Mandy Reid from Australian Museum
Packing hasn’t been nearly so simple for the science crew as it has been for me – they have to remember to take absolutely everything they might need while we’re away, from the tiniest vial to the biggest chilly bin. There are no shops where we are going, and no postal service either!
The team of three from the Australian Museum needed to get ready earlier than the Kiwis as they had to freight their equipment across the Tasman more than two weeks ago for it to arrive in Tauranga in time.
Mollusc expert Mandy Reid (shown above) tells me that they had a small room piled with a huge pile of gear to which they’d keep adding bits and pieces as they remembered them, or taking away things they decided they wouldn’t need.
They were all very relieved when everything was packed onto two full pallets. Mandy told me ‘it was hard to work out what exactly we might require for the trip, not knowing exactly what we might collect and what we will need to put it in. As I am interested in all molluscs from micro-molluscs a couple of millimetres long to giant squid (who knows – we may strike the jackpot!!!), we have to be ready for everything.’
Then, after all the stress, the pallets got held up in customs and nearly missed the boat! The equipment ended up getting delivered to Auckland Museum today, and Tom will drive it down to Tauranga – just in time to make the sailing on Monday. The ship’s captain is not pleased!
