Antarctica’s a n-ice job if you can get it
THERE’S no running water, central heating or electricity and you’ll have to pick up the poo of your 2000 neighbours.
You’ve probably heard better as far as job adverts go but despite the drawbacks, landing a post at the world’s most southerly post office remains incredibly difficult.
More than 500 people applied for one of the four posts with the UK Antarctic Trust at Port Lockroy and after a gruelling selection process, Scot Laura MacNeil was chosen as one of the lucky few.
She set off in November and after a five- month adventure, the 38- yearold is now back home 11,000 miles away in Lentran, near Inverness.
The job involved running the shop, post office and museum and keeping a close eye on the huge penguin colony on the island, which is visited by around 18,000 cruise ship passengers each season.
Even in Antarctica’ s summer season, the temperature stays mainly between - 5C and 5C so shovelling snow to clear paths was a regular task for the quartet.
But when the snow melts, things got a whole lot smellier as the staff have to clear paths of penguin poo to stop visitors from trampling it into the museum full of artefacts.
Laura said: “Arriving there was really exciting. You have an idea in your head but it was hard to imagine what living among a penguin colony would be like.
“The reality is it was pretty smelly and noisy. The attraction was living in a challenging environment but the penguins were incredible, we’d watch their interactions every day and see them go through the cycle from building nests to their chicks hatching.” The post office in Port Lockroy handles mail for scientists and others working in Antarctica. It receives an estimated 80,000 letters and postcards from around the world during the season.
Despite the huge amount of applications for the jobs, life on the northern Antarctic peninsula is no picnic. The small things we take for granted in the UK are rather different there, as water needs to be collected in jerry cans from visiting ships, making washing facilities pretty basic.
There were long hours as the regular appearance of cruise ships meant the team spent a lot of time clearing paths and cleaning up so the island is ready for visitors.
“We had a five- star French ship visiting one day and they invited us on board for this beautiful meal. It felt strange afterwards being back in our little accommodation hut with no running water.”
With the adventure of a lifetime now behind her Laura is back home and concentrating on the next step in her career.
Laura added: “It’s going to be a big change. I’d love to do it again but after so many months out of your normal life you need to come back.”