Last supper & first team photo for expedition team Last supper & first team photo for expedition team

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...

They didn’t enjoy the kind of lazy Sunday afternoon favoured by many with the team using yesterday, their final day on dry land for two weeks, to check their gear one last time and then to help pack it on to the Braveheart before they set off for the Three Kings Islands today.

Packing the boat on the eve of the expedition

Tom (head of the expedition) carried out a quick video interview with Alison last night – close observation reveals he’s pretty excited about what’s to come. And even among the shore-based team (there’s a few of us here who will post material from time to time and make sure your questions get to the scientists) the excitement is palpable.

Richard Robinson – one of the photographers onboard – has also sent through the first team photo for the expedition and as this post goes up the team is lifting anchor in Tauranga. ETA in the Three Kings is dawn on Wednesday but in the meantime you’ll hear from Alison about the journey there and what’s to come.