Wow! Dan was just here with us at Questacon, involved in an online chat with a whole class of Year 6 students from a State School in Brisbane, Queensland.
The class was the same one that was asking questions via comments on the blog, and Monica, their teacher arranged the chat for now, while Dan is back in Canberra.
We're really keen to hear back from the school about what the kids thought of the opportunity, and what they talked about after the chat. Dan had sent Monica some photos to help move along the discussion. One of them is very funny!
We captured the chat - here it is!
Dan> Good morning.
Monica> Hi Dan, Sorry we're late. The kids were a vit late getting back from sport
Dan> We're all ready at this end now too.
Veronica> Hi Dan
Emma> Hi Dan
Dan> 'morning class. How was sport?
Brendon> hey dan
Veronica> It was fun!
Emma> Fun! We did highjump!
Kirsty> fun
Courtney> it was fun
Dan> wow, there's a lot of you in the room now. Who's got the first question?
Veronica> What did you study over in Antarctica?
Emma> How many year did you have to study until you could go to Antartica
Dan> I did my first trip to Antarctica after three years at university.
Dan> I did a project there, and wrote a report about it to finish the last year of my science degree.
Erin> how many trips have u done
Justin> hi Dan
Dan> I've studied a lot of different things on my trips to Antarctica, but always some sort of geology.
Dan> I've done nine summers as a scientist, and I've also been a few times working on tourist ships.
Brendon> Have you discovered any new species of anything?
Ellie> has it been a great experience
Dan> I don't think I've seen any new species. In Antarctica, there are lots and lots of animals, but not many different species.
Dan> It's always been a great experience. Even though I've been a lot of times, it's always exciting.
Courtney> what is the lowest temperiture youve had so far?
Justin> Have you seen whales
Monica-> 
Dan> I think the coldest was about -30°C. But the wind was also blowing then, so it felt a lot colder. We didn't work outside much; mostly we stayed in the tent.
Natalie> have you been to the Arctic before?
Shane> Have you had any frost bites
Dan> Yes, we usually see whales from the ship, on the way to and from Antarctica. Mostly Humpback and Minke whales, but sometimes also Fin whales, which are really big ones.
Dan> Yes, I also work in the arctic sometimes. I'll be going there in July and August this year.
Justin> wow
Dan> I'll go to Svalbard to work on a sailing ship, and to Greenland to do some science work. I'll be in a place called Narsarsuaq. Maybe you can find it on the map.
Shane> Is that really fashion over there
Tayla> hi
Dan> That picture is on the icebreaker, Aurora Australis, before we left Hobart.
Justin> what did you do when you were stuck in a tent.
Ellie> wow and hi dan
Dan> We had to practice using the lifeboats and survival suits, in case there was an accident.
Monica-> 
Dan> Luckily, that was the only time we had to do it!
Monica> More spectacular Dan fashion
Courtney> has there been an accident so far?
Damian> That it looks funny.
Erin> what has been the longest time you have spent in a tent?
Dan> This one is of King Neptune. On a ship, when you cross the equator, or the Antarctic Circle, he comes on board to initiate people who've never done it before.
Dan> Usually that means getting a bit dirty... kissing a fish, and having vegemite smeared on your face!
Dan> Luckily I have been before, so I didn't have to do it this time.
Tayla> how long did it take to travel from antarctica to australia ?
Taryn> hi
Damian> Did the fish turn into a prince
Sean> are you looking fored to the artic
Dan> This time, it took 12 days to get there. But it took more than three weeks to get back, because we visited two other stations on the way.
Dan> The fish didn't turn in to a prince... maybe because we didn't have a princess on board to kiss it!
Dan> Am I looking forward to the arctic? YES! I love travelling to wild places. And I've never been to Greenland before, so that will be all new and exciting.
Vanessa> i would just love to go to the places that you go to
Sean> iwould love to go to antartica
Dan> Well, there are a lot of ways to get there. You can work there, as a scientist or a mechanic, or a chef, or almost anything.
Damian> have you seen a polar bear in the wild before
Dan> If you decide that you want to go, I'm sure you will think of a way to do it.
Vanessa> my mum would just love to here about all of this i will tell her straight after scholl
Monica-> 
Dan> Yes, in the arctic we often see bears. It's best to see them from the ship, because that's safer. But I carry a gun when we go walking on land, just in case. I've never had to use it yet.
Matthew> do u like goin to cold laces or warm places?
Taryn> i would love to go to antarctic and see the animals
Cody> hi dan how it gowing
Gemma> What birds do you see in the Antarctic.
Michael> hi Dan
Sean> i like playing in the snow
Dan> I like wild places, hot and cold. Ihave also worked in Papua New Guinea... also wonderful!
Monica> I've just shown them the photos of the camp toilet Dan.
(is that an Antarctic long-drop? Geoff)
Sean> was png a great place?
Dan> Where did you play in the snow, Sean? I wasn't sure how many of you Queensland kids would have seen it before.
Emily> is it cold to sit on the toilet
Christen> when you are going to the toilet has anyone ever seen you?
Sean> in new zealand and tasmania
Vanessa> it must be weird, how did it fell going in that thing or did you get the hang of it
Tayla>
Dan> Yes, it's cold to go to the toilet! So you don't waste any time there.
Dan> There's usually not any people to see you, but once I had ten penguins standing watching me!
Christen> I saw the snow in new zealand
Monica-> 
Vanessa> how funny
Gemma> Hey Dan, have you ever been to Alaska? It's awsome!
Maddisyn> Hey Dan
Tayla> what do you do in ur own time
Emily R.> I been to the snow in NZ and I went skiing
Matthew> :}whats with the mr potatohead?
Michael> how was xmas
Dan> This was our Christmas tree. There were just five of us in a little hut, 500 km from the nearest people.
Emily> how long do you stay in antartica
Aaron> what did you get for christmans
Josh N> what equiptment did you use?
Sean> wow
Vanessa> it doesn't look like a big one
Dan> I got some books, and some chocolate.
Cody> cool
Aaron> what where the books about
Maddisyn> COOL
Dan> This time I was away for about four months, with about three months in Antarctica.
Vanessa> i will read about antartica and maybe it will convince me to go
Dan> My longest trip was four and a half months, and my shortest just one month.
Cody> the news paper muster been good there
Aaron> do you like travelling in big ships?
Dan> We did get a newspaper every day from Australia, by email.
Dan> Only when we were at the base, of course! Not in the tent.
Gemma> How long do you plan to stay in the Arctic for?
Bronte> what do you plan on studying in the artic
Emily> whats the difference between the artic and antartic
Monica-> 
Dan> Small ships are better than big ships! I like working on sailing ships best - I'll put some pictures on the blog when I'm in the arctic.
Aaron> what do you do for fun up there?
Dan> I'll be working in Greenland for about three weeks. We'll be measuring sea-level change, which tells us how the glaciers on Greenland are changing.
Sean> bye dan got to go
Dan> Differences between artcic and antarctic: Antarctica is colder, and has penguins. The arctic has less land (more sea), and bears but no penguins. There are whales and seals at both poles.
Monica> Is that something to do with global warming?
Tayla> thanks for ur time, bye
Monica> Lunch bell has gone dan. We have to lunch
Gemma> Thanks for going online and chatting to us Dan.
Cody> thanks or your time bye
Emma> Thanks for your time is been great to have a chat!! Lunch Time gotta go!
Emily R.> thanks for coming and chatting to us, bye
Aaron> bye dan and thanks
Emily> thankyou for your time. bye!
Maddisyn> Thanks heeps Dan 4 all the information about your stay in antarctica
Dan> Well, it is related. But because I'm a geologist, I usually study changes that happened thousands of years ago. But that all helps us understand what the glaciers will do as the earth gets warmer.
Christen> thanks for all the time you've spent answering questions Dan,bye
Josh N> thanks for the time typeing to us all
Dan> It was fun talking to you!
Michael> thanks a lot dan it was cool.
James> thanks dan for your time
Dan> If you have more questions, you can still send them to the blog. I'll be writing more in the next few days.
Bronte> thak you dan for you time
Monica> Thanks so much Dan. They've all gone to lunch.
Dan> I'll try to also write the blog from the arctic, so keep watching it!
Dan> What a rush! that went very fast.
Monica> It's quite a task managing 30 kids on a chat at the same time. But they did enjoy it. The room was very noisy. Good noisy.
