Ambassador Buggles

Hi,

I'm Buggles an adventurous little guy who loves sharing in the learning experiences of my friends in Room 9 at Brightwater School.

I get very excited when I'm preparing for a field trip and can't wait for the fun to begin. This field trip is going to be quite special as I am lucky enough to be travelling all the way down to Antarctica.

See you there,

Buggles

Tuesday 8 November

Howdy,

I feel a really long way from home right now but it is incredible to be in such a beautiful place! The flight down was amazing. I was surprised at how big the C17 aircraft was, yet it only had a few seats inside. These planes are designed to take lots of cargo. There was even enough room for a helicopter. 

You would be proud of my efforts today – I passed my Antarctic Field Training and am now ready to get out and about in Antarctica.

Bye for now,

Buggles.

Wednesday 9 November

Howdy,

When I woke up this morning I couldn’t see much other than white. Fog had crept in and snow was blowing around. Luckily it cleared and we could head outside to see Hillary’s Hut.

It was interesting to see how hard everyone is working to restore this hut. People from the Antarctic Heritage Trust have come up with clever ways to work in the cold. They need to use heat guns to make glue stick and special sealants to stop water dribbling in.

Tomorrow we are heading over to the other side of Hut Peninsula to see Discovery Hut.

See you then,

Buggles.

Thursday 10 November

Kia ora,

It was good to be able to explore more of Ross Island today. We went over to Discovery Hut, which is about three kilometres away and close to McMurdo Station. McMurdo is the American base here in Antarctica and looks more like a small town than a base.

Discovery Hut was awesome. It was like travelling back in time. It is amazing how much is preserved in the cold. You could see all sorts of boxes and tins of food. The most memorable thing about the hut was the smell, it stunk. Bits of seal blubber can still be seen inside the hut. Scott and his team used to burn the blubber as fuel.

I am looking forward to heading out to Cape Evans tomorrow. I hope we see some penguins.

Bye for now,

Buggles.

Friday 11 November

Tēnā koutou,

We had an awesome day out at Cape Evans today. We travelled out across the frozen sea on a Hagglund. A Hagglund has room for about ten people and has tracks over the wheels to grip the ice.

I felt really lucky to be able to look around inside Scott’s Hut. The Antarctic Heritage Trust has done a huge amount of work on the hut to restore it. The building had to be repaired and snow removed from the hut.

It was cool to see how twenty-five people lived in this hut and how so much science was done here. I even saw a stuffed penguin that they had preserved and were studying.

Tomorrow we are heading even further north to Cape Royd’s.

See you then,

Buggles.

Monday 14 November

Kia ora,

It was scary hearing about the earthquakes that have happened back home. I hope everyone is safe. Being over three thousand kilometres away we did not feel it but the seismograph recorded the P wave eight minutes after the quake hit North Canterbury.

We had another fantastic day out in the field today at Cape Royds. We were allowed to enter a specially protected area and look inside Shackleton’s Nimrod Hut. This hut is much smaller than Scott’s and 15 men made this base their home for two years as they explored and did science.

It was neat to see the Adelie penguin colony. We were not allowed to enter the colony but it was fun to watch the penguins waddling around.

Stay safe,

Buggles.

Tuesday 15 November

Hi everyone,

Well this is my last day in Antarctica but we certainly managed to make the most of it. Today we were lucky enough to have a helicopter ride out to the K131 field camp instead of having to skidoo for hours. The camp is 60 kilometres out from Scott Base in McMurdo Sound.

It was pretty cool seeing how scientists set up a camp on sea ice. They drag big containers across the ice. These containers have been modified so the scientists can live in some and do science in the others. They had two big holes in the sea ice which had been drilled and melted out so they could study the water below.

I must dash as I have a plane to catch.

See you soon,

Buggles.