Planning

The planning for this event was relatively straight forward. However problems can arise in between the time of when proposals are first initiated and when approval is obtained. For example some of the critical hazardous chemicals were sent to the Antarctic by ship cargo in early 1986 before finding out if the project had been included in the research programme.

The major problems that this event encountered in the Antarctic related to the lock of co-ordination between this event and K012. It was assumed that where co-ordination was required, i.e. access to the New Zealand fish hole and the sharing of transport, that K012 would have been officially notified. The event briefing sessions at Tekapo are recognized as an important place for meeting the leaders of other events and discussing event co-ordination. Thus briefing K047 and K012 at the same time was a very good idea. It was unfortunate that the leader of K012 was not present at Tekapo and this may have avoided the confrontation that lead to denial of access to the fish hole and to ground transport that was assigned to be shared between events.