Ambassador Deano

Kia ora,

I'm Deano and during Term 3 I was lucky enough to investigate kea with Shelley at Arthur's Pass. Now I'm off to Antarctica with Shelley. I love exploring and learning about our world in such a fun way. I wonder what kinds of birds I will see on this trip.

I'm off to find some warm clothing to take on the trip.

Talk soon,

Deano.

Tuesday 27 October

Hi there,

It was so exciting flying down to Antarctica on the C17 aircraft. These planes are enormous, they are also really noisy and only have four tiny windows.

We still managed to see some amazing views over the sea ice and across the mountains as we approached Ross Island. It was rather shocking stepping off the plane as it was -20 degrees Celsius and windy. I was instantly cold. Luckily I warmed up on the bus that drove us from the ice runway, across the Sea Ice to Scott Base. We had to complete field training before we were allowed to leave the base and go exploring. I learnt about how to survive in the cold and even managed to ride a skidoo.

Tomorrow we are riding the skidoos out to meet the scientists who are working out on the sea ice.

See you then,

Deano.

Wednesday 28 October

Kia ora,

It was really cold today because the air temperature was -20 but it was also windy so it felt a lot colder. We had to be careful to wrap up warmly on the skidoo ride out to K131 so we didn’t become too cold.

We travelled 26 kilometres out to the camp, which is about 15 kilometres away from Scott Base if you could travel in a straight line. I managed to meet a local seal in the hole the scientists had made in the sea ice to take measurements. It was pretty cool to be that close to a friendly seal!

Tomorrow we are going to meet more of the scientists in the K131 team.

See you then,

Deano.

Thursday 29 October

Kia ora,

The weather was perfect today so we decided to spend the day exploring. We met up with some other members of the sea ice team and found out how they are measuring sea ice cooling and thickening.

We climbed a volcano today, well an old one anyway. We walked up Crater Hill and had to be careful not to slip on the hard snow. The views were spectacular and it made me realise that we are living on quite a small island surrounded by frozen ocean.

Tomorrow we are going to head back into the field to help the scientists.

See you in the morning,

Deano.

Friday 30 October

Kia ora,

We had an action packed day today. Greg showed us how to drill an ice core and then we headed out to find the sea ice temperature probe. 

Once the weather cleared we had perfect conditions for our skidoo ride and we even managed to head on to an unflagged route. We followed the scientists who were in a Hagglund to their probe site. It took ages to melt the probe out of the ice but we completed our recovery mission successfully. Instead of heading back to Scott Base we are going to camp overnight at the K131 field camp.

Talk to you from the camp tomorrow,

Deano.

Monday 2 November

Hi folks,

We were lucky enough to be able to stay the night out at the K131 field camp. It was a neat feeling camping on sea ice and being miles away from anyone else. The view of Mount Erebus was stunning and I kept admiring the view throughout the night because it doesn’t become dark down here now until autumn.

I’m glad I have brought all my warm clothes on this trip because it has been really cold. It was -19 degrees Celsius today! 

Talk soon,

Deano.

Tuesday 3 November

Hi all,

We had one last fabulous day in Antarctica today. The weather was stunning despite the cold. We headed out on the skidoos to visit the field camp one last time.

I watched Gabby painting platelet ice and was so impressed with how much detail she was able to capture.

Before packing up our gear we helped Inga and Greg in the cold lab where I chopped up ice cores.

I can’t believe that I am heading home tomorrow but I am looking forward to catching up with you all.

See you soon,

Deano.