Homeward Bound 2016 was for me, quite literally, the trip of a lifetime. It was filled with ocean, snow, ice and the incredible beauty and rawness of nature aboard our real ‘Mother Ship’ – the Earth. As a geologist having worked in thermal coal for the last fourteen years, I climbed on-board the M.V. Ushuaia on the 2nd December with a huge dose of imposter syndrome, fearing I may be vilified and ostracised by this group of 75+ female climate change activists. The knowledge that a film crew would be present conjured images of ‘Survivor Antarctica’ and the potential for me being voted off the boat even before we’d crossed the Drake Passage. Fortunately, however, I found my companions were all incredibly intelligent, engaging, thoughtful and inclusive. Although occasionally judgemental of the content of the HB program and how it was being run, I was surprised by the other participant’s…
Category: Rocks and Minerals Roadshows
Introducing Teddy Trilobite – my mascot for Homeward Bound
Trilobites are extinct arthropods… distant relatives of modern lobsters, horseshoe crabs and spiders. They lived from the Lower Cambrian Period (521 million years ago) to the end of the Permian (240 million years ago). Their emergence and extinction bookend the Paleozoic Age. https://research.amnh.org/paleontology/trilobite-website/twenty-trilobite-fast-facts. Teddy was my ‘rock’ throughout the trip, always there for me in a (large) pocket of my jacket or sleeping in my backpack. He was made for me especially for the trip by my Mum, Beth Lucas. Although mistaken for a whale shark and horseshoe crab (understandably) amongst other things, he also served many new friends on-board the M.V. Ushuaia as a pillow, flying object/ball for getting someone’s attention, or simply as a placebo pet for a therapeutic pat. Teddy is pictured here on his first continental landing at Brown Bluff* on Day #7 – 8th December, 2016. *Lat: 63° 30’ S, Long: 56° 52’ W.
Now taking bookings for Rocks & Minerals Roadshows!
Today I presented my first Rocks & Minerals Roadshow for 2016! A big thankyou to Paterson Primary School Y3-4 composite class for having me. We talked about where you find the different types of rocks – Sedimentary, Metamorphic & Igneous, and how the Earth’s moving tectonic plates control the processes that produce each type. We also cleared up the definition of archaeologist v palaeontologist v geologist fairly early on in the session when all the kids wanted to see were fossils… “I’m just a rock doctor, sorry, I don’t have many fossils. But I do have a piece of a meteorite, and look at all these pretty shiny minerals!” – my collection made up for the fact I am just a rock-head not a fossil-head. So much enthusiasm and excitement and omg noise! It was great fun though, and I really should do it more often… it was a good work-out for me…