Brave, confident, smart, able to move out of your comfort zone and face any challenges...these are some of the ways the Year 5 and 6 students described what it means to be an 'explorer'. Mrs De Vos certainly has those qualities!

This week Mrs de Vos came to the library for two sessions to talk about her own intrepid journey to South Georgia in the Sub-Antarctic Islands. She spoke first to with the Year 5 and 6  classes first, and then the Year 8 classes. Fuelled by her love of history, animals, and the environment, Mrs de Vos went through a rigorous application process to be one of only 22 people to receive a scholarship to join the Antarctic Heritage Trust expedition, celebrating 100 years since Sir Earnest Shackleton's last voyage. Also on the trip were Helen Clark and Lydia Bradev, the first and only woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest without oxygen. 

Mrs de Vos talked about the long journey to get there and described being thrown out of her bunk by 10m swells, enduring seasickness, seeing leopard seals and penguins up close, and experiencing a real polar plunge into very deep, dark water.  The warmest day of her trip was three degrees and I can only imagine how much colder it would be jumping off ship into a rocking zodiac boat only to be sprayed with water. Another highlight of her talk was the audio of the noise thousands of penguins make. One student thought that elephant seals sounded like a lion eating a frog!  

It was amazing to see the students so interested and ask so many questions. I know they were all really inspired and more than a few will be looking forward to having Mrs de Vos as a teacher one day. 

The Year 6 class made an amazing thank you card featuring penguins and leopard seals - Mrs de Vos' favourite animals. Thank you so much, Mrs de Vos. We are lucky to have you at Columba College. This was definitely a highlight of the year for me.