Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service summer ranger Andrea arrived on Macca on L'Astrolabe three weeks ago, and returned to station last week after completing ten days of field training with field training officer Ian, and island familiarisation and on the job training with TASPAWS ranger in charge Chris. Andrea is an experienced Tasmanian ranger, but had only visited Macca once briefly, several years ago on a round trip. Her experiences were largely an introduction to Macca and its amazing wildlife. She shares her experiences and impressions of the island.
A new arrival at Macca
I recently arrived at spectacular Macquarie Island as the summer ranger. My job is to assist Chris, the ranger in charge, with various tasks such as nature conservation, cultural heritage and tourism work. We also need to take part in the station duties, such as helping in the kitchen.
Since arriving on the Astrolabe on 26 October, I've been busy learning about the island, how the station is run and what the rangers get up to down here. There are about 25 of us living here over the summer, including tradies, scientists, albatross researchers, a communication technician, a doctor and a chef.
On top of the ‘to do list’ was to get out and see the island (and do very important field training). Over nine days we went for a hike down island or “out in the paddock” via Bauer Bay, Green Gorge, the plateau and Hurd Point to the southwest corner of the island, and back via Lusitania Bay, Sandy Bay and Brothers Point. We saw huge amounts of wildlife, including elephant seal harems, rockhopper penguins peeking out through the cabbage, giant petrels feasting on seals, all four types of penguins and all four types of albatross. We experienced snow, strong winds, hail, horizontal rain, sunshine and lovely blue sky.
It’s great to see how the vegetation has recovered since I briefly visited the island in 2010. Other highlights have been watching the gentoo penguin chicks and doing some conservation work on a very old trypot (a very large boiling pot used by seal and penguin oil gatherers for extracting oil from carcasses). The landscape is spectacular, especially the steep coastal escarpments and the striking terraces and patterned ground on the plateau (caused by frost action).
Over the next few days, Chris and I will be preparing for the arrival of the first cruise ship of the season which will be here for a two day visit.
