Introducing your Three Kings Islands tour guide (aka expedition blogger) Introducing your Three Kings Islands tour guide (aka expedition blogger)

Our expedition team is back from the Three Kings Islands and ready to answer your questions about what they found and to show you some of the specimens they collected to help build their understanding of the marine environment. The blog has been a fantastic chance to follow their discoveries but now you can meet them face to face and talk to them about their preliminary findings about marine life in the Three Kings. In the few days since the team got back on dry land they've already identified that one of the fish they found is likely to be a new species. So who knows what tomorrow will bring. You can meet four of the team - including University of Queensland PhD student Libby Liggins and one of the expedition's photographers Richard Robinson - tomorrow at 11am at the Auckland Museum. There are some more details of the session below and we've also got some more underwater footagREAD MORE...

Science Communicator, Radio New Zealand — Alison Ballance (me) on another trip into the field – this time with frolicking yellow-eyed penguins on Enderby Island.

You’ll hear a lot more from him and the rest of the scientists during the expedition but I’m Alison Ballance and I’ll be the one writing the daily blogs about what they’ve been up to and making sure you get to see lots of photos and videos of what they are finding in the waters around the Three Kings Islands.

Some of you may have met me before when I was the blogger for the museum’s Kermadecs Biodiscovery Expedition in 2011. I can’t believe it’s nearly two years since we set off for our three weeks in the Kermadec Islands! On that expedition we found several species new to the Kermadecs and even made discoveries that were new to science. So I was very happy to hear the news that Auckland Museum had organised another marine expedition – this time to the Three Kings – and even happier to hear they’d saved me a berth on the Braveheart and that I get to reprise my role as resident blogger.

Apart from keeping you in touch with what’s happening aboard Braveheart, I’m also going to be diving as part of the fish team and recording the action for my radio programme Our Changing World (on Radio New Zealand).

RV Braveheart – home sweet home for our two-week expedition to the Three Kings Islands

I hope you’ll join us on this expedition to see what we discover and as you’re reading the blogs please feel free to jump in with your own questions. You can either leave a comment at the bottom of the daily blog or head to our Ask a Scientist page.

It’s less than two weeks until we leave now (we leave Tauranga on April 8) so tomorrow I’ll share some of what’s on our ‘to do’ list before we can set off for the Three Kings Islands.

2 Responses to “Introducing your Three Kings Islands tour guide (aka expedition blogger)”

Patricia Hammond
April 1, 2013
I also followed you guys on the Kermedec adventure. Do I have to re-sign to get the blogs for this expedition. If so can you add my e mail address. Even the “map” of the area as shown on this site is fantastic. We ( New Zealanders ) know very little about our off shore Islands. Looking forward to “joining” with you on this trek.
- Melanie Cooper
  April 4, 2013
  Hi Patricia, so nice to have you with us again! I can’t wait for the video footage and photos to start rolling in. We’ve added you to our subscriber list!