Antarctic adventures: A preliminary investigation into the personal implications of trips by adventurous New Zealanders to Antarctic, between the years 1956 and 2001.

• Main Author: Elliott, Tui
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14267

This report undertakes a preliminary investigation into the personal implications of Antarctic adventures. It attempts to identify the factors that attract adventurers to Antarctica, and the implications or personal 'costs' and impacts of their trip, on such things as their families, partners and employment. It also inquires into whether changes in societal attitudes have impacted on the perception of personal 'cost', by comparing the experiences of an earlier group of adventurers and their partners, with a more recent group. Face-to-face and telephone interviewing of the adventurers and their partners was the method chosen to collect the required information for the study. Interviewees were selected to represent adventures occurring in two different time periods: 1950s/60s and 1980s/90s The study found that there were differences between the men and their partners in how they perceived the impacts of the Antarctic adventures. The men, in most cases, had decided that it was appropriate for them to participate in the adventure at that time in their lives, and accepted that the trip away would mean that their partners would have increased responsibilities. The women supported their partner's decisions to be involved in the adventure, and they felt that it was in their best interests, to have their adventurous partners fulfil their dream of a lifetime. They realised that this would mean increased responsibilities for them, but they were confident that they would manage and survive and develop a life for themselves. The premise that there would be some change in the implications of the adventure, over time, was found to be true in some situations, but not in others. The changes that occurred in the role of women in the 1960s and 1970s, had an influence on those women whose partners went to Antarctica in thel 980s and 1990s. These women were more pro- active in decision making and often had their own careers, whereas the women from the earlier group were more prepared to accept the family situation they found ...