This week, we catch-up on all the latest news from Macquarie Island and showcase some beautiful photos.

Latest news from Macquarie Island

Welcome to our latest news wrap-up from Macquarie Island!

Weather

Just like most of you back home in Australia, we are deep into winter and the weather is letting us know it! While our geographic location in the Southern Ocean protects from extremes of heat and cold, it also means we have consistently cool temperatures, lots of wind, and little sunshine!

In June, our temperature extremes were −0.6 to 9°C, with a daily average wind speed of 30 knots, with average of only 36 minutes of daily sunshine! But, when the sun does come out, we certainly get blessed with some fantastic photogenic landscapes and ocean sunsets. We’ve also been blessed with several station snowfalls.

Construction around station

Our building services supervisor and carpenter Dave has been very busy across station in the last month. Dave’s work has included a range of regular maintenance projects including upgrades to non–slip walkways and stairs, along with a major project building a cold porch for the communications building (see below photo). Now, not only will the comms front door be better protected from the incessant wind and rain, comms officer Tom has the best outdoor deck on Macca for entertaining!

Birthdays

Over the last week, we were fortunate to celebrate two birthdays in two days, with plumber Wayne and electrician Geoff both enjoying great nights of fine dining, fun, and epic birthday cakes!

Animal Life

No day on Macca would be complete without an awesome wildlife interaction. With the abundance of wildlife here, each and everyday you get the privilege of seeing elephant seals taking over the Isthmus, occasional visits from leopard seals, and gentoo penguins playing in the snow!

on