The Station

Macquarie Island was island was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1933, stopping the exploitation of wildlife that had been going on since its discovery in 1810.  Australian National Antarctic Research Expediitons (ANARE) established a station here in 1948.  Today, the station houses approximately 30 to 35 people in the summer and 10 to 15 during winter.  The station is located on the isthmus at the North end of the island as can be seen in these photos, taken facing North.  The big ball is an antenna. 

To the left of the ball are two lab buildings.  Our labs are pretty nice, and quite well outfitted.

 

The North side of the station has all the living quarters - here's Garden Cove, the building I'm in.  And my room.  A bit small, but very functional.  There are eight of these rooms in Garden Cove.

Looking South from Garden Cove, the building on the left is the mess hall/surgery.

The mess hall has a bar at the end.  The brewery supplies home-brew beer, which is popular in the evenings before dinner.  There's a big screen for movies.  The kitchen comes stocked with a chef (Rod), seen here.

To the right of the mess is the trades shop.  The station has carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and a mechanic (the dieso shop is over on the South end of the station).  Upstairs is a library, sewing room, computer room, small gym, and movie room.  Further to the right is the store, with walk-in coolers and freezers for food, and room for basketball, badminton, and volleyball.  This season the asbestos siding was replaced.

The station has a number of other buildings as well (main power house, auxilliary power house, gym, two more living quarters).  In this view from the North you can see the ham shack up on the hill - a great place to watch a movie.

In addition to the buildings on the station are five field huts that hold three to four people.  Here are photos of Green Gorge (left) and Brothers Bay (right).