Planning

The only problem in the palnning aspect of the expedition was the failure for Event K040 to obtain, for what ever reason, the 1993/94 NZAP field event directive. This was discovered during the event briefing at Scott Base, but did not cause any any trouble.

There were a few situations during the expedition that could not have been anticipated (see Cargo and Field Transportation sections). Flexibility in the operations in Antarctica made our tasks easier and greatly assisted in the fulfilment of our objectives.

Wizevich and Thornley attended Tekapo and thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from the experience. Woolfe could not attend because of committments in Australia, but he could have benefited from receiving copies of the Antarctic Operations Manual, the Antarctic Field Manual, and the Antarctic First Aid Manual.

The overall approach used at Tekapo (i.e., teaching and building confidence by lecturing and then a 'hands on' session, and finally a simulated Antarctic experience during the overnight), was effective. Including the Antarctic veterans was extremely helpful in the learning process (as well as an opportunity to meet interesting people and learn about their studies), but at times (especially during the preliminary basic lectures) many appeared to be bored. Perhaps restructuring the Tekapo schedule such that the veterans can come after the basic lectures (over the weekend, which might mollify some complaints that the training interrupted work) may alleviate the boredom and still provide valuable resources for Antarctic neophytes.