Trust Chair, Kerry-Jayne Wilson has been selected to sail off to the lands of penguins this summer, as one of the leaders on an expedition to commemorate the original Australasian Antarctic Expedition 100 years ago.
Visit the Spirit of Mawson website.
View blog updates from the team.
Led by the Australian explorer Sir Douglas Mawson the original expedition established a base at Macquarie Island and its main base at Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. The expedition is described in his book ‘Home of the Blizzard’.
The anniversary expedition will be departing from Hobart on 25 November for Macquarie Island, which is home to king, gentoo, royal and rockhopper penguins. Then the group will call in at Campbell, Auckland (yellow-eyed and rockhopper penguins) and Snares Islands (Snares crested penguins) arriving at Bluff, NZ, on 7 December. The group departs the next day for Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica where they’ll see Adelie penguins, then they hope to see emperor penguins and chinstrap penguins as they push through the Antarctic pack ice and then erect crested penguins as they travel through the furious fifties.
For anyone interested in penguins and other seabirds, this is the ultimate expedition and Kerry-Jayne is understandably excited! For further details see the expedition website: Spirit of Mawson
Kerry-Jayne said “there will be a team of scientists on board comparing what we see today with that reported by Mawson and his scientific team 100 years ago. There are berths available for paying public and a competition where school kids can register their school, and a teacher from one of the schools registered will travel with us.
“It would be fantastic if that lucky teacher came from the West Coast, so Coast kids get online and register your school”.
Read Kerry-Jayne’s reports here:
Second Leg – down to the Antarctic
Fifth report – dodging icebergs
