Reflections on the sensory overload of Macquarie Island

Wow, Wow, Wow.

After a few months training in Hobart, and a short boat trip on relatively smooth seas, we arrived at Macquarie Island. Before long I was whisked ashore via helicopter. Essentially take off, count to 10 and land.

I leapt gracelessly out of the helicopter and was manhandled by one of the ground crew to point me in the direction I needed to head. With a gentle push, I was sent heading to the main station area on a route that steered me away from the whirling and whirling blades, away from battling elephant seals who seemed oblivious of the noisy, windy helicopter. The battle for beach superiority goes on regardless.

Talk about sensory overload. One moment I’m on a ship with ship sounds and smells, the next on the island with the sounds of elephant seals battling on the beaches and the smell of the kelp blowing around.

So far, we have been here for just under 3 months and no two days have been the same.

  • The weather changes every 15 minutes. Dark 'n' stormy, sunny and still then everything in between. By and large, it is fairly consistently blowing a steady 20 knots.
  • The people change. Well they don’t actually change, as time goes on we learn more about each other and become more cohesive as a group.
  • The wildlife changes. Some birds hang around for the windier days, others vamoose. Meanwhile the elephant seals keep on bashing chests on the beach.

It is truly a privilege to have the opportunity to work on Macquarie Island. I’m here as a plumber/gas fitter. The work is not technical, sometimes quite dated, however it is rewarding. So much of the station is old school and simple which is perfect for a place where one can’t waltz on down to there local hardware or plumbing supplies to get the latest whatsimigadgets. There is a lot of modern materials and work practices creeping in where it makes sense. Poly/PEX water pipes make a lot of sense in a highly corrosive environment.

Over the next few months we will be getting out on the island completing maintenance and repairs on the various field huts and where time avails, we will have the odd recreational trip too. I’m looking forward to the adventures and challenges of each journey.

Let the sensory overload continue.

The following is my attempt at a poem.

Doctors Track.

The Southern Ocean surges below,

Each of its waves full of icy woe.

Above, the giant petrel soars,

Riding the gusting winds looking for something to gore.

It watched me with its hungry stare,

I’m not a threat, nor welcome. Simply there.

The wind the ocean brings could knock me flat,

No mercy shown, I sat with a splat.

Let’s not forget the climb, the air so clean,

The tussock short and tall and the lichen so green.

So, up I went, through sleet and hail,

Past sleeping seals while looking for a whale.

The mud was deep, the path was ragged.

Each step I took had me breathing hard.

A doctor’s track in name, it is certainly a tease.

Its cures don’t come with ease.

And what it heals, the truth be known,

Chills to the bone.

I climbed where the clouds brush the stone,

Through the rain and mist, I walk alone.

Duncan Logan, Plumber

A man in an orange jacket and wearing a backpack stands in a tussock covered landscape surrounded by hills with the ocean in the distance.
A tussock covered hill in the sunshine.
A tussock covered gorge, one side lit up by bright sunshine.
Two hikers on a track high up on a tussock covered plateau look down to an isthmus and distant headland surrounded by ocean.
A tussock covered hill with ocean in the background. Blue skies and grey clouds above.
A group of about 10 Gentoo Penguins stand amongs the green tussock grass.
Two elephant seals lie together in the green tussock grass.
A late afternoon photo in low light looking down from a plateau towards an isthmus and a distant headland surrounded by ocean.
Giant Petrel footprints in the sand
Gentoo footprints in the sand

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