My name is Narelle Campbell and I'm from the north coast of New South
Wales, a little place called Foster. This season I'm heading down to
Macquarie Island and I'll be down there for the full 12 months.
2007 I was selected to go down to Mawson Station as the station
leader for 12 months. I came home for about 6 months and
then was asked to go south again, and the next time I went south was Casey.
So that was 2010 for about 15 months. The station leader is responsible
for all personnel on station and providing support for everyone,
regardless of what they're down there to do.
Life on station for anyone who goes down south can be very exciting.
It is a wonderful way of life. The work is exciting, the environment
is exciting, the wildlife. It's an absolute privilege for every
single person who is selected to go down south to work amongst some very,
very talented, community minded, tolerant, patient people.
I'm very much looking forward to going to Macquarie Island,
having spent a couple of years down on the continent surrounded by white.
Macquarie Island is a very, very much a different station.
It's very much like the bottom end of Tasmania.
It's going to be cold and wet and windy,
but the wildlife that Macquarie Island attracts is just something
that we are all looking forward to. The island is 30 km long and I'm
sure that we will probably trek over every inch, and that's a
nice way to take a little bit of a break from station life.
You can go for a walk, you can go and sit down amongst some of the
wildlife and take some time out. One of the biggest projects that
we'll be supporting at Macquarie Island is what we call the MIPEP
project, which is Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Program.
So going back over 100 years ago, rabbits were introduced to Macquarie
Island and they bred up to an extent, there was over 150,000 of them.
And in the last couple of years, quite a major project is underway
to eradicate all the rabbits. And last I've heard, they haven't
seen a rabbit for quite some time, which is hugely successful.
And then other research during the year will be around the fur seals,
the albatross and the various species of penguins as well.