Antarctica NZ chief executive Jordy Hendrikx said hosting the Governor-General was an honour. Photo: Antactica NZ/ Anthony Powell
The Governor-General has travelled to Antarctica's Scott Base to see the work happening on the ice.
During the visit, Dame Cindy Kiro and husband Dr Richard Davies also visited Scott's Hut and Shackleton's Hut, and saw the Antarctic Heritage Trust's preservation work.
Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Jordy Hendrikx said it was an honour to host the pair, who arrived on Friday.
"The main purpose of the visit is for them to come and see what we do here in Antarctica, and understand the variety of tasks that we have from science to environmental protection, to heritage, and also the operations of the base, and how we maintain the operations and run all those services from a small footprint here in Antarctica," he said.
Dame Cindy was the first Governor-General to visit Antarctica since 2003.
One of the most notable projects was the redevelopment of Scott Base.
"A number of these facilities are getting to end of life, and we're in the process of building a new and fit-for-purpose facility for the next generation of scientists, and to ensure our continued presence here in Antarctica on behalf of New Zealand," Hendrikx said.
Dame Cindy was the first Governor-General to visit Antarctica since 2003. Photo: BC Photography / David Rowland
The redevelopment plan was revised last year, after the budget blew out to $498 million from $250m.
Hendrikx said the team was working on a detailed business case to be taken to Cabinet in mid-2026. It proposed a three-stage redevelopment of Scott Base over the next 20-50 years, starting with the oldest and most dilapidated facilities.
"This year, in terms of physical work, we have a number of enabling works underway," he said. "We have some civil works underway, so that's preparing the platform for next year, placing of the piles and then moving forward into the main construction in subsequent years."
Several science projects were also happening on the base.
"This is our peak science period, where the majority of our scientists are coming through the base, and heading out into the field to collect samples, set out instruments or pick up instruments, and download years or months of data collection in Antarctica," Hendrikx said.
"We have a team looking at the health of the Ross Sea ecosystem. They're doing that by understanding the behaviour and patterns of foraging of both the emperor penguins and weddell seals.
"The idea here is, if we can better understand the behaviours of these large mesopredators, we get a proxy for the overall health and vitality of the Ross Sea ecosystem, and how that might be responding to climate change."
Other projects included looking at how sea ice was changing in response to climate change, he said.
"It's a very busy base, and a real buzzing atmosphere of excitement, enthusiasm and new discovery happening at the moment."
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