Young Blake Expedition returns safely

Posted by Andrew on February 24, 2014

Location: Stewart Island. By Jessica Jenkins (Young Blake Expeditions member 2014).

What a past couple of weeks we've had! Every moment of the experience has been absolutely brilliant. I think that the expedition purpose has been fulfilled and beyond!

Whilst pondering how I might write today's blog a recollection of Tim Shadbolt speaking on the radio during an electoral campaign popped into my head. He employed a unique method of simply reeling off a long list of things he had accomplished up until that point. The sheer multitude of his achievements served to speak a message. Therefore as the expedition group begins to reflect on what we have been extremely privileged to experience and most importantly what to do next I thought I would compile our journey so far.

We have been recruited and undergone a crash course in the Navy, involving, drills, drills and more drills! Quiz night, cleaning, slushy duty, residing in the slums and helping in the galley. We visited the Devonport Navy Museum, been farewelled at Devonport Yachting club, featured on Breakfast television, been in the company of a mix of incredible individuals, sighted blue penguins, bottlenose, common and dusky dolphins, petrels, gannets, wandering royal and sooty albatross.

We've enjoyed a flypast from the Navy Sea Sprite, suffered the peril of sea sickness, eaten far too much delicious and plentiful Navy food, engaged in leadership, media, photography and survival workshops. We've received a presentation from the C.O. giving us an insight into his role model -Ernest Shackleton, dined with the C.O., grappled with finding and clutching to what little sea legs we have, checked into Bluff (which we all now know is not the most southern point of New Zealand), experienced the Sub-Antarctic exhibition at Invercargill museum, underwent quarantine, completed a scavenger hunt photo challenge in Bluff, indulged in 'Tea Tuesday' (freshly baked cookies) on the ship, tral, yellow eyed penguins, giant petrels, skua, megaherbs, Auckland Island teal, kakariki and bellbirds.

We conducted a site survey (topographical) of the proposed Blake Station (involving lugging a 5m trimble (pole) around in the bush and rain in order to generate a measurement from the GPS device, which communicates with satellites above.

We've undertaken sediment core collection in Lakes Tutanaki, Hinemoa and Speight, sediment coring and hydrographic surveying in the fiords Deep Inlet, Musgrave Harbor and Hanfield Inlet, which boasted hidden waterfalls, sooty albatross nesting on the cliffs above and, through indications from our 5000 year old mud samples, used to be a lake opposed to a fjord, on Polaris II, in which some of these waters were previously uncharted.

We've done terrestrial ecological assessment, stream gauging and the assembly of a weather station at Smiths Harbour, jumped off the ship's 6m flight deck into icy water below (hands to bathe), celebrated the C.O's birthday and witnessed the southern lights.

We were escorted in a Squirrel (helicopter), transported around in the Navy RHIB and Zodiac, walked from Tagua Bay to WWII Coast watch sites and played cricket on the beach, boated out to Figure Eight Island in Carnley Harbor (this along with Dundas and Enderby are the solitary breeding sights for sea lions), walked around Ulva Island to Sydney and Boulder Bay (sighting saddleback, Stewart Island robin, weka, kaka and fantails), swam at Post Office Bay (surviving the Great White Shark), held daily debriefs and debated the moot "Raising awareness about the Auckland Islands will result in better conservation outcomes for the Sub-Antarctic".

Why bother doing all of this you may ask. Well, as Sir Peter Blake said, "Because it matters." For some the experiences we have encountered on this expedition may have been enough, but speaking on behalf of my fellow voyagers I sense that with newly fuelled pride and passion this is only just the beginning.