May 14: The front gate

Our station is surrounded by a wooden fence, complete with farm gate on the track to the Isthmus, designed to keep out the four tonne Beachmasters, the male elephant seals, which will arrive in spring.  For now it hangs open, as most of the seals on station are small enough to squeeze through the gaps anyway.
It is not that we don't want visitors, it is just that they lean up against the warm buildings......and four tonne is a lot of seal!

The Macquarie Island front gate. Photo: Jacque Comery

The map on the front gate. Photo: Jacque Comery

Elephant seal detail on the front gate. Photo: Jacque Comery

Fur seal detail on the front gate. Photo: Jacque Comery

May 13: Plumbers workshop

Doors and windows are a favourite subject of mine, and the light on the workshop today caught my attention.


Macquarie Island Plumbers Workshop. Photo: Jacque Comery

May 12: Cheeky visitor returns

With brisk winds blasting station today, this cheeky fur seal decided to take shelter amongst our buildings.

Fur seal sleeping on the doormat of the Sparky's workshop. Photo: Jacque Comery

Fur seal in the tussock. Photo: Jacque Comery

Guarding the entrance to the Hass House accommodation block. Photo: Jacque Comery

Back to sleep. Photo: Jacque Comery

May 11: Yep! This is my home...

Jac and the aurora at Garden Cove outside the house. Photo: Justin Chambers

Cumpston's Cottage - My house. Photo: Justin Chambers

The ground floor is my office (with the deck) and my bedroom is to the right. The rooms above belong to that of the Doc and Chef. The small building on the right is the Seismic hut which has some tremor detecting equipment inside, and is coincidentally the path to the tsunami evacuation route up the hill.

I may need to be forcibly removed from this island in 11 months.  Squatters rights!!

HUGE shout out to Justin "J2" Chambers for sharing with me his awesome pics (and the house!) so that I too may share them.

May 10: Another morning at Sandy Bay

Morning yoga? Photo: Jacque Comery



Young elephant seal wallowing in Finch Creek. Photo: Jacque Comery

Penguin rockpool. Photo: Jacque Comery

Morning stroll. Photo: Jacque Comery

May 9: Sandy Bay King Penguins

The King Penguin colony at Sandy Bay is about a 3 hour walk from Station over the plateau, or about 5 hours around the coast.  The coast route is slower on account of moving across rougher terrain, rocks and through the Poa wallows. By the time I arrived at the colony I was already a little chilly, and discovered I had left my spare batteries behind, so just got a few quick pics in.
The King Penguin chicks are huge compared to the size of their parents. Their big brown fluffy feather coats give them an adorable appearance, and they waddle around the colony seemingly quite oblivious to dangers all around. They are especially vulnerable to being taken by the Giant Petrels and Skuas who lurk in and around the colony awaiting an opportunity to pluck a chick from the group.  When a chick gets dragged off it creates quite a kerfuffle, but none of the adults really comes to the chicks aid.
The old hut pictured was used by the penguin researchers in times past.  These days the island is slowly reclaiming it.


Penguin chicks at old Sandy Bay hut. Photo: Jacque Comery

Southern Giant Petrel making a meal of a chick. Photo: Jacque Comery

Sandy Bay. Photo: Jacque Comery

 

Picked clean. Photo: Jacque Comery

 

King penguins and chicks. Photo: Jacque Comery

May 8: The little things

Lichen on wooden wall. Photo: Jacque Comery

With seals, penguins, amazing views and  auroras everywhere it is easy to overlook the beautiful little things here too. Life clings to everything here, with all it's might I should add, to avoid being blown away.  This lichen is growing on the sides of the wooden slab building that serves as our mechanical workshop.

Lichen on the workshop wall. Photo: Jacque Comery

Wall of the mechanical workshop. Photo: Jacque Comery