by some people, we were all given the go-ahead to travel onwards to the Auckland Islands. We departed Bluff the next afternoon and travelled through the Southern Ocean, rather uneventfully, that night. We were all very pleased with this smooth passage, as horror stories about this stretch of ocean abound!
The other student voyagers and I want to work to get the whole of New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone recognised on maps, because it’s disappointing that most people don’t know that the Sub-Antarctic Islands and the Kermadecs are part of our territory.
We arrived at the Auckland Islands on 16 February and spent the next five days there participating in scientific research (see below for more details on this). On our way back to Bluff we stopped for a day on Stewart Island, specifically, Ulva Island. We got to explore this pest-free island and see some of the birdlife there. We also participated in an impromptu swim from the Ulva Island jetty while waiting for the Navy RHIBs to come and collect us to take us back to the ship. Our expedition ended in Dunedin, where we arrived on 22 February. Professor Gary Wilson, who was the person leading the expedition to build a research station, gave us a debrief talk and explained the significance of the proposed (now confirmed) research station and the importance of the Auckland Islands and Sub-Antarctic for monitoring changes to our planet’s climate. What were the conditions like on the boat and did you feel seasick? Our bunk rooms (‘pits’, as the Navy calls them) were very ‘cosy’ with six students to a room. We each >> New Zealand Science Teacher >> 63