Five “everyday” Britons are about to take a major shock to the system: they will be sent to one of the most remote and inhospitable places on the planet to live and work.
This week, the group will be sent 9,000 miles away by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) to staff the post office and southernmost museum on Earth, on football-field-sized Goudier Island. Your neighbors? Around 1,000 gentoo penguins.
The small group of buildings they will live and work in for five months is called ‘Base A, Port Lockroy’ and is known as the birthplace of British Antarctic science.
They will have to deal with constant sunlight, sleeping in a shared bunk bed, a complete lack of phone reception and limited access to satellite Internet.
There is no running water or toilet, and if they want to shower they will have to wait until they can board one of the semi-regular cruise ships that stop at the port.
Temperatures, however, will be a relatively mild -5°C as they will be stationed there during the Antarctic summer.
The adventurers are Lou Hoskin, Maggie Coll, George Clarke, Aoife McKenn and Dale Ellis, along with returning team member Lisa Ford.
Dale Ellis, who works in media and arts, will run the island’s gift shop selling bottles of gin and postcards to cruise passengers.
The UK Antarctic Heritage Fund will send five “everyday” Brits 9,000 miles away to work at the Earth’s southernmost post office and museum (right) on field-sized Goudier Island soccer.
The five Brits heading to Goudier Island (left to right): Aoife McKenna (museum director), George Clarke (postmaster), Lou Hoskin (base leader), Dale Ellis (store manager) , Maggie Coll (wildlife monitor)
George, who works in set design, will be the postmaster and will process thousands of postcards sent by cruise ships.
The living museum, a tribute to the ancient scientists of the Antarctic Peninsula, will be under Aoife’s responsibility. She notes: ‘I really want to see the penguins and their entire life cycle. “I am also excited to see the museum and share its stories.”
Wildlife monitor Maggie will count the nests, eggs and chicks of the island’s penguins. The former tourism worker says: “Having penguins as neighbors is going to be absolutely amazing.”
The small group of buildings they will live and work in is called ‘Base A, Port Lockroy’ (above) and is known as the birthplace of British Antarctic science.
Living museum (above) honors early Antarctic Peninsula scientists
There’s no running water or flushing toilet on the island (boathouse above), and if the group wants to shower, they’ll have to wait until they can board one of the semi-regular cruise ships that stop at the port.
Maggie says: ‘Having penguins as neighbors is going to be absolutely amazing’
The team will also be able to find crabeater and leopard seals, isopods, sea urchins, anemones and snowy pods.
RNLI crew member Lou Hoskin will act as base leader, ensuring there is never a shortage of fuel and food. Each day, you will send a Port Lockroy Proof of Life (POLAPL) message to UKAHT Operations, clarifying that everyone is alive.
She says she’s looking forward to “diging our way home when we get there” and “learning to speak ‘Papua’.”
Training for the five included remote first aid instruction, lessons on the delicate environment and talks from a “penguinologist.”
Later in the season, the five will be joined by Conservation Carpenters, who will work to restore historic buildings. You’ll then meet specialists aiming to reach the remote refuge of Blaiklock Island, the UKAHT’s smallest and most inaccessible site and a time capsule of the scientists who worked there in the 1950s.
Temperatures will be a relatively mild -5C as the five Brits will be stationed at Base A (above) during the Antarctic summer.
RNLI crew member Lou Hoskin will act as base leader, ensuring there is never a shortage of fuel and food. Each day, you will send a Port Lockroy Proof of Life (POLAPL) message to UKAHT Operations, clarifying that everyone is alive.