International Expedition Prize

In my last blog, we were staying at the Victoria University of Wellington and interacting with 29 amazing student-scientists from all over New Zealand who had attained a Gold CREST Award for Science.

What a day Wednesday was!! In the morning, Lily and I gave a presentation to the other students about “Science in the UK” and about the science projects which won us this amazing scientific expedition. Everyone was extremely interested in our investigations, and it was great being able to share our scientific views with people from the opposite side of the globe. Even better was the opportunity to look at the projects they’d completed, which ranged from designing a more efficient wood powered engine to finding out what effect exercise has on concentration levels!!

After that I was whisked away to the Karori Nature Reserve just outside of Wellington, where the dynamic biologist, Tom Lynch, explained the amazing range of wildlife present and the biological surveying techniques used to monitor it. Karori really is unique – it’s a 300 hectare region of purely native New Zealand bush, and it’s completely surrounded by a specially designed fence that prevents any rats, possums or other invading species from entering. We did, however, see a tragic example of the impact man can unwittingly have on the environment; in the early 1900s the park caretaker introduced 2 species of British fish into the Reserve’s lake, which feed on zooplankton. This left the algae in the lake without a natural predator, and the lake is nowadays polluted with a layer of algae bloom. But we did see an absolutely incredible variety of endangered animals, including the tuatara (whose gender is determined by the temperature its egg is hatched in) and several species of bird that nowadays only exist in a handful of locations in the entire world.

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Well I am back as promised to continue the story of our amazing first week. Now where were we? Ahh yes we were in Taupo and had just visited the GNS science group. The day after that we went down to Rotorua (or Rotovegas as the locals sometimes call it) where we looked at the geothermal hot springs and the way in which society has adapted to living around them. There are certain houses which are almost on top of the springs and many of the local populace use the water to heat there houses and for bathing. This is strictly regulated though to prevent drying out the source rocks, though this wasn’t always the case and several geysers were destroyed due to overuse. We headed back to Taupo a little earlier this day in order to start some work on our presentation to the kids at Realise the Dream on Wednesday (will explain more later).

The next morning we returned to Rotorua for one of the most unbelievable mornings of my life! We took a helicopter from Rotorua all the way out across the east coast of the north island, past the bay of plenty out to White Island a little way off shore. White Island is New Zealands most active volcanic island, with many geothermal surface features. We flew out over it, getting a fantastic view of the overall structure of the island before landing in the active crater itself. It was a little alarming when we were issued with hard hats and gas masks and were told to be prepared to use them. The crater was quite large and had a collapsed side which had fallen in a previous erruption. The ground was riddled with geothermal features such as mud pools, fumeroles (gas geysers) and mineral rich hot springs. Most of the crater was coated in Sulphur (the smell was over powering), creating a beautiful combination of reds and yellows. We walked up to the crater lake which was a seething lakee of green liquid, which we were told was at a pH of -0.4!! That is superacidic, you could feel the acid in the air starting to burn any exposed skin. We also had to wear the gas masks as the hydrogen sulphide was at pretty dangerous levels. It was a real eye opener, showing just how active and dangerous volcanoes are - and the hostory of this particular volcano shows that they should never be taken for granted. Volcanoes are after all inherently unpredictable. On a lighter note we also saw some pods of dolphins on the way to White Island, playing in the ocean surf, it really was quite surreal. We spent the rest of the day in a slight more normal mode of transport as we drove up to Tongariro National Park.

Now I thought that nothing on this trip would be able to beat that day out to white island, but this next day did. We were teamed up with a fantastic guy called Jullian. He was once a teacher and was now doing educational outreach projects and was absolutely mad about ‘tramping’ (or hiking if you are from the UK). We started out at 8 and headed for Tongariro National Park, by 8:30 we had started one of the most amazing hikes of my life. Firstly we climbed the summit of Tongariro itself gaining some stunning views the volcano next door (Ngauruhoe) and a chance to play in the snow (something I had not done for many years). We then circled round the edge of what is named South Crater (though it is not actually a volcanic crater, it is a glacial valley witha  number of volcanic craters in. On the way we say North Crater, which is a volcanic crater which used to contain a liquid magma lake, this then solidified to form a solid basalt crater. We also walked part way round the rim of Red Crater which is the most amazing colour I have ever seen in nature. The entire crater was a deep rich red due to an abundance of Iron III Oxide in the minerals. It also contained an intruded dyke (thin tabular intrusion of magma) in the crater. This magma had cooled from the outside inwards, meaning that the outside cooled quickly forming fine grained rock and the inside cooled slowly forming coarse grained rock. Coarse grained rock is eroded more easily than fine graned rock, so the inside had been eroded leaving this amazing hollow shell protruding from the side of the crater. The others in our party left at this point leaving Jamie and myself with Jullian to tackle Ngauruhoe. The climb up Ngauruhoe was definately a challenge, it was steep and I seemed to slip halfway back down the mountain each time I took a step. Eventually we got to the top and were rewarded with spectacular views of snow capped Ruapehu (the final volcano). By the time we got back to the car it was 9 o’clock, we had been walking for over 12 hours!! I have never felt so exhausted in my life, but that day has to be the highlight of my trip so far.

Again I have to cut this short, as we have to go and have dinner. However I promise this will be finished next time…

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So, we have neglected to note the addition of Danae Staples-Moon to our team… she joined us when we landed in NZ, and works in the communications team at the RSNZ. A biological scientist by training, and thrill seeker at heart, Danae has been our guide, driver, and general all round amazingness through the trip so far, and is coming with us up to the top of the North Island for the second half of the trip. We couldn’t do it without her!

And today Jamie and Lily spoke at Realise the Dream, a NZ national science scheme for young people… they were amazing, and by all accounts inspirational for the younger students in the audience. It helps that their projects (the ones they did to get Gold CREST and win the prize) are really interesting, but it is mainly down to their own charisma and enthusiasm. Well done guys!! We’re off to the theatre now, and for dessert afterwards… sweet!

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We have just finished our first week out here in New Zealand, it has been absolutely fantastic. It is really hard to get ny head around how much we have done over the past week.

We spent the first few days in Wellington try to get over the horrific jetlag and generally getting better aquainted with the ins and outs if the kiwi culture. We visited Te Papa museum (New Zealands national museum) which had a brilliant geological overview. New Zealands got a unique tectonic setting. The country is on the boundary between the pacific and indo-australasian plates. The plate boundary runs along the eastern edge of the north island, cuts through half of the south island and then runs along the western edge of the south island. This means that in the north island the pacific plate is sliding under the australasian plate, in the central part of the south island the two plates are colliding to form mountains and on the western edge of the southern island the australasian plate is sliding under the pacaific plate!! This is an awesone set of tectonic forces at work, producing some spectacular results. In the north island volcanoes are being produced along a rifting area called the taupo volcanic zone (will come bacj to this later), while in the south island huge fold mountains are being produced as the two colliding plates crumple under the stress. On a smaller scale we also got a feel for the politics and social order in new zealand with a tour around parliament and some insights into Wellington life by the locals.

After those two days (once we had got over the jetlag) we got down to the hardcore science. We took a 4 hour car journey (ideal for catching up on sleep) down to Taupo. This is a town nestled on the edge of New Zealands largest lake. The lake is infact a huge volcano!! The crater is about the same size as Singapore! The last erruption took place around 2500 years ago and flattened about half of New Zealand. Volcanoes such as Taupo are obviously  an area of concern for the people living in the area, so we met up with some of the scientists who monitor their activity. They are an insitution called GNS Science. We toured round there facility including visits to there microbiology laboratory and looking at there advances in geothermal energy. One of the worlds oldest geothermal power plants in situated just off site, which we visited learning the processes involved in this renewable energy resources. One of the other main areas of their research include monitoring White Island, which is New Zealands most active volcanic island lying off the bay of plenty on the north east coast of the north island.

Loads of stuff still to tell you, but eye lids are drooping and bed is calling. To be continued…

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Hi there everyone!! I haven’t been able to post a blog recently as we’ve been completely cut off from all internet access until now. New Zealand is such an amazing place to visit!

A few days ago we visited Wairakei research centre, where GNS scientists gave us a VIP tour of the geothermal power station and the work they do. One microbiologist even showed us a hot-spring living bacterium he discovered (OP10) which can convert waste plant material (cellulose) into ethanol - really cutting edge stuff!

On Saturday we took a helicopter ride to White Island, which is an active volcano 30 minutes off the coastline - standing next to a superacid lake with volcanic fumes streaming out of the ground next to you is a once in a lifetime experience! The following day we drove to Tongariro National Park, where we hiked up Mount Tongariro (1978m above sea level) and Mount Naruhoe (which is Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings) straight away after each other. Both of these are active volcanic regions, and it was just awesome being able to see the ancient lava flows and steaming volcanic crater lakes. Just yesterday I hiked up Mount Ruapehu (2700m above sea level). Ruapehu is covered in snow even though it’s summer in New Zealand (during the winter it’s used for skiing), and I definitely needed my ice pick to traverse the steep ice slopes leading up to it. The descent from Ruapehu was the scariest thing I’ve ever done - going down an incredibly steep wall of snow, backwards, whilst not being able to see where you’ve going because of the cloud, is just crazy!

Anway, we’re currently in Wellington, where we’re interacting with 29 talented New Zealand students who completed CREST science projects. In a few days time we’re flying to Auckland and visiting the Liggins Institute, which is at the leading edge of medical research into breast cancer and epigenetics - an absolutely fantastic opportunity!!    

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So, we made it… having briefly stopped at Singapore (indoor palm trees and foot spas) and Sydney (flat white!) we landed at Wellington Airport Tuesday lunchtime, New Zealand time. We are still very much working to UK time though, so very tired indeed!

Today has been about getting over jet lag before diving into the science of our trip, but we managed to sneak in a special tour of Te Papa museum by geologist Hamish Campbell, who explained a lot of what lies ahead for us as we explore the terrain of North Island. I’ll leave it to Lily to tell you all about it later.

We also visited the New Zealand parliament for a tour, and found out lots about both the links and differences between the UK and NZ systems of governance… did you know that the old NZ parliament building is the second largest wooden building in the world (largest in the Southern Hemisphere)? Or that NZ was the first country to give women their vote? The people we’ve met so far have been friendly, laid back and so positive. This is going to be an amazing trip.

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