Ethan McCormick experienced what he describes as a “paradigm shift” during a memorable month-long trip to one of the world’s most stunning places.

The respected east Auckland conservation educator and politics student will be known to many locals through his work for Pest Free Howick Ward.

He frequently speaks in schools about conservation and the importance of preserving our precious natural environment.

McCormick, 22, successfully applied to take part in the recent True Young Explorer Scholarship trip to Antarctica run by Heritage Expeditions.

The trips are for people aged 18-30. They’re intended to create “ambassadors” who become inspired to help raise the profile of and protect the precious areas they visit, and the unique flora and fauna that inhabits them.

“They usually would go to the subantarctic, so the Auckland Islands, but for this trip they went down to the Ross Sea,” McCormick told the Times.

“The Ross Sea is very much untouched and as it was, so nothing has changed.

“It’s one of the very few places in the world you could say is pristine. It was an immense privilege to visit it.”

McCormick says the voyage was made on a tourist ship which he describes as a “big ice-strengthened boat kitted out with everything you’d ever want”.

“It’s just incredible. There were 15 of us on the ship and I was the youngest.

“We had such a great group, and they were very diverse in terms of their backgrounds, professions and lived experience.”

The journey began with McCormick flying from Auckland to Queenstown, then a van ride to Bluff at the bottom of the South Island.

He and his fellow adventurers then boarded the ship and headed for Antarctica.

“We went down through the subantarctic islands,” he says.

“We visited the Snares Islands, which is down below Stewart Island.

“An area of that has had no human settlement so it’s just as it was. We got there and it’s seabirds and penguins everywhere.

“The Snares crested penguin is found on those islands. That was amazing and I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.

“I’ve always wanted to visit there. It’s the sort of thing you’d see on a natural history documentary and it’s not until you’re there and see it with your own eyes that it becomes real.”

The voyage took in the Auckland Islands and then Macquarie Island.

“It’s one of those islands very few people have heard of but it’s incredible,” McCormick says of Macquarie Island.

“There were thousands of king penguins. They were just everywhere.

“We landed on the island and they walk right up to you. Each island has got something different going on.

“As soon as we crossed the convergence zone whales just started appearing everywhere.

“You’d be sitting in the dining room having a chat and look out the window and see whales surfacing. It was incredible.

“We saw the southern lights as we were going down there. There was a very small window to see that. It was so special.”

McCormick says the ship’s first attempt to land at Cape Adare on the northern tip of Antarctica was unsuccessful due to 80 knot winds.

“It’s a place of extremes. We made a dash down the iceshelf, hoping to get better weather, and we did.

“It was perfect weather all the way down across the iceshelf where you get to Ross Island.

“That’s where they’ve got the main bases for the area, so McMurdo Station and Scott Base.

“We were very lucky in that we went in and there was no sea ice around Scott Base, which is pretty much unheard of.

“We had whales coming right into the shore. We got to go to Scott Base and had a look at Hillary’s Hut.

“We had a look around Scott Base for the evening and spent the next few days around Ross Island.

“Shackleton’s and Scott’s Huts are on the island and we got to see them.”

Another memorable moment for McCormick was when he went swimming.

“We jumped off the boat. It was -1.6 degrees so it was like jump in and jump out and get as warm as you can.”

He says the trip was so incredible that it created a paradigm shift for him in terms of how he views the world.

“I think that when you see one of these pristine places, you’re taken aback. I haven’t been able to stop talking about it.

“It’s one of those places that’s really hard to capture in words. One of the lasting memories was seeing all those penguins on Macquarie Island.

“When we were at McMurdo Sound it was teeming with life.

“Cruising along the McMurdo iceshelf and around the Sound, we were seeing 60 to 70 orcas in an evening, travelling right alongside the boat and hunting along the iceshelf, or 15 minke whales in an evening.”

McCormick says he’s now thinking about what influence the trip will have on his future career plans.

“It’s something I’m going to have to work out. My plan is to do more post-graduate study, a master’s [degree] most likely.

“Something not specifically about Antarctica, but Antarctica will be a big part of it.

“I think the Southern Ocean, Southern Hemisphere and New Zealand are all areas connected in so many ways.

“Something around protecting what we’ve got in this part of the world.”

The main takeaway from the experience is that Antarctica is “incredibly vulnerable at this moment”.

“Throughout the Ross Sea, the effects of climate change are increasing in impact and scale.

“New Zealand may be a small country, but we occupy a unique position to effect change in this exceptionally special part of the world. What we do now will be pivotal.”