The Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania - Letters to the Editor - November 28

Dear Editor;

We are writing to complain about the polar bears being moved to Antarctica. This is not a good idea because they will eat all the penguins since they are meat eaters. They are the smartest hunters in the world and they are the biggest meat eaters in the world. The polar bears will not like the six month cold period. They will not like the icy cold winds blowing on them. In Antarctica it can get as cold as -129F. It will be way too cold for the polar bears. Also, polar bears will die from eating penguins because they have never eaten them before. They could spread disease in Antarctica. Please stop this project immediately. (name on file)

Kavik City News              December 1

Police Blotter

Locals report unusual activity. It appears that strangers have been scouting out polar bear dens. Reports of suspicious persons asking questions of villagers and buying provisions at the general store are surfacing. Sam Bowers mentioned that folks in yesterday were buying up all his vegetable oil. He overheard them talking about global warming and polar bears becoming extinct. He thought they said they were from a place called Kyoto Protocol.

Freeze! Fact Number One

Polar bears in Alaska are facing a serious threat because of the retreating sea ice. Polar bears use the ice to hunt seals, their main prey. Their favorite food is the ringed seal. In 2007, there was a major loss of sea ice. 2008 was a close second. Polar bears have to ride the ice too far North or stay on land where they would need to out compete grizzly bears. Some scientists predict that polar bears will be gone from Alaska by 2050 or sooner. Alaskan polar bears are now endangered.

Freeze! Fact Number Two

Sam thought Kyoto Protocol was a place down south. Fortunately, as word spread through the village, his nephew’s son, Issac, overheard the elders. Issac’s fourth grade class at Kavik Elementary School had just been reading about polar bears and global warming in their Scholastic News. He told them that the Kyoto Protocol was an agreement by many countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in an attempt to reduce global warming. Global warming is affecting the ice that the polar bears depend on.

Kavik City News            December 2

POLAR BEAR CUB MISSING

Foul play suspected. In a possible case of bear napping, a young male polar bear was reported missing by two Fish and Wildlife biologists, Ken White and Barry McNabb, during a routine check on the general health of the mother.

With no predators in the area and no disturbance noted at the den site, the cub was apparently abducted from the den 20 miles from Kavik.

Villagers are mystified. “We respect the Nanook. None of our people would take a cub from the den,” said elder Peter Tokpok. With the whiteout conditions and fierce wind, tracks may have been covered quickly. Villagers set out on snowmachines to check out the den as word spread quickly through the village.

Officers White and McNabb will be interviewing locals for possible leads. Alerts are being issued.

Freeze! Fact Number Three

Polar bears are born in snow dens in November or December and they stay in the den where their mother feeds them until March or April. Then they stay with their mother to learn how to hunt until they are 2 to 3 years old. There are usually two cubs in a litter but sometimes there are three. The female polar bear only has a litter of cubs every three years.

December 2
Investigative Crime Report
Alaska Wildlife Troopers
Report violations 1-800-978-0155

Our motto: Help curb unlawful fishing and hunting in Alaska - Promote fish and game protection

Troopers at 10:37 am received a report of a missing polar bear cub from a den 20 miles W of Kavik.  Investigation is ongoing.

The missing cub was from the Beaufort Sea bear stock. Wildlife troopers from Fairbanks received a report of the illegal polar bear abduction on December 1 and visited the village a few days later to investigate.

“We can’t tell for sure if this is the only cub missing,” said Lt. Ron Smith, commander. “We’re concerned about illegal hunting, killing, or capturing of any protected species. We ask that anybody with knowledge of this crime talk with us or call our 800 number to report any violations.”

“This kind of stuff will not be tolerated,” Kavik mayor Tom Ootuk told the Fairbanks News-Miner. “We still live a subsistence way of life and we need to make sure it’s protected. We were taught to respect our animals. We don’t like it when something like this happens.”

Freeze! Fact Number Four

The Beaufort Sea bear population is one of two in Alaska. The other stock, the Bering-Chukchi bears on the Northwest coast, are shared with Russia.

Kavik City News         December 4

LOCAL MUSHER  FINDS CLUE TO MISSING POLAR BEAR
Pete Waloo was checking his trapline yesterday afternoon when his dogs caught a strange scent. “They just started howling and pulling real hard toward a low rise in the distance,” Pete reported. He said they heard a low rumble and what looked like an alien spacecraft was hovering over them. “It was low light but I could see real good. This thing was like a semi with wings,” according to Waloo.

They mushed up over the rise and saw an area the size of the city basketball court where the snow had been trampled. Then Waloo said his lead dog, Akluk, got his nose down and started sniffing. Buried in the snow, Akluk uncovered a stained book “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi” that had a travel log tucked inside and a strange jar labeled Vegemite. Waloo turned both items over to the Troopers.

Lt. Smith asked the Kavik City News to reprint the travel log and requested that anyone with additional information about a group known as the QSTSC or their Alaskan associates contact the troopers at 800-978-0155. The log follows:

Arctic Mission Day 1
QSTSC … Right now we’re in Geelong preparing for a week-long trip. Leyton has loaded the water and food and Keenan checks the lines, plugs, power and fuel. The fire extinguisher is charged and our computers are ready to send messages if something should go wrong. We have made space to fit the polar bears in the vehicle. It’s time to take off!

Rocky flicks the switches to start the jets and the truck goes forward and begins speeding up. We get up to 1,000 km/hr and suddenly we’re in the air. We fly North trying to stay in the smooth jet stream but the trip is bumpy. Playing “Bop It” helps pass the time on this long trip. The views are spectacular from the jet truck. Leyton tells us to look out the window and we see really cool yellow shooting stars. We speed through blizzards but then Rocky calls out that the sun has gone down and we’re running low on fuel. Since we have biodiesel power as well as the solar cells, we’ll have to land and refuel. We land in Paris and wait for the sun while fueling up. We have just enough time to visit the Eiffel tower before leaving again.

Arctic Mission Day 2
We’re coming in to land on the ice. We come down smoothly and safely and are lucky enough to see our very first polar bear. (INSERT picture z_1 – polar bears on ice) Tia, Zara, Myah, Keenan, and Leyton are hopping out of the jet when they hear cracking. The ice is breaking and we are falling through! The truck is too heavy!

But we’re saved when a bowhead whale flicks us back onto the ice with his strong head. We give him some of our krill. He likes it and stays close by.

Freeze! Fact – bowhead whales

We set up camp and set off for the nearest village to get more biofuel for the jet-truck. We find a village called Kavik and talk with Sam at the local store where we buy all the vegetable oil for reserve fuel on the trip to Antarctica.

Arctic Mission Day 3
We spot our second polar bear! It’s walking on the ice floes. “How do we catch a polar bear?” Leyton wonders. Myah suggests a gigantic net that shoots out of a gun we’ve used to catch albatross. Keenan thinks it might be time to ask Alaskan kids for help. We drive carefully across the ice and head south to find our friends. Then we hear a huge crack, crack, crack and look up to see a big chunk of ice break off becoming a new iceberg. Luckily we’re up to take-off speed and the truck transforms into a jet as we lift into the air.

Arctic Mission Day 4
We’re back at our base camp with our Fairbanks friends. Luckily our bowhead whale is still friendly and helping hold the jet truck up. But then it starts to swim away! “Where’s it going?” cried Myah. As we looked closer, we noticed it was swimming to the thicker ice. When it arrived at the thick ice, it swam all the way back to us and looked as though it was asking us to drive onto its back so we did. It was great fun. When we arrived, we thanked the whale and set off to capture some polar bears.

Arctic Mission Day 5
Well this is harder than we thought. Everything just seemed to go wrong when Tia was in charge of the net. Luckily our Fairbanks friends were along because when they took over, we captured our first polar bear! It was a cub so we practiced on a smaller bear and got pretty good at it. Then we put the bears on the lift one at a time and fit as many as we could in the jet. But we realized it was going to be too heavy to take off!

“What are we going to do?” asked Leyton. “We’ll have to leave some of you here and come back for you later,” explained Rocky. So we did as we were told and stepped off the plane. As we watched the plane take off, we wondered how long we would be waiting for it to come back.

Chapter 2: Antarctica

Thursday, December 11
South Pole Station, Antarctica

I was chosen as a teacher representative to explore the Southern oceans and the sea ice around Antarctica on the Oden icebreaker. While this has been an amazing  trip, this post is not about my adventures but rather about a mysterious journal found on board.

First, you need to know about life aboard the ice breaker. We operate 24 hours a day so there are day shifts and night shifts and shifts can be shifted. It gets hectic. People are working and sleeping at all hours. On this cold, but slightly warm afternoon, our ship was on auto pilot while we were watching the seals, orcas, and whales. Our auto pilot went off and we heard a noise going “BEEP” in the control room. Under the “auto pilot on” button was a flashing red light. Immediately we knew that something was wrong. The captain took the wheel and turned just in time because we didn’t know that an iceberg was in front of us. We thought everything was good and we went back outside but before we could even continue watching the sealife, the ship lurched violently sideways and we stumbled into each other and looked up feeling confused and puzzled. The silence was broken when someone called from the cabin, “We’ve crashed!” Everyone instantly started to panic. Then the captain shouted, “Everybody settle down. We can evacuate the ship on the life boats and build our base here to study the Antarctic. We can take our supplies from the ship and make a base. Is that clear?” “YESSIR!” The crew sounded the alarm and we hurridly began to pack supplies. It was while leaving that I discovered something unusual. I didn’t have a moment to investigate then but once off the ship, I began to read a curious journal found tucked under the seat in the lifeboat…

Freeze! Fact Number Five

Mrs. Wright’s class invited to “Send Your Class to the Ends of the Earth!”

Jeff Peneston, a PolarTREC teacher, is working with scientists on board the Swedish icebreaker Oden. We did a flag exchange. Jeff mailed us one of his official expedition flags and we designed a Woodriver flag that he took with him to fly over McMurdo Base in Antarctica.

We visit the web site and his PolarTREC journal at: http://www.polartrec.com/oden-antarctica-expedition-08/journals/jeff-peneston.

Personal Journal of Peyton (found at 2400 hours during ship evacuation)

November 28

Tonight we’re going to try to sneak into Sea World to see the Adelie penguins, they’re so cute! April thinks we’ll get caught, but she’s just a scaredy cat. I think we’ll go ’cause Ryan, Amy, and I all want to go. Finally we can get out of the orphanage. The guard never goes to sleep but he ate three helpings of Thanksgiving dinner. We really, really, really want to go to Sea World and see the penguins.

Freeze! Fact Number Six

Adelie penguins breed only in Antarctica. They are only kept captive in a few places like the Sea World parks. Adelie penguins make nests out of small stones. They can dive up to 500 feet! but they prefer to dive shallower to catch prey. They eat krill and small fish.

I can’t write anymore tonight because we’re all pretty sleepy. We’re going to camp out with the penguins tonight!

November 30 - morning

You aren’t going to believe what happened. April said she saw the sign but did she tell us? No! So, anyway, we rushed to hide in with the penguins when the guard came. If April had told us about the sign, instead of acting like a crybaby, we might not be HERE. I guess hiding with the penguins wasn’t the smartest move ’cause the sign said, “PENGUINS BEING SHIPPED TO ANTARCTICA ON 11/29.”

We woke up this morning and we didn’t know where we were! We remembered deciding to stay in with the penguins for the night ’cause we were all so sleepy. That’s when April told us about the sign. Now we’re in a place that looks like a research station…Byrd Research Station, also called B.R.S. It’s a little cramped in this crate with the penguins.

“Well I guess we should find a better hiding place,” Amy said, as she got up and stretched. She pulled on a parka left by the door and told us to wait with the penguins until she got back. April’s still sound asleep so I’m going to explore this B.R.S. place.

Hi, I’m Ryan. Peyton left her journal lying here so I’d better explain. Here’s the situation: I’m the only boy. I have three (yep, three) sisters. We’re quadruplets, born on the same day, March 15. We’re orphans and we had this plan to run away and hide in the zoo. That’s our usual place. Only something went way wrong and we went a lot farther than we planned. We’re writing our story so if you find it, you can help us. We know it was wrong to run away but really it wasn’t our fault. We just really liked visiting the zoo.  We especially liked the penguins. But we fell asleep and when we woke up we felt like we were being lifted into the air. When April found out, she fell over in a dead faint. The penguins started walking on her and honking with fear. We felt like we were losing our stomachs but we were landing and the door on the aircraft swung open to reveal an endless land of white.

Oops, Peyton found me with her journal and started screeching and woke up April. Anyway, Amy just came back and she found a cave! We’re off to explore.

Freeze! Fact Number Seven

Ice caves

We had to slide on our bellies to get into the cave! It was like a giant ice slide. Then we noticed that we had visitors. Four penguins followed us. They didn’t have any trouble getting into the cave because they sort of toboggan on their bellies to move on land. Ryan named his penguin Sam, mine is Misty and April and Amy named theirs Rachel and Dave. Now that we have a place to stay, we’re getting hungry. Actually, we’re STARVING. I’ll write more later.

Freeze! Fact Number Eight

Fish: Kinds of fish in Antarctica are Antarctic cod, ice fish, crocodile fish, dragon fish, robberfish, rat tailed fish, hagfish, skates, and Antarctic toothfish. The mackerel icefish eats krill. The yellow rock-cod is common close to shore.

November 30 - evening

Sometimes April has good ideas. She said we could use her knitting yarn and needles for fishing poles and line. April takes her knitting everywhere. Sam and Misty and Rachel and Dave tried to help catch fish but we were afraid they might get eaten so we made them get out of the water. They jumped so high to get out you’d have thought they were being chased by a leopard seal or an orca.

Freeze! Fact Number Nine

Leopard seals eat penguins, fish, squid and krill. Did you know that they are the only seals in the Antarctic that eat other seals? Leopard seals catch penguins by their feet and then beat them back and forth on the surface of the water to skin them. Then they eat the carcass.

We didn’t want that to happen to Sam and Misty and Rachel and Dave. Luckily, we caught enough fish for ourselves and our penguins. Since April had her sewing scissors in her knitting bag, we could cut them up. Raw fish wasn’t so bad if we just thought, sushi, sushi, sushi… Maybe tomorrow we’ll find a way to get home.

December 1

You won’t believe what happened last night. April said she thought she heard something in the night but she’s always hearing spooky sounds. We were all snuggled together in the cave when “Whoosh” another visitor came down the chute.

Dave and Rachel and Misty and Sam started flapping their flippers at this new arrival. We’d never seen one except in a zoo. Last March for our birthday we got to go to the San Diego Zoo. It was a POLAR BEAR! What was a polar bear doing in Antarctica? He was even farther from home than we were! It didn’t seem like a good idea to stay around and get friendly. DRMS (penguins) were UPSET. April moved faster than I’ve ever seen her move getting out of that cave. Luckily, being smaller than the polar bear, we could fit back out easily leaving him behind.

Hi. This is Amy. Peyton said I should write about this part because I was the one that discovered the ship. I was playing with Dave when Peyton threw a snowball and hit me in the shoulder, SPLAT. I stepped back and tripped. I looked at the sky (trying not to get snow in my eyes) ’cause it was coming down fairly hard. Then Peyton, Ryan and April ran to help me up. They were silent staring at something in the snow. I saw that I’d backed into …..an abandoned boat! It looked like it was stuck in the ice floes.

Freeze! Fact

Shackleton was a famous explorer. His ship, the Endurance, became trapped in the ice and they camped on ice floes for months.

We could just make out the name in the blinding snow. It was called the Odin. I had to stand on Dave’s shoulders then I helped the others scramble on board. We went in all directions searching the ship.

Memo:

December 12

To: Department of Fish and Wildlife, Federal Building, Fairbanks, Alaska

From: State Department of Fish and Game,  Fairbanks, Alaska

Ed:

We got your mail again. Sending it on. Roger

To The Department of Fishing and Wild Game,
We are writing to obtain a permit of approval to move Polar Bears from the Arctic to the Antarctic. We are doing this because of the occurrence of global warming. Scientists have used ice-cores as proof that the arctic is slowly melting.

Because of global warming earth has heated to 1°F higher.  The Arctic Ocean is warming and obviously this is endangering all of the animals especially the Polar Bear whose main habitat is the arctic sea ice. Autumn air temperatures in the arctic are at a record of 5˚C above normal and we believe that within the next two years polar bears will be extinct.

As world leaders work on the Kyoto protocol and agreements to cut down CO2 emissions and hopefully reverse global warming our research shows results from these and other initiatives will be too late for the bears.

We are planning to build a polar bear reserve on Mill Island which is located between Casey and Davis in Australian Territory in East Antarctica.

This will be a good location because it has areas of sea ice which are perfect for hunting seals. The polar bear is the largest meat- eating hunter walking the earth today and it’s main source of high fat diet is the blubber of seals.

In preparation for the polar bears arrival we have already developed a breeding farm for seals and to feed them we also have farmed fish and krill.
The food chain we hope to recreate is:
Krill – fish – seals – polar bears

Our classroom which will become the command centre, research base and vehicle for relocation of polar bears is in the trailer of a mack truck. We can fit 30 students at desks and we have 9 laptop computers set up in our wireless network with a satellite internet connection. We have our own kitchen, toilet and shower and we can store large amounts of equipment to travel with.

To get our trucks ready for the trip to the arctic we have put on tyre chains to grip the ice, jets for thrust and wings. Wires go to the truck to control it, solar panels power the jet engines while vegetable oil is used to power the diesel truck engine. The windscreen and windows have double sheets of glass for strength.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Carrington, Professor Dekoda, Professor Lane & Professor Millacent
Queensland School for Travelling Show Children.

Alaska State Troopers Press Release of Saturday, December 13

DISCLAIMER – Any Charges Reported in these Press Releases are Merely Accusations and the Defendants are Presumed Innocent Unless and Until Proven Guilty.

Location: Kavik

Case number: 08-72943

Type: Wildlife Capture and Transport across State Lines

Text: On 12-1 at 1037 hours the Alaska State Troopers were notified of possible wildlife violation

Troopers responded and interviewed villagers

Investigation revealed polar bear was airlifted to the Antarctic

Author: K.W. Class
Received and posted Saturday, December 13

Alaska State Wildlife Troopers have identified four suspects in what they are calling a case of misguided effort to save polar bears from extinction.

Appendix: Letters from the Authors

Dear Gemma, my dog,
I have just gotten off the truck plane and I am here in the Arctic! On the way here we ran out of fuel so we had to stop in Paris. Just as we were about to land I saw some polar bear cubs with their mum. Everyone was really excited. I better go. I have to help set up the observation post. Bye. Yours thankfully, Zara

Dear Pop,
We are at the Arctic Circle. It is freezing over here We have seen polar bears and some seals. I lost my phone and I had fun. From, Leyton

Dear Mom and Dad,
I miss you. It’s really cold. I saw a polar bear with my friends and I almost fell through the ice but I’m fine and I’m having lots of fun. I hope to see you soon.
From your son, Dylan

Dear Maddix,
How are you? Did you get any new toys? Guess what I saw today? I saw a big polar bear smash the ice to try and catch the seal. It was scary. How is your sister? Does she still love the colour pink? I heard that you’re going to Disneyland. That will be fun. I wish I was going with you. Hope you have fun. From, Madison

Dear Mum,
Hi Mum. How is it going there? We are in the Arctic It was so cold here today. We all had the day off so we went for a little walk. I saw so much like when I spotted the polar bear smashing the ice to catch the seal. And we all spotted walruses on the ice. How is dad? Everybody is fine here. We are having a big day here tomorrow and I have to wake up really early. I will write to you soon. Yours sincerely, Tia

Hi Mom,
How are you doing? It is so cold in the Arctic. We caught our first polar bear today. See you in a few weeks. I love you! Riley

Dear Dad,
Hello Dad. How are you? I’m OK. I have been working so hard. We saw a family of polar bears today and we caught them all successfully. It was hard work but we did it. My highlight of the day was watching the Aurora lights. It was beautiful! How is everybody going there? We are all great here. Good luck with the show tomorrow. Yours truly, Tia

Dear Connor,
How are you bro? I am sick and have frostbite. I am coming home tomorrow to see a doctor. I hope they don’t have to cut my finger off. I never want to come back here again. Yours truly, Keenan

Dear Mum and Dad,
How are you? I am great. At the moment we are in the Arctic. It is freezing here. We are so excited because today we caught our very first polar bear. But as I was climbing into the truck my favourite book fell out of my bag. Remember the one you both gave me for Christmas? “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi” Anyways, today we are flying over to Antarctica to set the polar bears free. Wish me luck! Yours sincerely, Tia

Dear Dempsey,
Hi bro. How are you? I’m fantastic. Today we have landed safely in the freezing Antarctica. When we parked the truck, we had a bit of fun in the snow. Tonight I have to cook dinner. I hope it turns out all right. All the polar bears got out of the truck safely and are fitting in well. I’m so excited about coming home tomorrow. Hopefully, I will see you this week. Yours sincerely, Tia

Dear Mum and Dad,
I am in the Antarctic releasing the polar bears. It is freezing cold. We are having a snow fight. Today at breakfast we couldn’t find the vegemite. I think it may have been lost in the snow while we were having our snow fight yesterday. I’m not coming home until next week. From, Keenan

Dear Travis,
Right now I’m writing from Antarctica. We just released a polar bear. We also just finished eating dinner. Some Australian kids came and they said we could help release some polar bears in Antarctica. That’s why we’re down here.
Your sister, Piper
PS I really miss you guys. I’ll probably be back in about a week or so.

Dear Connor,
We are having fun here in Antarctica. If I get home and you have broken my Ripstick I am going to take your new computer. The polar bears have been hunting seals and are getting very healthy. A polar bear bit my finger off. Our doctor stitched it up but it sure did hurt and it feels weird. It is hard to hold things and eating is a bit tricky. The doctor said it will feel normal in a couple of months. We still have work to do but I will write again soon. Yours sincerely, Keenan

Dear Mom,
It is not so good here but the plane was not as bumpy as I thought. The next day, I got frostbite but it’s gone now. I still get it once in a while. Oh, yeah, when I first got out of the plane, I almost froze. I’m writing in a cave. I wonder if Antarctica is colder than the Arctic. On the plane I made a few friends.
Love, Jewelynn

Dear Nana,
Hi Nan. How are you? I’m not so great. I have been sick for about three days and I am still not better. They think I will have to get the royal flying doctor service to come. I am a little bit scared. Hopefully, I will be all right. Most of the kids have been sick but I’m not quite sure why. Well I have to go now. Yours sincerely, Tia

Hey Dad,
I’m in the Antarctic right now. It’s freezing cold down here but luckily we were able to find a small flare in a friend’s pocket in case he got lost and wanted to show somebody where he was. But, anyways, we took it to make a fire with some other stuff we had until the heater would start working on the truck. We are also fishing through a hole. We have a big one coming.
Write to you later, Jules

Dear Mum and Dad,
I am in Antarctica. How are you doing back at Geelong Show? I am feeling sick today. Last week the rocket blew up. Some stuff was left over. We called for help and a helicopter is on its way. Yours truly, Leyton

Hi Bab,
I got chased by a polar bear when we were in the Arctic. I did not know that I was his food. I started to slide and glide and he stopped chasing me. Then in Antarctica, I sat on a leopard seal ‘cause I thought it was a rock. He went wild and tossed me off and broke the ice. I’m having fun. Scott

Dear Ash,
How are you? I am fine and warm inside our truck in Antarctica. Last night I saw krill frozen in the ice. I lost your toy bear Bubba on the walk. I went swimming to get the box of food that fell in. I had to wear a thick rubber wetsuit. I had to be on watch for seals. I really enjoyed seeing the penguins. Yours truly, Myah

Dear Mama,
I am feeling good. How are you? Today earlier, I saw Adele penguins. They are so cute! How is my brother doing? I am having lots of fun. It is so much colder than I thought. I went to a place where there are scitics. My, my, my! I always have to wear my iciest sweater. Why didn’t you pack my softest sweater? It is OK. I hope I don’t get sick. I hope to be home in a week or two. I miss you! Love, Annemarie

Dear Miley,
I hope you’re having fun back in Australia. I saw 2 polar bear cubs and one fell in its den. It was so funny. I hope I get to bring you with me sometime. Yours truly, Myah

Dear Mom and Dad,
I am having fun and I think I passed out once but I’m OK. We got to see a baby polar bear. A big bear snuck up on us from behind and I think that was when I passed out I also got to see a polar bear kill a seal. It was disgusting. Well, the inside at least. We took a walk and lost my tooth. It fell in the snow somewhere.
Love, Ben

Hello Mom & Dad,
I am in Antarctica. I am almost done with this mission. It is super hard trying to help some kids who came here. So we just finished for the night. When I go outside it is super cold. Every time I see some penguins they always come to me and just stare at me.

Dear Nalani,
This is boring. I am having not one bit of fun because I lost my bag and I can’t go anywhere or do any thing like play with my friends. Yours truly, Tanah

Dear Cole,
I’m in Antarctica. It’s freezing but I found an ice cave and started to dig a hole. While I was digging, I noticed different forms of ice and I found a small meteorite! Then I decided to mine meteorites. I set up bridges and zip lines to get around the cave Well got to go. I think I see a meteorite!
Tane

Dear Nan,
How are you? I am having fun in Antarctica. It’s freezing but warm in the Truck. At night the Aurora comes out and is so pretty. I had to clean the toilets. It was gross. Then when I finished I went to take a photo of penguins. Then I went back to the base to have lunch and saw krill, fish and leopard seals. The snow is so soft. I just have to be careful of the seals. When we got in the jet Truck we played some games then I lost my bag made out of Australian snake skin. I am having fun. Yours sincerely, Tanah

Hi Dude,
Today I went ice fishing at the Antarctic. I caught a fish that was so strong it pulled me in and the fish was a leopard seal. It bit my hand and I now have a fake hand. I lost my cell phone too.
Tanner

Dear Brother Brody,
I am just on my way back to the tent after releasing the polar bears. It was twenty five below zero today which is pretty normal. When I was releasing one of the polar bears, I think my kangaroo leather wallet might have fallen out of my backpack and was left behind. It had all my money. But I shouldn’t be worrying you with my problems. I have had heaps of fun helping the polar bears and I can’t wait to see you next week. Yours truly, Zara

Dear Nan,
We are on our way home. We successfully released all of the polar bears. When they walked out of their crate they jumped straight into the water and caught some fish. It has been a very cold summer but I still enjoyed it. On one mission when we were seeing if the temperature in Antarctica was suitable for polar bears, a huge albatross flew over my head. It was the biggest bird I have ever seen. When I was packing my gags, I realized that my pure Australian honey was missing. I think I might have left it in the polar bear’s crate that they were flown over in. But I guess with some things you just have to keep moving on. See you tomorrow. Yours faithfully, Zara

Dear Pop,
Hello Pop. I am currently in Antarctica. We have just released all of the polar bears and are getting ready to come home. One polar bear is pregnant so we have to take extra special care of her. We think she is going to have twins. We released her in a place where she can happily build her den. I can’t wait to come home. I am really missing all of you. I will see you on Friday. Yours truly, Zara

Talina,
The pregnant polar bear just had cubs! One tried to get away but when we got it back, another one was gone! We tried searching for it but we had no luck. We came back empty-handed. At least the other cubs were safe though. Soon it was time to pack up to go back to the Arctic to bring more polar bears.
Louis at Antarctica

Queensland School of Travelling showchildren images