We are but visitors here

One of the biggest attractions of Macquarie Island is the animal life. Despite near-decimation after decades of sealing and penguin harvesting in the 1800s, local animal colonies have slowly rebounded back towards their original numbers.

Whilst I thought that you'd have to get down-island to see the good stuff, it turns out there is an incredible number of animals all over the isthmus around station. Lucky for me, as good cameras are bloody heavy, and I'm not quite 'island fit' enough to lug mine up some of the steeper hills.

Once you have been here a while you realise we are very clearly the visitors here.

Eat your heart out David Attenborough.

The illustrious elephant seal. Clearly the inspiration for Jabba the Hutt. Their 'roar' sounds like the most gratuitous round of farting you've ever heard. They also smell appalling.

Their maturity is determined by their body mass but also by the size of their nose. This one is a young male but not yet a beach master (breeding male). During the breeding process the males blow air into their noses to make them look more impressive to the females. 

Hard to believe this cutie is a young version of above...

It is just coming towards the end of the molting season for the females and young males - they spend a month or so ashore with their skin slowly peeling off - the perfect recipe for a seriously grumpy mood

So hard not to go and give them a belly rub!

Those eyes...

We accidentally disturbed a group of young ones on a walk along the beach. Much farty roaring followed.

The Fur Seal really wins in the seal-attractiveness department. Although they are extremely aggressive and will chase you if you get anywhere near them. We had one that waited for Tim at the bottom of the stairs just so it could chase him across the courtyard.

They are so much like dogs or cats it is quite unnerving. And those whiskers!

A mother and breast-feeding pup who took up residence underneath our balcony. We named the pup Squeaky as it would wake us up several times a night with its squalling. By this stage Squeaky wasn't much smaller than his mother, and despite her best efforts to wean him (including some rather vicious fights) Squeaky always seemed to win.

A rather regal looking 'furry'

And a little less regal a few seconds later. Nothing like a roll in some rotting kelp.

The Gentoo Penguins are everywhere 

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They can also cause quite a ruckus

They have glorious yellow leather feet. Totally colour co-ordinated with their beaks.

The King Penguins live up to their name with lots of elegant posing

So photogenic

However, they are much friendlier than the Gentoos - the minute you stop they'll come over for a nosy. It's not hard to see how they were almost wiped out by oil seeking expeditions - various reports describe them dutifully following each other up a plank into the mouth of a 'digestor'

A Northern Giant Petrel. They have a wing span of 1-2 meters, look incredibly pre-historic and have a Pterodactyl-like cry.

They are incredibly skittish (they'll start panicking even if you are 50m away) and are unfortunately rather ungainly when they take off. Hard not to laugh as they lope along and eventually give up after a few half-hearted flaps.

Out and about on The Green Sponge

After 6 weeks on Macca, last week we finally got the chance to cross 'Station Limits' and explore some of the bulk of island that lies south of us.

Tim and I spent 3 days in the field with Rich, our Field Training Officer, who is one of those multiply-skilled outdoorsy types responsible for training us up to ensure no one does anything dramatic like fall off a cliff (it's been done). It includes quite a bit of map and compass work, which I think I've finally mastered (although this is at least my fourth time being taught such skills, so we'll see if it sticks).

The training trip into the field is aptly called 'Field Training', and once completed we are allowed to do weekend tramping trips to any of six cosy field huts which are dotted around the coast. Hoorah.

Tim poses with the Macquarie Island Cabbage (a megaherb native to the Sub-Antarctic Islands) and a nice view down to the west coast

I'm a little unsure what to do with the walking poles in the early stages of the tramp, although by the end their value has become clear (poking around ahead of you to try to avoid falling into rather large mud-holes, and hauling yourself out of the same holes when your poking fails). I'm also sporting a pair of laboratory glasses, as hours of sand and sleet blowing into your eyes is quite unpleasant.

Lunch time and a cup of tea! Tim's happy place

Tim and Rich hauling themselves through the 'Featherbed' - although it looks like grass much of the lowland area of The Island is a very odd type of terrain called featherbed - it's like a thick mat of grass floating on a bog. You can bounce up and down on it and see the ripples as the grass bounces on the water. It's rather hard work to walk through as you partially sink with each step, and every now and then you fall through it. Another excellent terrain for walking poles.

All over the island are these little balls of horror - a clump of penguin chick feathers vomited up by a predatory Skua (the sub-Antarctic version of a cat's fur ball)

And hoorah, Bauer Bay Hut - happy to arrive!

Being a training trip we had to do certain activities like practice using a bivvy bag for shelter. Who can resist being a banana in that sort of situation?

Day two brought an introduction to 'jump ups' and 'jump downs' - specific bits of hillside where you can climb up and down between the track along the coastline and the track along the plateau. Tim snacks in preparation. 'Crawl ups' and 'fall downs' would perhaps be a better description.

The fall down after the crawl up. Elephant seals wait at the bottom for any who stumble...

Our second night was spent at Brother's Point 'googie' (a name for a type of hut). It looks like a smartie on legs, but wait til you see inside!

What an orange and green dream! So cosy. And there are hatches in the floor for storing all the food and other supplies. So cosy and practical!

The lads have some R&R after cheese and crackers. I really think all huts should be circular. And a hut guitar. So pleasing.

Tim whips up some luxury porridge as we reflect on how much our friend Nick Douglas (of luxury porridge fame) would love this hut

But we can't stay forever, and fortunately our last day is a walk along the coast with penguins and elephant seals everywhere (you can see they two juvenile males in the background standing up challenging each other - practicing to be beachmasters one day)

Some friendly King Penguins. The minute you stop they always come over for a nosy.

And a historic hut surrounded by King Penguins and their (rather large) chicks. I'm quite glad the huts have been modernised.

And that is that. Back to station happy, sore, and quite keen to do it all again.