PM Jacinda Ardern said that after several months of work by the NZ Government Kiwi influencers Bridget Thackwray and Topher Richwhite have safely exited Iran.
Video / NZ Herald
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is again aboard a plane and en route to Antarctica after a "boomerang flight" yesterday that saw the crew forced to turn back due to poor weather.
Ardern is travelling to the world's southernmost and least-populated continent with fiancé Clarke Gayford.
The visit was originally scheduledfrom Tuesday to Friday to mark the 65th anniversary of Scott Base - New Zealand's Antarctic home - and the first full season of Antarctic research after two years of Covid-19 disruption.
Ardern will visit researchers and see the redevelopment work at Scott Base, to which the Government has allocated nearly $350 million.
Due to the redevelopment work there is limited capacity for guests and only one pool journalist has been permitted to travel on the journey.
Ardern left for Scott Base at 10am yesterday but the NZ Air Force C130 Hercules had to turn around as strong winds built and weather in Antarctica deteriorated.
The trip normally takes eight hours. The plane landed back in Christchurch shortly after 2pm.
The RNZAF C130 that attempted to deliever Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to Scott Base on Tuesday. Photo / Mike Scott
In a Facebook live update this morning Ardern said she was due to depart shortly.
In a press release a spokeswoman for Antarctica NZ said Ardern was this morning on a C17 flight and due to leave Christchurch at 11am.
A photo yesterday showed Ardern and Gayford together on the plane reading.
While Gayford, who hosts a fishing TV show, tucked into book about poaching of the Patagonian toothfish, Ardern, a well-known Antarctic history buff, was pictured engrossed in a biography of explorer Ernest Shackleton - one of her personal heroes.
In 2017, Ardern told the Herald she wanted to get a tattoo of Shackleton, based on a photo of the crew of the Endurance dragging the James Caird lifeboat across the ice.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and fiancé Clarke Gayford aboard the RNZAF C130 bound for Antarctica, which had to turn back yesterday. Photo / Mike Scott
Ahead of her trip Ardern said Antarctica was part of New Zealand's "heritage and future".
"We're committed to its protection as a natural reserve for peace, science and co-operation," she said.
"Globally significant research is carried out by New Zealanders there, and New Zealand is invested in that long-term and essential research including through the Antarctic Science Platform and other science investments.
"Antarctic research is urgently needed to understand past and future climates, how we are affecting Antarctica, and how Antarctica will affect us."
