Former Rotorua Boys’ High School Pasifika prefect Meleki Schuster has been selected to join the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s inspiring explorers programme to Antarctica. Photo / Antarctic Heritage Trust, Brittany Fox
Former Rotorua Boys’ High School Pasifika prefect Meleki Schuster has been selected to join the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s inspiring explorers programme to Antarctica. Photo / Antarctic Heritage Trust, Brittany Fox
A former Rotorua Boys’ High School Pasifika prefect will be reliving the “golden age of exploration” as he sets sail for Antarctica next week.
Meleki Schuster, 21, is one of eight young Kiwis - and the only one from the Bay of Plenty - selected to join theAntarctic Heritage Trust’s inspiring explorers programme.
The expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula offers opportunities for young people to experience the world’s polar regions to educate and inspire them, the trust said.
Sailing on a century-old tall ship, the group will be mentored by world-record-breaking solo sailor Lisa Blair, the fastest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around Antarctica.
Schuster is flying to Argentina on Saturday to begin his month-long trip, which includes the Antarctica voyage and time to explore Buenos Aires and Ushuaia.
He applied for the expedition after hearing about it from someone who went on last year’s voyage.
The interview process included writing, a video interview, and questions about working in a team, he said.
Schuster said he was “so surprised” to be selected and “kind of had a bit of imposter syndrome at the start”.
He said the expedition’s purpose was to learn about preserving nature and understanding the continent’s history.
Schuster said the ship was “pretty similar” to that which explorers used to sail to Antarctica “in the golden age of exploration”.
He hoped to learn a lot about himself on the expedition.
“I feel like we just learn when we’re forced to experience things for the first time and I’m excited to see how that goes.
“I’ve never sailed or anything and I guess sailing across the Southern Ocean and getting to go to a continent and place that most people will never get to go is just super crazy.
“I’m just excited to fully immerse myself in the experience and be fully present and make the most out of it.”
Former Rotorua Boys’ High School Pasifika prefect Meleki Schuster has recently completed a Bachelor of Global Studies at Victoria University in Wellington. Photo / Supplied
Schuster said he was undecided on a career pathway, “but I definitely want to be working to help New Zealand develop as a country more”.
He would like to be a diplomat or do an international job “where I can work for the country in other countries”.
He said the expedition would help him gain international experience.
“A lot of study that I did was on global warming ... and I think just seeing Antarctica first-hand will definitely relate to that.”
Icebergs, glaciers, and large colonies of penguins
Antarctic Heritage Trust communications and engagement manager Anna Clare said the ship was scheduled to depart Ushuaia on January 17, and the crew would teach the team how to sail and operate it.
“They will take the helm, handle sails, stand watch, and learn about navigation as part of a rotating watch system with four hours on, then eight hours off, as they cross the Drake Passage travelling to and from Antarctica.”
They would spend about a week in Antarctica, going ashore daily to explore before returning to South America.
“In Antarctica, they will see icebergs, glaciers, and snow-covered mountains as well as the continent’s rich wildlife including whales, seals, and large colonies of penguins.”
Clare said the three-masted tall ship was built in 1911, making it “very similar in age” to the ships that Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton took south on their expeditions.
During the expedition, the team would work on a group outreach project to share how their experience “mirrored and differed from Scott and Shackleton’s voyages to Antarctica in the heroic era” and to encourage other young people to explore.
Clare said Antarctica’s early explorers “furthered science, tested the limits of human endurance, and explored the unknown”.
By connecting the next generation with the trust’s work to conserve the explorer bases left behind by Scott and Shackleton, “we hope young people will identify with the legacy we care for, value it, and in the future be motivated to protect it”, she said.
The trust thanked donors to its inspiring explorers fund and expedition partner Spirit of Adventure Trust for making the expedition possible.
