An email from Carla about how we would celebrate Christmas and New Year away from Campbell Island got a few Christmas memories going for the CIBE team. For Mark Crompton his Campbell Island Christmas memories are:
"Songs down at the wharf, Mountford pinot, mussels fritters, vodka steeped in sweet vernal, tangos...
-SMcM.jpg "Timber and rubbish under the floor of the Beeman Base Hostel was about to get the 'old heave-ho'")
-SMcM.jpg "Some of the rubbish left under the Hostel floor, stacked and ready for removing.")
-SMcM.jpg "Steve Croasdale, having come in from a spot of painting, decided to make his first ever flaky pastry - from scratch. Photo Shelley McMurtrie")
-SMcM.jpg "The pressure having got to him, Steve donned a 'cat in the hat' hat in lieu of a real chef's hat. Photo Shelley McMurtrie")
-SMcM.jpg "The finished product - a mince pie that was delish! Cheers Steve. Photo Shelley McMurtrie")
Steve Croasdale was our ‘can do’ handy man on the expedition. While he didn’t pop up a lot in our island blogs he was always there working away on repairing and maintaining the base camp buildings on behalf of the Met Service.
Part of this involved clearing out the rubbish that had accumulated under the floor of the Hostel building for many years. A number of strange items came out of that pile, but among...
I feel that little niggle. That wee worry. After 9 weeks on an isolated island with a small group of people, how will I handle returning to the outside world? Will I become a bewildered hermit, unable to operate in groups larger than 10? The answer is probably yes, but it doesn’t much matter as Carla and I have hashed a plan. To ease back into society, we will use Stewart Island as a stepping stone. The rough plan is to convert the Meurk’s holiday hut into a research lab for a...
Unfortunately, in spite of our best efforts, we will leave the island without complete datasets ...
[Carla Meurk]
In this, my last blog from Campbell, I thought I’d compile a list of highlights and lowlights experienced on the Campbell Island Bicentennial Expedition 2010/2011:
Lowlights:
5: Sinking knee deep in peat and being unable to pull my leg out without lying down in the mud and spreading myself out as much as I could in order to free myself and thinking ‘this must be how the Moa felt’.
4: Crawling on my hands and knees through the scratchy Draco more...
-SMcM.jpg "Colin welcoming Norm to the island on their arrival with the Maia, resplendent in their Swazi jackets to keep the rain off.")
-SMcM.jpg "Mark Hammond, skipper and owner of the Maia, and his crew (Eddie and Pete) readying the tender to take the history team ashore at Northeast Harbour.")
-SMcM.jpg "Our Watties pantry at base camp – Watties, what else!")
-SMcM.jpg "After a day painting, Steve C is in the kitchen making puff pastry for a mince pie, using Back Country Cuisine freeze-dried mince. Who says you can’t be a painter, plumber, and cook!")
-SMcM.jpg "Steve’s fantastic mince pie is washed down with a Mountford Pinot Noir – fabulous!")
-SMcM.jpg "There are a lot of coffee drinkers on this trip that are just loving the C4 coffee.")
-SMcM.jpg "Nigel Prickett at Southeast Hut (the Valya) making good use of the Survival Kit Company first aid kit supplies.")
-SMcM.jpg "Steve C and Mark C cleaning up the broken window that broke in the new years high winds.")
This is a personal thank you to all the individuals and organisations that have made the archaeological assessment of Campbell Island’s historic sites possible. It is an all time first.
This thank you comes a little early because the expedition is not yet over but I’ve seen and experienced enough to know that the expedition would not have been possible without sponsorship, donations, and technical support and assistance.
From a personal point of view the most...
When we arrived I commented that I was experiencing an unusual spring; we arrived to blooming Bulbinella, vomiting Giant Petrel chicks and I spent time in an Albatross colony full of babies. (NB: For those interested, Orange 83 continues to do well).
The GP chicks are losing their down and starting to flex their wings, they will fledge soon, and the Bulbinella...
My previous list neglected one important fieldwork capability. In the interests of completeness I thought I’d add fieldwork skill number 6: Learn to be comfortable toileting anywhere, and in any weather.
[Carla Meurk]
Walking through a sea lion colony yesterday, Campbell’s wind thwarted my planned blogging activities. As I simultaneously counted live and dead sea lion pups, kept an eye on the Bulls (‘beach masters’) and minded my step on an exposed rocky outcrop in screaming wind, I was unable to add a fifth task of photography. Sadly, therefore, this experience of life (and death) in the subantarctic went un-pictured. I would love to have captured the cute yet devilish image of baby...
Many ecologists (and anthropologists for that matter) describe how the love of fieldwork was an important motivator in their choice of degree and career path. For those wishing to proceed along the research trajectory nowadays a PhD is a necessary prerequisite. However, there are many fieldwork skills that your university education will not teach you. To assist the budding fieldworker, I have compiled a handy list of skills required in the field:
1. Learn to sew,...
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