A Moeraki man has been chosen from almost 200 applicants to join an international expedition honouring the legacy of three early Antarctic explorers.
Tom MacTavish (28) was selected as one of just three people from around the world to join the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust's Inspiring Explorers Expedition to South Georgia Island to re-create the crossing undertaken a century ago by Sir Ernest Shackleton, Tom Crean and New Zealander Frank Worsley.
Mr MacTavish, Lieutenant Sinead Hunt, of Ireland, and James Blake, son of New Zealand-born yachting legend Sir Peter Blake, are each, in their own ways, connected to the story, identities or nationalities of Shackleton, Worsley and Crean who undertook the original crossing a century ago.
Like Worsley, Mr MacTavish is from a small, country fishing village in the South Island and has an affinity with the ocean.
Mr Blake is an accomplished adventurer and explorer, as Shackleton was when he set out on the Endurance expedition and Lieutenant Hunt, like Crean before her, is proudly Irish and serves in the military.
Initial disbelief at being chosen soon turned to excitement for Mr MacTavish, offered an opportunity of a lifetime to participate in the fully sponsored ski-touring trip attempting to repeat the crossing of the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia from King Haakon Bay to Stromness.
The team leaves New Zealand on Friday.
They will disembark at King Haakon Bay and set out aiming to cross South Georgia on skis, retracing the original route in a multi-day traverse of the island before rejoining the ship at Stromness.
The original expedition undertaken by Shackleton, Crean and Worsley was the final 36-hour act of desperation and bravado to raise the alarm to rescue the crew of Shackleton's ship Endurance who were marooned on Elephant Island.
''I think I'm probably most interested in ... getting some idea of what it was like for Shackleton and Worsley and Crean to do that crossing, with 28 lives depending on their success or failure, 100 years ago,'' he said.
The former Waitaki Boys' High School pupil grew up in Moeraki, which offered him an ''adventurous'' upbringing.
''All my early work was on the fishing boats here and that was probably the seed for a fairly adventurous life.''
After graduating from the University of Otago with a masters in marine science, a ''fascination for cold places'' and a passion for climbing and skiing led him to the Arctic.
He also spent about two years working and travelling in Norway and Europe before returning to New Zealand last year.
Looking for a career change, he started looking for opportunities to suit his ''adventurous spirit'' and stumbled across an advertisement for the Inspiring Explorers Expedition 2015.
His plan was to involve small-town, rural New Zealand children in sharing his experiences.
''The logical choice for me was the three schools I went to - Hampden School, East Otago High School and Waitaki Boys' High School.''
Mr MacTavish has already visited the schools and spoken to the pupils about the original crossing 100 years ago, as well as the expedition he will be embarking on.
When he returns, he will visit each school again to share his experiences.
The school pupils will follow the progress of the expedition by reading updates posted on the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust's social media sites.
