NEWS FLASH! IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION WHILST I AM IN ANTARCTICA PLEASE TRY AND EMAIL IT TO: dannyboy@bullexpeditions.com. THAT WAY I’M LIKELY TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION MORE QUICKLY!
Have you ever wondered how Antarctic explorers go to the loo? Is there anything that YOU would like to know about Antarctica or what it is like to live and work there? Perhaps you would like to know what we are going to be eating, how we will move around on the ice, what it’s like to see nothing but white or how it feels to be at -35 degrees. Get thinking and post your question on this page. I’ll do my best to answer it from Antarctica. I might even video some of my responses and send back a video clip so make sure you leave your name so I can mention you from Antarctica.
September 23rd, 2007 at 5:02 pm
hi did you have to wear coats and thick clothes when you went to sleep?
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Great question Rachel and well done for being the first! We will have lovely thick sleeping bags to sleep in and because they are made of down, the less clothes you wear in them the better. So we will mostly be relying on our sleeping bags to keep us warm. I’ll let you know how good they are at keeping us warm when I get to Antarctica!
September 24th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Where is the information on the iced gems? because i don’t know how much money the iced gems raised for my homework.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
hi Rachel. Have a look at the pupil page and see if that helps you out. You need to read it carefully. Good luck!
September 24th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
What kind of food do you eat while you in antarctica?
September 24th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Also how do you cook the food you eat, on a camping stove?
September 24th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Hi!how many training camps have you been on so far and where did you go? Hope you enjoy antarctica! Alicex
September 24th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Hi Rebecca and Alice. Great questions both of you. Rebecca- We’ll eat lots of food in Antarctica to try and keep up our calories. We need to eat around 4500 calories a day so lots of chocolate (yippee). For dinner we’ll eat dehydrated food that we will add boiling water to from our stove. It looks pretty disgusting but it tastes ok. Not great though! You can see a picture of it if you click on the training page and scroll down to the bottom. Alice- We’ve been on quite a few training camps to the Peak District, the Lake District and to Norway. You can find pics in the blog and training section. There is lots to learn!
September 25th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
hi do you go with differen’t teachers to your training trips and what schools do the go to
September 25th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Hi Rachel, There are three other teachers that have been to all the other training camps. They are from different parts of the UK. You can find out all about them if you go to the useful links and click on their websites.
October 19th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
do penguines like to be stuffed in bags and brought to england to drink some tea cause if they do, please stuff a penguine in a bag and bring in home for me!!!!!!
October 19th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Hey Miss!
How are you? I was just wondering, is there any plant life anywhere in Anatartica? Thanks!
Dawn X
October 19th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Hiya Miss,
I also wondered how to you go to the loo because surely any waste would freeze immedaitly and having bare skin would be agony at those tepratures. Thanks!
Dawn X
October 19th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Great questions Dawn. We are hoping to find some mosses if we are very lucky but there will be very little other plant life.
We’re going to have to go to the loo pretty quickly! We have zips on our clothes so we don’t need to take it all off. I’ve got a special piece of kit called a Shewee to help me go to the toilet in the tent. We’ll also have a toilet tent with a bucket in it…We need to carry all our waste out with us Pierre, I’m pretty sure penguins don’t enjoy being stuffed in bags…
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Will you be attacked by penguins or angry eskimos?
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Thanks Rob-something else to worry about! I hope not! There won’t be any eskimos as they are near the North Pole. That’s where the polar bears are too. There are lots of penguins but not where we are going. We will be too far south for penguins. So unless they make a long journey to hunt me down I should be OK.
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:00 pm
i forgot to say good luck, so GOOD LUCK!! also, how long are you going to be in antarctica?
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Thanks- I will need some good luck especially if those penguins turn up. We are hoping to be in Antarctica for 4-5 weeks but it totally depends on the weather. The weather has to be just right for us to land on the ice. Windy enough to blow the snow off the ice runway but not so windy as to blow us off! It’s a very fine line so we might be delayed getting in or out. The plan is we fly from the UK to Chile on Nov 3rd. Collect the stuff that we shipped out and then fly to Antarctica on Nov 9th for just over a month. But we could get delayed at either end. Good luck in your exams!
October 24th, 2007 at 6:03 am
Hi, how can your electronic equipment sustain the freezing temperatures out there?
October 25th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
What kind of things will you be doing in antarctica?
do you think you’ll get bored?
good luck miss x
October 27th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Hi Philippe. We will be using a special laptop called a ‘Toughbook’ that is built to withstand extreme conditions. The satellite phone we use is also specially constructed to be used in freezing conditions. We’ll have them packed in special pelicases that will help to protect them. Our cameras are standard digital ones and there is nothing different about the mp3 players we will take. They don’t have any special features. We’ll have see how they manage to stand up to the conditions. We’ll keep them close to us so that they keep a little bit warm.
October 27th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Great questions Danielle. We’ll spend most of our time working on our science projects. You can find more about them on the links on the side of this page. I will be looking for lichens-this is going to involve long hikes out each day, proably on skis or trekking to likely spots. I will then be scouring the area for any signs of lichens. They might be tiny so I will take a hand-lens with me. If I manage to find any I’m going to be really excited! Nobody has done any real looking for lichens where we’ll be, so I don’t know what we’ll find. A lot of our time will be taken up by doing daily tasks-everything will take much longer. Melting ice for all our water supplies, cooking dinner, getting dressed- it will all take ages. We’ll also spend time writing journals and checking our emails. I’ve got some games to take incase we get snowed in and an mp3 player for some music. We are also allowed 2 books each.It was hard to decide which 2 to take. I might have to read them lots of times if the weather is too bad to get outside.
November 1st, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Will you be seeing any polar Bears around where you are going?
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:10 am
Hi Chloe. I’m not expecting any polar bears as they are found towards the North Pole. There shouldn’t be any at all in Antarctica. There are no native land mammals. It’s far too cold. But if I see a stray one I will let you know!
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:22 am
hi!!
i’ve been thinking! when you came to our school you said that you would have to be very quick to go to the toilet. why don’t you put some sort of container under your clothes and when you need to go to the toilet you dont have to take off all your clothes! and it won’t splash around becase it would freeze!!!!!!!!!!!
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:23 am
hi again!!!
are you bringing any pets with you?
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:27 am
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:50 am
Hi Esme, Thanks for your questions and messages! I certainly won’t be taking any pets. You aren’t allowed to take animals into Antarctica as it is a protected place. They would probably find it far too cold too! Great idea about going to the loo. In fact I will have a little funnel with me so I won’t need to take everything off. I will be able to wee into a bottle through the funnel. So it will be a little bit like your idea!
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:06 pm
good luck and i hope you have a good time my birthday is on friday the 9th and your going to antartica so i have so much excitment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and so much to look forward to
November 3rd, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Hope you have a great birthday Kim! You will have to think of us flying into Antarctica and landing on the ice!
November 4th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
why is South pole colder than North pole?
November 5th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Great question Beccy. I had to my tent mate Ruth Hollinger about this one. She is a geography teacher. We think it is because Antarctica is a huge land mass, a continent, covered in ice. The Arctic (where the North Pole is) is smaller and is ice floating on the sea, there is no land under the ice. Land takes longer to heat up and cool down and therefore has a larger temperature range (difference between highest and lowest temperature). Inland Antarctica is a long way from the warming influence of the sea. The south pole is about 2000km from the ocean.
November 5th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Looks cold miss!
Freezing back here, no heating in school! School is too cheap to put the heating on!!!
:@
Looks like your in cornwall in your pictures! No Snow :S
Bye xxx
November 5th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Thanks miss hows ya training?
November 7th, 2007 at 1:28 am
I’m certainly not in Cornwall guys! I’m not in Antarctica yet either. I’m in Chile in South America. The weather is too bad for the place to land on the runway in Antarctica. We’ve packed all our kit now and just waiting to fly!
November 12th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Miss, we all want u back. All the other suply science teachers are rubbish. Are u in antarctica now?? And how long will u be? hope its not long cause when ur back i’ll enjoy science again. Hope u enjoy your self back in antarctica. And say hi to the penguins for me. bye bye. PS- does any humans actually live in the antartic, or have you seen anyone else if so say hi to them for me.
November 13th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
When you go out investigating things, how do you find your way back to your tent? And when you leave your tent, are you on your own or with one of the other teachers?
November 15th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
do you know what people want to do in the future with Antarctica?
Why do people want the recources from Antarctica?
November 15th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
What a nice message to get when I am sat in a tent at -12 degrees freezing
cold! It is beautiful here and we are trying some science out but I will be
glad to get back and see you all again. I’m missing hot showers very much.
It’s only been 3 days, I can’t imagine how bad I’m going to be by the end.
There are other humans here- they don’t live here permanently though. At the
basecamp we started at there were about 45 staff that are there for the
summer season. I think there are about 4000 scientists here as well. I’ll
say hello to the next person I see from you!
November 16th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Wow it must be amazing doing something like going to antarctica! My Question is: What is the lowest temperature you have been in since you have been in antarctica?
Good Luck for the rest of the trip!
November 16th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
hi!
where do you get your food supplies from??
do you have to carry it around with you or do you have to catch fish and other stuff??
shan
November 17th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Frances
We never go out alone just in case the weather changes or something happens.
We go out in threes. Two teachers and one guide. We use a GPS to get back to
the tent.
November 17th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Hi Josh,
It’s very hard to know what will happen in the future. Personally, having
seen how amazing it is I hope that it will be protected for the future as
one of the last places on earth that is pristine. But people are very
interested in the resources because we are running out in other countries
and they believe that there are lots of resources here that could be used,
like coal and oil.
November 18th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
heya, ave u meet any scienctists frm other countries trying to find any solutions or resultions t ohelp their countries?
fnx
gemma…x
p.s gd luck with ur science experiment!
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:28 pm
hi miss!
how are things going?
things for us arent to good!!
we have had too many science teachers since u left … 4 to be exact
had our exxams today … the biology 1 was pretty
how cold is it and have u been tempted to have a snowball fight?? hehe :p
.. we NEED you back!
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:29 pm
oops .. i put the boilogy 1 was pretty
i ment pretty easy!
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Hi Shan. Our food was all shipped to Chile, we boxed it up and it went into Antarctica on the plane with us. We have to carry it with us on sledges. It gets hard eating the same thing everyday and I’m dreaming about fish and chips!
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Thanks Matt. Our lowest temperature so far has been -60 degrees C. That’s with windchill added in. It was cold, but not as bad as I thought it would be as our kit keeps us nice and warm!
November 23rd, 2007 at 8:11 am
can you fell your toes?
November 24th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
you should go on http://www.clubpenguin.com its got loads of games on and its in antartica. Just thought i’d tell you it snowed last week
But not for long it disapeared for skwl 
Check out the website and tell me how u get on thank you. PS. do they have puffles in antartica??
November 25th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Hi Gemma. We have met some scientists from BAS (the British Antarctic
Survey) who are looking at a sub-glacial lake not too far from where we were based. At the moment we are 7 days hike away from anybody else, so we haven’t bumped into anyone recently.
November 25th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Hi Shannon,
I’m glad the biology was pretty and ok. I’m really looking forward to seeing how you all did. I feel very confident that you have done really well! It is very cold and we haven’t had a snowball fight yet-although I have been tempted to throw a snowball at one of the other teachers we have to be very careful in case we damage ourselves! I’m looking forward to seeing you all soon.
November 27th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Hi Miss!
Can you listen to music in Antarctica? I would die if I couldn’t! Also, will you spend Christmas in Antarctica - if you did, you wouldn’t need fake snow for decoration!
Fran xx
November 27th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Hey Miss, um, i know it’s not a science question but who owns Antarctica, is there like a leader or something?
and good luck in everything, miss you as my teacher
November 28th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
HI Pierre. It depends where I am, what I’m doing and what the temperature is! In the tent it’s usually fine, although it did go down to -13 degrees in the tent earlier in the trip and I couldn’t feel my toes. Sometimes outside if we are standing around looking for lichens my toes go numb too. Usually
it’s fine though!
November 28th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
What are puffles? I don’t think I have seen any. We have very limited internet time because the satellite phone connection is expensive and sometimes cuts out. I will check the website when I get back to the UK though! We have had snow here too.
December 1st, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Hi miss,
How are you copimg with the cold weather?
and how exactly cold is it?
And do you build igloos?
and have you seen any eskimos?
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Hi Frances. My fiancé gave me an mp3 player with some music on to take with me. It’s awesome. It works really well even after it has been frozen. I can recharge it on the laptop. It is so good to listen to music and my tent partner and I have had a few singing moments too on days when we can’t leave the tent. I don’t think the other tents were too impressed. Sometimes it’s nice just to listen to music and chill out. It’s a way to get away from everything for a bit.
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Fantastic question Charlotte. No-one owns Antarctica although certain
countries have laid claim to different parts of it. Those parts sometimes overlap. In the 60s (I think) the Antarctic Treaty was set up which was a set of guidelines about how Antarctica should be used and protected. Lots of countries signed up to this treaty so responsibility for Antarctica is spread across many countries - mostly developed countries.
December 5th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Hi Matthew, Great to hear from you! I’m coping ok with the cold weather as I have lots of really good kit. But sometimes it does get me down a bit. I have chilblains on my fingers as a result of the cold. The lowest temperature we had was -60 degrees (with windchill). The worst thing to deal with is when it gets cold at night. We’ve had temperatures as low as -15 degrees in the tent. With your face out of the sleeping bag this gets very chilly. Sometimes you get a layer of frost on your face. We do build mini igloos to use as a toilet. It helps keep the wind off you! No Eskimos though, they live in the Arctic not in Antarctica.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Is the scenary as spectacular as you thought?
How often does it snow?
How much of each day is daylight at present?
December 6th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
u sed that u had to put weight on before u went but that didn’t go very well so have u got really fin now lol. what is it like there and u only eat 4500 calories a day i bet i eat that easy lol
December 6th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Hi miss how are you doing down there. Every thing going to plan plz let us know because of the boat that sank I thought you were on it!!!
December 7th, 2007 at 10:18 am
hi miss…
when do u get backkkkkkkkkkkk???
kieran
December 7th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Hi miss
have you fallen through any ice yet
Nick.b. from year 8
December 7th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Hiya Miss.
I was wondering, what is the thing you miss most about England, and your usual life? And what don’t you miss at all?
Gud Luk xx
Georgia xx
December 10th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Hello Mr Davis’s class, it’s really nice to hear from you. I’m surprised you got Mr Davis on the computer! I hope that you are looking after him and you are enjoying your geography lessons about Antarctica. Great questions!
1. I think that the scenery is more spectacular than I thought. I was expecting to see nothing but white for miles but there are actually lots of mountains where we are. The rocks are amazing. I’m not usually a rock person but the mountains look all curved and twisted like giant tree trunks. I will show you some pictures when I get back. I think they are beautiful.
2. It doesn’t snow that often. We’ve had one day of snow since we have been here. It only snows about 2 inches a year, as Antarctica is a desert really. Most days it is windy though and the old snow gets blown off the ground and drifts around our tent. We’ve been snowed in to our tent a couple of times and had to kick the door to clear the snow and crawl out.
3. We have 24 hours of daylight at the moment and the light doesn’t change much throughout the day. At midnight it looks pretty much the same as it does in the afternoon. It makes it hard to sleep but it means it is possible for us to walk through the night, which is what we are doing today.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Jason. How are you? Great to hear from you my second favourite pupil. I don’t think I am any thinner now but when we get back to Patriot Hills we have to jump straight on the scales as part of one of the other teacher’s science work. So I can give you some more news on my body size in the next few days. I don’t feel thin because I eat at least 3 and sometimes 4 or 5 chocolate bars a day. It is hard to get through all the food we have to eat. Sometimes I hide it away because I just can’t eat it all. I think you should count exactly how many calories you eat in a day. 4500 a day would make you pretty fat.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Hi Ainsley. Don’t worry we are doing just fine. We flew in on a plane so it is fine. Everything is going to plan so far and we are managing to get a lot done.
December 11th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
hi miss! i was just wondering… how are u coping in antarctica??? Is is hard to live there? Don’t u get 2 cold and miss your family? Thats about it. Oh… And what do you think of the future of antarctica?
December 11th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
me again! what is it like in antarctica and why is it like that???
December 12th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
hya, i’m doing a project on antarctica and my question is, are the recoures in antarctica renewable? good luck on the trip!!
December 14th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Hi Kieran. Good question! I wish that I knew. We were due to leave Antarctica two days ago but a huge storm has started. Snow, wind, no visibility. The plane can’t get in to pick us up and the weather forecast is for it to get worse over the next four days. At this rate we’ll be here for Christmas. I hope that I will be back in time for the new term in Jan!
December 14th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Hi Nick. I have actually fallen through. We were crossing some crevasses, which are big holes in the ice. These were covered with a thin layer of snow so you couldn’t see the hole. I got jerked backwards by the sledge I was pulling and my leg went straight down the hole. It went all the way down to my thigh. It was a little frightening even though I was all roped up to other people. When I looked down the hole I couldn’t see the bottom. It’s pretty dangerous walking round some places here!
December 14th, 2007 at 11:00 am
What great questions Georgia! I think what I miss most is my fiancé and my family. It is very difficult because we are not allowed to have any contact with them whilst we are away. The thing I don’t miss at all is traffic and cars. It’s nice to have clean air to breathe!
December 16th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
second favourite pupil how can u say that :0 as long as pierre ent your first ill let u off lol and u hide the chocolate bars its just not on lol and i do eat about 3000-3500 calories a day and some days i do eat about 4500. when are u getting back cos im missing my second favourite teacher
December 17th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Hi Ashleigh. I’m coping OK but it is a bit difficult at the moment as we are stuck here because of the weather. We have no idea when the plane will be able to get to us. This makes it quite difficult. It is very hard to live here as everything takes so long. Dressing in the morning takes ages and to melt water from snow takes a long time too. Simple things like washing and washing clothes takes ages and you have to think so far ahead for everything. If you want to use sunscreen for example you have to put it into your pocket a few hours before you need it to make sure it is not frozen. We don’t get too cold because our clothes are so good. Sometimes my hands have been cold but that’s about it. Antarctica is beautiful. It is the most amazing place that I have ever seen. I think in the future it should be protected as much as possible. I think people should be allowed to visit but we need to make sure that it is done as responsibly as possible and the environmental impact on Antarctica is as small as possible.
December 17th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Hi! Thanks for the message! The resources that they might think about mining- like coal, oil and gas are not renewable. This means that they could eventually run out if they did start mining.
December 17th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Hiya
I seen it said you were feelin a little depressed, so I thought I would send ya some jokes!
Q. What’s blue and fluffy??
A. Blue fluff
Q. What’s brown and sticky??
A. A stick
A tatty piece of rope walks into a bar. The barman asks “Are you a piece of string??”, the rope replies “A frayed knot”.
An Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scotsman walk into a bar. The barman says “You’ve got to be jokin”.
Q. What do you call a judge with no thumbs?
A. Justice Fingers
Q. What’s blue and square?
A. An orange in disguise
Craig David has a new job. He’s joined the new British Archery team to be the new bow selector.
Q. What’s brown and sounds like a bell?
A. Dung
Tara x =]
P.S– Here’s a random fact, if a starfish eats something it don’t like, it turns its stomach inside out and bites it off. eeewww!!
December 18th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Hey miss how cold is it there towers says hi how r u everything going well? he misses you lots because his science lesson is rubbish with miss charlesworth. cya soon
December 30th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
hi i hope you had a fab time in antarctica, and it wasn’t to cold.lol. I’m always cold. cya soon. xxxxxxxx
January 4th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Hi Lee and James. I’m sure that James isn’t looking forward to having me back!