Dunedin Botanic Garden Collection Curator, Kate Caldwell is off to explore the native flora and fauna of wildlife reserves in the Sub-Antarctic Islands after winning an Enderby Trust Scholarship.

Ms Caldwell was awarded the Enderby Trust Scholarship to travel to the UNESCO World Heritage Site after demonstrating her commitment to conservation and ecology through her work at the Garden and for the Department of Conservation (DOC).

Ms Caldwell undertook an apprenticeship with the Botanic Garden before taking up the Collection Curator role and has also volunteered and worked for DOC in pest eradication as well as native plant monitoring and restoration.

Going to the Sub-Antarctic Islands will feed into Ms Caldwells work with native plants at the Garden giving her further insight into New Zealand native flora.

"The Sub-Antarctic Islands are a mecca in New Zealand for plant people" says Ms Caldwell "This trip will really broaden my understanding of New Zealand flora as offshore the plants are unique due to their adaptations to each islands environment."

The expedition she will join, Forgotten Islands of the South Pacific will leave from Bluff on 4 January 2015 and return on 11 January. During the journey Ms Caldwell will visit the pristine Snares Island, observing the seabird burrowed landmass from a boat from which she may see endemic Snares Crested Penguins, Fernbirds and Tomtits, dramatic coastline and tree daisy forests. She will then go ashore on the flora rich Auckland Islands and Campbell Island.

Ms Caldwell says it is a privilege to be chosen to go on the expedition and to experience such untouched, remote and wild places.

"I am drawn to places that belong to nature. Places that teem with life, evoking primeval Aotearoa. Places whose rhythms are not, like almost everywhere else on earth, modified and moderated by humans," says Ms Caldwell. "I wouldnt have been able to do this without the support of the Trust who is committed to sending young people down to experience these special places."

Curator Team Leader, Alan Matchett says the trip is an incredible opportunity for Ms Caldwell on all counts and her colleagues at the Botanic Garden are excited for her.

"Kate already has a very good knowledge of our native flora and their habitats, but what she will encounter on the Sub-Antarctic Islands will mostly be new and result in an unforgettable adventure that will be enthusiastically shared on her return," he says.

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Exploring the Sub-Antarctic Islands