South Georgia 2023

Twenty-two young New Zealanders travelled with the Trust to South Georgia in October 2023 for our ninth Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ as part of the Shackleton Centenary Year Expedition. 

To honour the centenary year of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s final expedition, the Quest, and the end of the heroic-era of Antarctic exploration, our Inspiring Explorers™ were joined by 59 Trust supporters from around the world. The group met in Punta Arenas, Chile before travelling to the Falkland Islands to embark their ship the Magellan Explorer. The voyage across the Scotia Sea to South Georgia took two and a half days, and once there, the team explored twelve different locations over seven days. This life-changing expedition connected the team with Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legacy, itself intrinsically linked to the remarkable island of South Georgia. By pushing themselves outside their comfort zone in many ways, the Inspiring Explorers™ took lessons from the explorer mindset Shackleton and his team embodied. 

During the expedition, the team worked on group outreach projects. As they complete their projects back in New Zealand, the Inspiring Explorers™ will be drawing on the connections they formed to South Georgia’s history and environment.

A team of four Inspiring Explorers™ were hoping to make a guided attempt of Mount Worsley, however poor weather made this impossible. Instead, a successful ascent of Mount Hodges was completed, under permit, in the mountain range behind Grytviken.