Hi my name is Gary Yensch, I am one of the plumbers on Macquarie Island.
I am one of nine new kids on the block here at Macquarie Island, who've come to join the existing 21 expeditioners, scientists and rangers on station.
After a three-day sail from Hobart on the French ship L’Astrolabe we arrived at Macquarie on December 3 about 5am, up nice and early as we were all excited to finally arrive at our destination. We ventured out onto the helideck to marvel at the view of our new home for the next six months. The view did not disappoint! What a beautiful place, I thought, looking from the ship, but we still had to get to the island, and that’s when Team Macca (the skilled people from the community that I was to become part of), stepped up and took control.
After boarding one of the ships IRB’s (inflatable rubber boat) and doing a ship's IRB to station IRB transfer mid-water, the skilled coxswain and crew from the station had us riding the waves in to the shore and berthing the boats skillfully onto a waiting trailer in the surf. Then we were towed up the beach, where we could finally set foot on the place they call Macquarie Island.
If the view from the ship wasn’t enough, the views once we landed were even better. There was wildlife everywhere; elephant seals, skuas, giant petrels, gentoo and king penguins. We even saw some orcas earlier in the morning, and were finally meeting members of our tiny new community.
This place felt like home the minute I stepped foot onto the island. The existing community was so welcoming, I felt like I had been here with them from the start. The station has a warm small farming community feel and the views around here are a thing to behold.
I have since been out and completed my field training with a three-day trek staying in two of the field huts, one on the west side and one on the east side of the island, and have seen more highlights from further afield – king and rockhopper penguins, fur seals and their pups, a sea lion, and more of the magnificent scenery of Macquarie Island.
How lucky I am to be able to call this place home for six months.
Attached are some of my photos.
Gary
