Being selected for a carpenter position with the AAD this year has been one of the highlights of my working career. As a first time expeditioner, I was lucky enough to get posted to Macquarie Island, which everyone who’s been there says is the best station, but then again, they might be slightly biased.
I will admit that I have not been disappointed, it is an amazing place to say the least. Working with a great team of AAD expeditioners has been very rewarding, especially when your job for the day is “seal patrol” where you prevent collisions between machinery and baby elephant seals! There have also been multiple opportunities to help the park rangers with their monitoring and scientific work up and down the island, bringing close encounters with albatrosses and other birds, and the all-important job of counting penguins.
But Macquarie Island, despite all its beauties, is far away from everywhere (proof being, no one here really understands what the big deal about COVID-19 is!). This isolation, and associated hardships related to being away from home and loved ones for a long period of time, is a reality to a certain degree for most. Fitness is one of the ways to deal with mental health and Macca boasts a fantastic gym facility. Equipped with little more than enthusiasm, a few yoga class DVDs and the flexibility of a wooden chair, I invited my fellow expeditioners to join me in attempting precariously unstable yoga poses three times a week. A lot came and tried it over a session, a few politely declined, but some, pictured in the attached photos, lasted the distance. Thanks to “The Official Macca Yogis Team” for sharing many downward dogs with me over the last few months!
Namaste
James Terry
Yogi/ projects chippie
