Field Training

Everyone on Macquarie Island must undergo field training, which largely consists of familiarization with the island and the hut system.  The island is equipped with five field huts, each with heat, electricity, water, sleeping gear, a kitchen and stocked with food.  It's set up to support field research by biologists, geologists, etc., and for the park rangers (Macquarie Island is part of Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife).

On this map you can see the location of the station at the North end of the island.  There are huts at Brother Point, Green Gorge, and Waterfall Bay on the East coast, Hurd Point at the Southern end of the island, and Bauer Bay on the West coast.  Four of us (Tim, Susan, Sharyn, and myself) did a quick overnight to Bauer Bay for field training.

Here are a few photos of the trip:

Almost all hikes start with a climb to the plateau.  This is Gadget Gully - a short but brisk climb.

Then it's on to one of the plateau tracks.  This is the Island Lake Track.  It's a good trail, muddy and boggy in places.  The wind can howl.  This day it was ripping, making it difficult to stay on your feet at times, and sandblasting exposed skin at others.

This lovely spot is Island Lake.  The track crosses the isthmus.

Here is the view coming down the hill to Bauer Bay.  The next photo is from nearly the same point on the trail, but taken five years ago when I was here last.  Althought the aspect is a bit different, if you look at the ground cover, the devastation caused by rabbits in the past few years is striking.  The area used to be fairly lush (more than the photo shows just a little further down the track).  Today it is pretty much denuded, covered mainly my bare soil and closely cropped annual bluegrass (an invasive) and pleurophyllum.  

The rabbits were introduced long ago, but the population has exploded since cats were eradicated around 2002.  A rabbit eradication program will start next year.  

Here is the Bauer Bay hut.

Some of the wildlife around the hut:  elephant seals, royal penguins, and a fungus (scutellinia scutellata, I think - can anyone help me out here?).  I'm particularly fond of the fungus photo.

The next day, back to the station.