Last post...

Lunch time, and we are cruising up the Derwent. The swell of the Southern Ocean is far behind. Media await at the wharf and our Macquarie Island campaign continues.

This is my last post. I hope you enjoyed my impressions from Macquarie Island. It is an amazing place that urgently needs saving. The political stalemate continues, so your help is needed to show that Australians are sick of what is happening and want one or both governments to show decisive leadership to break the deadlock. Check out our action on the WWF website.

It asks you to write to Premier Paul Lennon, Premier of Tasmania. It would also useful to write to The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600, to say that, with only one more month before the eradication plan is delayed yet another year, it is time for the Australian Government to show decisive leadership to resolve this problem.

Hope you enjoyed following my travels and thanks for your support.

Coming Home

The re‑supply finished yesterday, with most of the fuel finally being able to be pumped onto shore. The summer expeditioners returning home are now on board, swelling the numbers to 79.

The 'Aurora Australis' departed Macquarie Island waters at 6pm last night and we are now on our way to Hobart. Swell is three metres, so time to take a sea sickness tablet. Tried to hold out but my stomach wasn't having a bar of that.

Had our emergency muster this morning and the eradication group is about to meet to debrief on our time on the island.

Getting back into the routine of the ship voyage.

Weather station takes off!

The weather fined up enough today (wind OK), so i was able to be choppered to the island. Hanging around the base waiting to see if a chopper becomes available to take three of us to install the Automatic Weather Station, funded by WWF and Peregrine Adventures.

Just saw the chopper take off with the container containing the AWS to fly up to the plateau, where it will be dropped off.

Staying on-shore tonight, so a chance to catch up with those staying for the winter.

Ground Hog Day

Woke up and the weather looked promising. Quick breakfast and then we got the greenlight to put our flight suits on for a 8am fly off. Fingers crossed that the winds will be gentle enough to allow a helicopter to land.

Kitted up and waiting up on the heli-deck and can hear the chopper come in. Nearly lands and has to pull back. Another try .... and no luck. Once more.... and simply too windy to land on the ship. Darn. Another day on ship rather than the island. Particularly as it will also be too windy to get a chopper up to the plateau to install the Automatic Weather Station, and I was hoping to be part of the team.

Got more cargo off the ship, so Voyage Leader Don must be feeling that at least some resupply could happen today - they used an old army amphibious landing craft called a LARC to bring in cargo. But no fuel - so we wait for a better day.

So another ground hog day - check emails, respond to emails, write a press release, have a cup of coffee and chat, watch a movie, and wait for a perfect day - or at least one that enables choppers to fly and land on the ship.

Fog rolls in

The fog has rolled in, and chopper flights off the ship have been pushed back from 8am to 10am. Today, weather permitting, the Automatic Weather Station was to have been moved from the station to its site. Obviously, this also depended on the availability of a chopper since the re-supply gets top priority.

Yesterday, got to see the Weather Station, which has been running over the past couple of days to make sure everything is in working order.

King Penguins, Gadgets Gully and North Head

The weather was fine enough for the coppers, but the seas still too rough for the Aurora Australis to pump its fuel on shore to top up station supplies.

We flew in to the station at 8.00am, squeezed out of the flight suits, and then we were ready for the next inspection tour.

The route was to take us up the coast line (walking toward Sandy Bay), until we took a right up Gadgets Gully until we reached the plateau, then circle back down the spur to the station.

Walking out of the station was punctuated by having to avoid a seal here and a seal there. Then where the rusted out remains of a penguin blubber digester lay, a king penguin colony emerged. Unlike previous days where we were walking at close to double time to rush back to the station to catch our helicopter flight back to the ship, this time we had time to enjoy and awe at the absolute beauty of king penguins. We sat down so as to not intimidate the penguins, and let their curious nature do the rest. Soon we were the focus of about 10-15 penguins checking us out, and have a peck at our packs and parkas.

What a magical experience!!

Couldn't help myself, and took way to many photos (partly to show my four and six year old sons - Tristan and Kal - that I was not making this up), and after about 10 or so minutes we backed away and skirted around the sea edge of the colony to find the track up Gadget's Gully.

Gadget's Gully is a short cut up to the plateau. You basically follow the stream up to the dam at the top that supplies the station's water. It is pretty much straight up, with three ladders to get up the really steep sections. My boots aren't gortex, so got very wet feet again.

Once at the top, had some chocolate, and then walked across the plateau to the edge of the escarpment, where we found a swathe of dead tussock pedestals, and a section of the hillside that had slipped, and another section that had already slumped and was ready to go. The top soil that had gone was about half a metre deep - and again the reality of the rabbit plague hit us in the face. After taking a range of photos, we then looped back and started walking down the spur. Again, walking through stands of dead tussock pedestals criss-crossed by rabbit holes and gnawings, reinforced the urgency of the problem. Once at the stairs, we descended quickly and were back at the station right on time for lunch.

After lunch, it was time to check North Head out. This is where Tas. Parks (with mostly Commonwealth NHT $$) will erect a fence to exclude rabbits from the Head. North Head is a major breeding site for burrowing petrels amongst others. The idea is once the fence is up, rabbits will then be excluded, which should give this small section of the island a chance to recover.

Passed the grave of an expeditioner that died and was buried here, I think in the 1950s.

North Head is also where Mawson set up his radio relay station (as part of this early 20th century Antarctic expedition), and the remnants are still there. They had to haul up generators and gear - what a job given the steepness of the slopes.

At the edge of the plateau we could look down to slopes of healthy tussock (ah - the rabbits haven't got it all yet !!), and the occasional seal.

Back down the escarpment, and then a quick detour to check out Gentoo and Rock-hopper penguins, before donning our flight suits for the chopper flight back to the ship.

Dinner and then bed.

Rained in

The weather has come in, so I am stuck on the ship. The only helicopter flight was to bring the ship doctor back from an on-shore visit, when the weather cleared briefly. So a chance to download my camera pics, do a load of washing, and other mundane things waiting until tomorrow and the chance to go back on island.

A bit of magic was a pod of pilot whales came quite close to the ship. Macquarie Island is such a wildlife wonderland!

Day 2 (part 2)

After kitting up, the team left Bauer Bay hut with reasonable weather. We walked up to the ridge line and walked along to a creek. The rabbits had really trashed the creek slopes and the sides had eroded away to bare earth. A slope of dead tussock pedestals were all that remained to give me an idea of what this place used to look like before the rabbits came through. Spooked rabbits suddenly jumped out and ran to the safety of another warren.

We continued walking up the escarpment where the sheer scale of the damage really hit me again, nearly everywhere you could see had been trashed by rabbits. We sat on a ridge that gave me a birds eye view up and down the island ‑ the amazing beauty of this place is overwhelming. The rugged escarpments captured in a soft light, the coastal rock stacks jutting out of both sea and land, a coastal lake and bog. And walking along the beach and up the hill to their colony, a line of penguins.

After some chocolate, we started back down the ridge down to the stony beach. Saw my first Elephant seal wallow ‑ a metre deep of stinking mud. Mental note ‑ avoid stepping on anything that is flat, even if it has grass on it. Started to snow as we walked back along the beach ‑ stark and quiet. Arrived back at the hut, and then started next bit of the day trip ‑ walking up the escarpment to the plateau. Had all my camera gear, including tripod in my pack, so extra weight meant this was a bit of a plod.

Once we got to the top, the going got easier. A skua glided down to check us out ‑ hovering only 2 metres from our heads. They, like many things here are really big (a response to better conserve heat and energy). Walked and walked checking out whole hill slopes that had slipped. Then we got to a small ridge ‑ below it was a Royal penguin colony. Royals are unique to Macquarie Island and there are over one and a half million of them here. Found a comfy spot to sit and have lunch ‑ and being down wind of the penguins got to also enjoy their aroma.

After lunch, continued down the escarpment on the other side of the island via Finch Creek. The devastation here has been particularly severe. Before my trip, the stations doctor showed me a photo of what Finch Creek looked like before rabbit plague so I would know what it used to look like. This lush carpet of Macquarie Island cabbage ‑ through which the Royal penguins would waddle up the hill to get to their colony ‑ is all gone. The slopes of ferns are all gone. The tussocks are essentially all gone ‑ a couple struggle to put out shoots and some edges are inaccessible to the rabbits. This is confronting stuff.

We kept on walking until we got to the Sandy Bay Royal penguin colony, and walked along the top of the now closed board walk between dead tussocks (the section talking tourists up the hill slope has been undermined by the slope giving way due to rabbit overgrazing).

Once we got to the beach, a number of inquisitive King penguins came up to us. What exceptionally beautiful birds...

Day 2 (part 1)

Woke up to reasonably good weather. Quick breakfast and then into the chopper with our team to be dropped off at Bauer Bay hut. This was the start of a full day hike that would enable us to check out the rabbit damage further down the island, both coastal and up on the plateau. It finishes with a walk down Finch Creek to the edge of the Royal penguin colony at Sandy Bay (this is a key tourist spot), and then walking along the coast back to base. I have just got back from this walk ‑ and am feeling a tad tired, and so will tell my tale tomorrow since the weather is coming back in and up to 120 km winds are forecast, which means I probably won't be able to get off the ship since helicopters will be grounded.

On the island

The weather and wind finally calmed down (still a one to three metre swell that stopped boats being launched), and I had my first ever helicopter ride from the ship to the Macquarie Island base ‑ a trip lasting about one minute. The time consuming bit was putting a full body immersion suit on, and taking it off at the other end.

Had about 20 minutes to look around the base, which is on an isthmus between the main island and North Head. And for a piece of trivia, the ship 'Clyde' sank in the waters off the base in 1911. Elephant seals and Gentoo penguins are locals ‑ in fact station staff regularly have to shoo Elephant seals off the helipads. A bit of a sight ‑ telling a 3 metre, nearly 2 tonne animal to scoot. The secret is that these seals are intimidated by height and if you put your hands over your head and look really tall, the seals will do a wobbly retreat.

Anyway, enough digressions.

The Macquarie Island investigation team assembled and we were guided on a half day walk to inspect rabbit damage on the slopes around Hasselborough Bay, including Perseverance Bluff. The aim was to walk to near Handspike Point. This included traversing the 'featherbed' a mat of various vegetation that wobbles like its names‑sake because of the water beneath it. Amazing to see land rippling in front of you when you walk. Passed some Gentoo penguins and boulders, some of which opened their eyes and morphed into female Elephant seals. We enjoyed three seasons in one day ‑ some rain, but also beautiful light that bathed the slopes.

Many slopes were covered with dead tussock 'pedestals' ‑ which is all that is left of tussocks, some of which are about 100 years old, once the rabbits have finished with them. The real eye opener is the sheer scale of the rabbit damage ‑ they have trashed the nearly the whole island. The photos that I have seen ‑ and some of which we included in our slideshow on our web site ‑ simply don't communicate this reality. You have to see the damage in panavision to fully understand how grave the situation is. The only tussocks and cabbage the rabbits have yet to devour are the plants that are really close to the coast ‑ since the salt content of these plants don't gel with the rabbits taste buds. Essentially all the tussocks on the slopes in this area have been eaten, with any shoots quickly nibbled back until the plant has died.

The story was the same where ever we went. On the way back had a quick lunch, and then walked back on the coast track until we got to base.

Went into the mess and chatted to some of the expeditioners staying over winter ‑ a very inspiring group of people.

Switcharoo

Some of you may have noticed that I have replaced Julie Kirkwood,
WWF's invasive species policy officer working on Macquarie Island,
who was going to Macquarie Island. Something came up, so we switched
at the last moment...

On the ship

One thing about an ice breaker ship - it is made to break through the ice - not to carve through the swell. After trying to see if I could get through the voyage without a seasickness tablet, gave up and took one after dinner.

Awoke to a great day and spent some of the morning on the bridge deck watching wandering albatross glide after the ship.

Boarding the Aurora Australis

Today started at 7.15am being picked up for final briefings by the voyage leader and doctor. Put my pack and survival gear on the ship, and after doing some media the time came to walk up the gang plank and wave good bye with the rest of the voyagers.

The Aurora Australis is an impressive ship, which this trip is taking three helicopters down to Macquarie. Spent a hour or so on the helideck watching Hobart gradually disappear.

Then down to the deck to make new friends and get more briefings on how the ship works. People from all walks of life: helicopter pilots, boat drivers, scientists, park rangers all getting prepared for the
re-supply effort before the onset of winter.