Paddy Pallin Prize Draw

On Thursday 20th July, Elaine Houlton of Western Australia was named as the lucky winner of an 'Antarctic Trip of a Lifetime'. The prize valued at AUD$34,500 consists of a 26-day voyage on board the 'Spirit of Enderby', air tickets from Perth to Christchurch provided by Zuji Online, and $2000 worth of gear from Paddy Pallins.

When asked about her win, an overjoyed Elaine declared "I was stunned to say the least, in fact I am still getting over the shock...Gob-smacked is a fitting word."

Elaine and her friend Margaret will join our Australian Antarctic Expedition which departs Invercargill in the south of New Zealand’s South Island on Dec 4th 2006, almost 95 years to the day that the Australasian Antarctic Expedition departed.  Their first stop after departing is the Snares Island Nature Reserve, home to an estimated six million sooty shearwaters.  At the Auckland Islands they will spend a day ashore on Enderby Island, home to the rare New Zealand (Hooker’s) sea lion and numerous birds such as the red-crowned parakeet and Auckland Island dotterel.  There will also good chances to see the rare Subantarctic snipe and endemic flightless teal.  The shy yellow-eyed penguins breed here in good numbers and can be seen with little difficulty.  They will spend their second day in Carnley Harbour at the southern end of the Auckland Islands, where there will be an opportunity to visit a white-capped albatross colony. 

Then they'll travel onto Macquarie Island, described by Sir Douglas Mawson as “one of the wonder spots of the world”.  Thousands of king, rockhopper, gentoo and the endemic royal penguins crowd the beaches along with gargantuan elephant seals.  We plan landings at Sandy Bay as well as a visit to the Australian Antarctic Research Base in Buckles Bay. 

We hope for weather conditions that will allow Elaine and Margaret and the other passengers to land at Cape Denison to visit and photograph Mawson’s Hut and enjoy the beauty of this seldom visited part of Antarctica.  We will cruise past the massive Ninnis and Mertz glacial tongues.  Other sites include Port Martin and the French base west of Commonwealth Bay near the spot where the French Explorer Dumont d’Urville landed in January 1840.

It will be 97 years since Mawson, David, and Mackay first reached the South Magnetic Pole (Jan 15th 1909).  While they had to trek some 1000 miles to reach it, we will sail to the South Magnetic Pole to celebrate that achievement, before returning to New Zealand via Campbell Island.

Campbell Island is the home of the southern royal albatross, with over 7000 pairs nesting amongst the megaherbs.  We will land in Perseverance Harbour and Elaine, Margaret and the other passengers will be able to walk to Col Lyall saddle with its spectacular floral display of the huge Pleurophyllum and Anisotome plants, dotted with nesting royal albatross.  Amazing views over Campbell Island and NW Bay greet those who walk a little further.  Elaine and Margaret will be one last day at sea, to enjoy the wonder of the vast Southern Ocean, before arriving back in the Port of Bluff.