KEY POINTS:
Claire Harvey interviews Sir Edmund Hillary, Christchurch, 17 January 2007, on the eve of what may be his last journey to Antarctica.
CH: As we prepare to go back to Antarctica, have you been reflecting on that 1957 journey?
EH: "I'm looking forward very much to going back and seeing the vast improvements that have taken place at Scott Base, although I went back 2 years ago, and our original hut was still there, and I think it's going to remain there, but I just enjoy the beauty of the area, the mountains across McMurdo Sound. It's really magnificent."
CH: What do you think of the changes that have taken place since the 1950s?
EH: "It's become much more sophisticated. All sorts of scientific work has been carried out. It's not the rather simple little bundle of shacks that we had, but, you know, we were very comfortable. I never heard any of our 23 people who wintered-over, I never once heard them complain about discomfort. We had a good time and we had good weather but now it's all exploded really, it's a great place, but a lot has been done since we were down there two years ago."
CH: I get the impression it is Shackleton, rather than any of the other great Antarctic adventurers, with whom you identify the most. Is that right?
EH: "Shackleton was undoubtedly my heroic figure. I don't quite know entirely why, except that in a little way I felt I had attitudes which were very similar to Shackleton's, whereas scott's more formal approach to his expedition was very different. They went through enormous hardship, though - and of course now we come down here and we're equipped with fancy equipment and we're flying down to McMurdo Sound in this colossal great plane. I think one has to have considerable respect for what they underwent. Helicopters and all these modern advancements made a great difference."
CH: The changes to the world's environment are having an enormous impact on the polar regions, and particularly Antarctica - does it worry you?
EH:"Oh yes. The changes are being felt - I think some of the seal breeding areas, in particular the pups, are being affected by human beings being there, but in general it's still a great place to go to. Have you been? No? Well, it's spectacularly beautiful."
CH: YOu've been back to Antarctica many times; what will make this journey special for you?
EH: I think the programme that the Government is following is a very luxurious one but it means that we've got a base that's up to the best standard of bases in the Antarctic. It's a great base. It's something that New Zealanders can be proud of.
CH: One of the reasons for your 1957 expedition was to encourage New Zealand and its people to take more of an active interest in its Antarctic territories - has New Zealand lived up to your hopes?
EH: It's more than lived up to my expectations. We didn't think about things like that when we were building the base, we just thought about getting stuck in, building the buildings and getting all the stores comfortably away. I don't think too many people spent much time even thinking of home, to be honest. They concentrated on the job they had at hand."
