When I first approached Keith Meverden and Tamara Thomsen, maritime archaeologists with the Wisconsin Historical Society, about coming to dive with them in October two things must have gone through their minds. Firstly, why does someone want to come all the way from New Zealand to dive with them in the Great Lakes especially in […]

After an overnight train from the moors of Scotland all the way down to Fort Cumberland in Portsmouth I met up with Mark Beattie-Edwards and Mary Harvey from the Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS). The Nautical Archaeology Society is a fantastic organisation which provides resources, training courses and publications for anyone interested in underwater archaeology from […]

The next stop on my grand tour of Europe was back to the UK where I spent the month travelling around and working with a number of different organisations involved in the management and protection of shipwrecks. My first hosts were the coastal and marine team at Wessex Archaeology, one of the largest archaeological practices […]

As the plane descended into Vilnius the capitol of Lithuania I caught my first glimpse of Eastern Europe complete with monolithic Soviet era apartment blocks and shiny post 1991 skyscrapers. I was in Lithuania to take part in the 10th year of excavations at Lake Luokesas the site of two submerged lake settlements which dated […]

On the 5th of June I arrived at Heathrow airport (somewhat worse for wear) after a 22 hour flight from Sydney via Dubai. This was the start of the European leg of my scholarship and after 5 hectic days of catching up with friends and seeing the sights in London I was winging my way […]