-SMcM.jpg "Getting ready for a yummie birthday meal.")
-SMcM.jpg "Opening of a very special bottle of wine from our kind sponsors Mountford Estate – the Gradient Pinot Noir. Kathryn, it was beautiful!")
-SMcM.jpg "A toast to the birthday boy.")
-SMcM.jpg "Cutting of the birthday cake.")
-SMcM.jpg "Colin’s 64th birthday deserved a memorable ‘father and daughter’ picture, with the Maia helping to add to the perfect backdrop.")
The leader of the Campbell Island Bicentennial Expedition (CIBE), Colin Meurk, is 64 today. I met Colin over 40 years ago on Campbell Island when he came down as a member of the 1970 Wildlife Expedition. We were young then and had dreams and aspirations. Some have been realised, some not – that is life. I have a birthday present for Colin and I think that here on Campbell Island is the perfect place for it to be delineated. Some of it he has already received, some is ongoing.
...Campbell Island Bicentennial Expedition
One hundred and twenty three years
Alex Fergus
15 Jan 2011 - 21:02
This island of ours has a surprisingly rich and well documented European history, given how inaccessible the old girl is. Many of the previous expeditions and leisure trips have documented the island from the very early days of Subantarctic exploration. William Dougall and his Southland team were among the first folks to venture south on a photographic sojourn to Campbell...
A time honoured tradition
-SMcM.jpg "The Campbell Island Bicentennial Expedition (CIBE) team.")
-SMcM.jpg "The CIBE team, with Colin showing off his battle scars from the sea lion encounter and Shelley having grown a nice plush beard (in past expedition photos everyone seems to have hairy faces so why fight tradition?).")
-SMcM.jpg "The CIBE team and the two artists (Ben front left, Annabel front right).")
-SMcM.jpg "The CIBE team, the two artists, and the Maia crew (captain, Mark Hammond is to the right of Colin Meurk who is holding the sign).")
Shelley McMurtrie
15 Jan 2011 - 20:49
-SMcM.jpg "The Campbell Island Bicentennial Expedition (CIBE) team.")
-SMcM.jpg "The CIBE team, with Colin showing off his battle scars from the sea lion encounter and Shelley having grown a nice plush beard (in past expedition photos everyone seems to have hairy faces so why fight tradition?).")
-SMcM.jpg "The CIBE team and the two artists (Ben front left, Annabel front right).")
-SMcM.jpg "The CIBE team, the two artists, and the Maia crew (captain, Mark Hammond is to the right of Colin Meurk who is holding the sign).")
With the Maia here for four days we had the opportunity to follow the time honoured tradition of taking an expedition team photo. The usual place for this is down at the wharf by the ‘Welcome to Campbell Island’ sign, but the island had other plans for us. We awoke this morning to steady rain and low cloud that gave the definite impression that it had comfortably settled in with its feet up, and had no intention of moving on for some time.
The process of taking any type...
Whaling on Campbell Island
Nigel Prickett
12 Jan 2011 - 19:34
On a point at the head of Northeast Harbour on Campbell Island are well preserved remains of the 1911-14 Cook whaling station. The island was the last frontier of the New Zealand right whale industry, which began in the 1820s at Preservation Inlet and Te Awaiti, Tory Channel. In only a few years most stations brought to an end the ancient winter use of their bay or harbour by calving female right whales. For 30 years before 1964 not a single right whale was reported on the New Zealand...
Fear and loathing in Penguin Bay
Alex Fergus
10 Jan 2011 - 20:04
It sucks to be a Rockhopper penguin! This is the great biological principle I have uncovered after hanging out with these wee fella’s for six days midway through their breeding season. Rockhoppers are the smallest of the crested penguins, the next size up in penguin styles from the little Blue penguin. Penguin styles in all run from 40 cm standing (little Blue Penguins) through to 115 cm (the Emperor Penguins). At this time of year most of the Rockhopper chickens are about three...
The wilddeath
Alex James
9 Jan 2011 - 21:55
Many people come to Campbell Island to experience not only the wild scenery but also the wildlife. They want to see elephant seals snorting, sea lions swimming, royal albatross gamming, penguins playing, pipits investigating, skuas stealing their gear, and teal posing for a photograph. The brochures and glossy books are filled with photos of wildlife. However seeing a photo of wilddeath is rarer than getting a photo of a snipe. By wilddeath I mean the dead and decayed bodies of the island...
A piece of flesh left on Campbell Island
Colin Meurk
9 Jan 2011 - 21:35
While in this World Heritage location we have to be especially careful to avoid damaging the environment and disturbing the wildlife. We endeavour to apply the 5 m rule – giving any birds or marine mammals a wide berth. Of course there is nothing in the manual about the wildlife disturbing us! For example, pipits don’t (as Pete McClelland succinctly puts it) observe the 5 m rule and frequently slow down ‘traffic’ by insisting on running along the tracks in front of...
Unravelling the relationships of Pleurophyllum
Steve Wagstaff
9 Jan 2011 - 21:22
Early botanists exploring Campbell Island were astounded by the lush herbaceous plants that they called megaherbs. Megaherbs encompass a diverse array of plants including Bulbinella, Stilbocarpa, and Anisotome, but the large showy daisies in the genus Pleurophyllum are arguably the most striking. Three species are included in the genus, which is endemic to the subantarctic islands. All three are found on Campbell Island. They hybridize in various combinations, which suggests reproductive...
Tranquility
Carla Meurk
9 Jan 2011 - 21:12
This past week has been a particularly busy one with mid-term resupply happening from the 10th to the 13th of January. As resident social scientist, I am beginning to interview our departing team members whilst also engaging with the visiting tourists—three ships in total over this two week period. The ships sitting in the harbour punctuate the non-human landscape and bring about an exciting (and exhausting!) shift in pace for the 24-48 hours they are here. The crews from Heritage...
Dwarf Dracophyllum forests on Campbell Island
Steve Wagstaff
9 Jan 2011 - 20:43
With nearly 50 species, New Zealand is the centre of diversity for the genus Dracophyllum. Dracophyllum longifolium ranges widely on the mainland of New Zealand, but is also found on Stewart, Auckland and Campbell Islands, whereas D. scoparium has a perplexing distribution being found both on the Chatham Islands and Campbell Island, but not on the mainland.
At low elevations on Campbell Island they form almost impenetrable dwarf forests, which can reach up to 5 meters high, but...
