365 @ 54°30' South: 2015-08-02

Thursday, 6 August 2015

July 24: The Station cats...

Cats were first introduced to Macquarie Island by sealers, brought ashore to help protect food stores from rodents also introduced to the island by ships. No doubt they also quickly became companions to men living a harsh and lonely existence. With little food and being left to fend for themselves some strayed and soon became wild. Whilst cats were first mentioned as living on the island in 1820, it was likely that they were present before this. By 1912 feral cats were described as being numerous.

Sir Douglas Mawson himself in his address to the Australian Geographic Society in 1919 declared his opinion that the cats of the island were a menace to birdlife and should be exterminated.
In the 1970's it was estimated that there were 170 to 250 cats on the island killing 60,000 burrowing seabirds annually.

In 1996 the Commonwealth and Tasmania Governments funded a five year cat eradication program, which was declared a success in 2002, and the island remains cats free today.
A few pelts hang in Tasmanian Parks office on Station, a testament to the wily hunters that prevailed on the island for almost two centuries.
This station photo from 1980 hangs on the wall in the mess, and two station cats appear, clearly companions of expeditioners.
Oh what a joy it would be to have the company of a feline companion through the long winter. Alas the impact on wildlife here speaks for itself, and the eradication of cats from Macquarie Island has allowed many species regain a foothold in an ecological balance upset so long ago, with the first arrival of humans.
For a wonderful read on the life of a Ranger involved in the hunting of Feral Cats on Macquarie Island check out Feral Dilemma, by Michael Anderson, 2014.

The 1980 Macca Station crew, complete with pet cats. Photo: Jacque Comery

July 23: An aurora on a windy, cloudy night

An aurora appears....yah!
Oh, it is windy and cloudy and a bit rainy too...oh...
Internet doesn't work, not much else going on...ok...photo challenge!
Now for the challenge part.
Firstly the wind. It buffets and shakes the tripod so much that no attempt of shielding it with your body, hugging it, or hanging from it seems to steady things enough to get 13 seconds of shake free exposure time! (Well we do live in the Furious Fifties I guess). Not to mention that you almost get blown off the vantage points from which you want to shoot from (on this occasion the 'golf tee' half way up Wireless Hill).
It whips an endless spray of salt through the air, which coats your lens, gets into your camera, and all over your face, but also spreads a fine mist overhead which disperses the light in the shots, making everything a big green pile!
The clouds? Well that is obvious. They just get in the way. Although sometimes they do offer some nice contrast in the sky.
And then the moon turns up, flooding everything with light, including the sea mist, trying to steal the attention of the big green aurora lights.

The outcome? Many photos of auroras peeking behind clouds with wiggly stars in the sky that look like a plague of small white larvae, that have escaped into my camera lens!

On the upside though, a fun night was had just being in the great outdoors and making the best challenge of Macca's elements. And good company is always to be found in like minded souls also stumbling around in the dark, trying to avoid elephant seals, just trying to take a damn photo!

And here they are....

Aurora to the east. Photo: Jacque Comery

Moon to the west from Wireless Hill Golf Tee. Photo: Jacque Comery

Trying to make an appearance from behind the clouds. Photo: Jacque Comery

Big green pile! Photo: Jacque Comery

July 22: Wildlife tag

I found this flipper tag on the east beach of the Isthmus. These tags were used to tag the flippers of seals back when seals were still a subject of research on the island.
The Rangers are currently looking into tracing some information on the tag and its origin. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: It turns out that Orange 9583 belonged to a female elephant seal born in 1999 at 33 kg. She was weaned at a weight of 72kg. She survived to age 6.

Flipper tag. Photo: Jacque Comery

July 21: Heritage find on the beach

Another beach treasure hunt. This time rather than finding my own previous nights meal, I noticed a rusted artefact that had become uncovered after recent high seas on the east coast.
Many areas along this beach were used in the early sealing and penguin oil production days.
I reported the find to the Ranger in Charge, who collected the item and has added it to the store of heritage items that are being collected as they are uncovered and discovered on the island, to prevent them being lost to the sea.

Artefact on the beach. Photo: Jacque Comery

Artefact. Photo: Jacque Comery

July 20: Mysterious creature on the beach

Today I came across this mysterious creature on the beach. Perhaps some kind of strange invertebrate? I also got to thinking that it looked like a small Port Jackson Shark style of egg. Sea cucumber? Moulted mollusc?
After firing off about 20 shots in macro mode on the camera, feeling that I had sufficiently documented the creature for science, and adequately captured an artistic interpretation of the moment, I thought perhaps I would poke the creature and see what it felt like.
Then it dawned on me.
Oh yes! I recognise you!
This strange and rare sea creature of the sub-Antarctic is indeed a piece of pasta from last night, that has washed back up on the beach.....
ooohhhhhhkaaayyy then.....
Moving right along..... too hilarious not to share.

Mysterious sea creature otherwise known as Spiralis pastaiensis. Photo: Jacque Comery

Wednesday, 5 August 2015

July 19: Leaving Brother's Point, headed to Station

After a lovely last night, of listening to the wind whistle around the hut, I decided to make an early break for Station, to try and get up and over the plateau before mid morning winds were expected to build to around 40 kts (50 kts up on top).
I set off at around 0700hrs, in the very early dawn light and snow. The walk in flat light was pretty, and the snow got deeper as I walked, with some of the drifts getting up around mid-thigh depth at times. The fog closed on just as I got to the last part of my walk, making navigation a challenge, especially as most of the track markers were blown over! A fun surprise was finding penguin footprints up the track almost all the wat up to the plateau. How (and why) those little guys waddle all that way in snow up steep hills on their little short legs is a mystery to me.
A wonderful 3 day solo trip, exploring this beautiful and wild place.

The RAPS unit at sunrise, with The Nuggets in the rear. Photo: Jacque Comery

A snow flurry on the beach, as I am leaving the hut. Photo: Jacque Comery

Giant Petrel footprints in the snow. Photo: Jacque Comery

Sandy Bay Track looking back to Sandy Bay. Photo: Jacque Comery

Sandy Bay track looking up towards 4-Ways track junction. Photo: Jacque Comery

Snow drifts hiding the track markers. Photo: Jacque Comery

On the trail home. Photo: Jacque Comery

Tuesday, 4 August 2015

July 18: Another day at Brother's Point

Day two at Brother's. I awoke to a splendid day of sunshine and a snow covered beach. I seized the chance to explore down around the water line, catching glimpses of colour on the black pebbles.
By mid morning though, the cloud and snow rolled in and again I retreated to my spaceship to finish my book, cook some food, do my radio sched with VJM (Station), and had a nice sit by the light of my candle, just appreciating how wonderful it is to be able to sit in a hut, read, eat , sleep and daydream in the sub-Antarctic.

Sitting on the beach at Brother's. Photo: Jacque Comery

Lichen on the rocks. Photo: Jacque Comery

Shell on the beach. Photo: Jacque Comery

Critters. Photo: Jacque Comery

Snow covered beach, looking back to Sandy Bay to the north. Photo: Jacque Comery

Jac vs Giant Petrel. That is the footprint of a very big bird! Photo: Jacque Comery

Daydreaming in the hut at the end of the day. Photo: Jacque Comery

July 17: Trip to Brother's Point

I had planned to walk to Brother's Point Hut and rendezvous with Ranger Anna to assist her with Petrel burrow searches. Overnight snow falls buried many of the burrows, so Anna cancelled the hunt. I was happy to walk out to the hut anyway, and so began my three day Brother's Point Hut trip. My plan was read, eat, check out the beach for cool stuff, read, etc, walk on the beach... you get the picture.

Brother's Point Hut with Brothers Point in the background. Photo: Jacque Comery

This hut is one of two that were actually moved from their original location at the former research station on Heard Island, to Macquarie Island. (The other is at Waterfall Bay). Imagine living in a whole village of googies! How very Jetsons! The cold porch on the side has shelves for stores and is where we leave wet gear and boots. The green wooden box on the balcony is the fridge. ( It IS just a box, but Macca temperatures are usually pretty fridge like.

The googie or spaceship hut. Photo: Jacque Comery

I arrived at the hut in good time, and put on dry clothes, made a cuppa, and had a relax after my hike out. The water pipe to the hut was frozen so I scooped water out of the top of the tank to fill the kettle and get water for the night. It was so cold that ice was freezing on the jug between scoops!

Inside the hut. Photo: Jacque Comery

Cosy bed! Photo: Jacque Comery

View back up to the plateau. Photo: Jacque Comery

View from Brother's Point to the north. Photo: Jacque Comery

The googie window. Photo: Jacque Comery

Frozen jug. Photo: Jacque Comery

Scooping water from the hut tank. Photo: Jacque Comery

My cosy little spaceship hut was warm and toasty in no time, and after taking advantage of the short-lived sunshine I bunkered down to read for the whole afternoon.

The winds built throughout the day and by nightfall the hut was shaking on it's foundations. I wondered if I actually might experience flying in the space ship!