As this is my first time on Macquarie Island, I was keen to be involved in whatever I could. I have a lot of firsts already – being on a French icebreaker with nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see, climbing down the ship's pilot ladder into a waiting IRB in the middle of the Southern Ocean, living and working on a sub-Antarctic Island, walking the length of Macca (not to mention the jump-up/jump-downs), swimming in 8° Celcius water and watching orcas swim by when you're out on the water in the IRB – to name just a few.
So, when the opportunity came to be involved in the fur seal census this week of course I said yes! Taking the lead on this one was our Tasmania Parks & Wildlife expeditioners, but everyone was involved including our field biologists, field training officer, Bureau of Meteorology staff, comms tech officers, engineer, chippies, sparkies and me.
I teamed up with Paul, Macca’s ranger in charge, and Scotty, one of our eminent sparkies. Our patch was Aerial Cove, which is on the west coast of North Head - the most northern point of the Island. Getting down to the Cove required a steep descent, then quite a few hours walking along the coast counting seals. It’s done old school here with a waterproof note pad, a trusty waterproof pencil and a laminated picture card showing the different seal species to look out for. For those technically minded there is a clicker. We counted 353 seals which is extraordinary. We haven’t got the full Island count yet, as expeditioners are still out counting, but it looks positive thus far.
A steep descent means a steep ascent and Macca never disappoints here. A word of caution, don’t ever relax too soon when you’re hiking on Macca. It's wet, slippery and next thing you know you disappear amongst the tussocks and your trusty companions have a good laugh!
This place is truly amazing.
Justine - Summer Station Leader
