At the beginning of this year I was fortunate enough to get a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit Antarctica with Heritage Expeditions as part of the there True Young Explorers Scholarship program!

Over the course of the month long voyage from Bluff, we visited the four of the NZ and Australian Sub-Antarctic Islands as well as the Ross Sea Region in Antarctica. Along the way we managed to stop at all four of the historic huts in the region, including the huts originally occupied by Shackleton & Scott. We visited Scott Base and McMurdo Station, watched the midnight sun at 2am, experienced what -11 degrees felt like and saw the most incredible Aurora Australis dancing above our heads. Along the way, I assisted the crew with scientific fieldwork that included water/plankton sampling, air sampling, whale identifications/counts and also bird identifications and counts.

What was super cool is that we got to experience first-hand the conservation and pest-eradication successes that have recently occurred on Macquarie, Campbell and Enderby Islands. And, unfortunately we also experienced the stark contrast of these pest-free islands (which were teeming with life) with the main Auckland Island - which is lifeless in comparison and yet to be eradicated of pests. The amount of pristine nature and wildlife that we saw on this trip was hard to believe. The highlights included seeing over 100 orcas, 50 humpbacks, 5 blue whales and thousands of charismatic penguins. This was the most incredible experience of my life and I learnt a lot about how fragile these pristine ecosystems are and what it takes to protect them - including some really strict onboard biosecurity procedures which was great to see. I would like to say a massive thanks to Heritage Expeditions for this amazing opportunity which has really motivated me to continue working hard in the conservation space!