For most of us, the world's southern-most point seems like a pretty place, but for Hannah, Hannalore, Sophie and Julia, it's home. Each year they spend five months living and working in Port welcoming visiting ships and, best of all, watching over the native colony of penguins (企鹅).
They live on a tiny island the size of a football pitch, but share it with about 2000 gentoo penguins and their chicks, as well as other birds. Life here is different every day and depends on weather and ice conditions, as well as the visiting ships' schedules. Port Lockroy is one of the most visited places in Antarctica, with one to three ships visiting a day. Between ship visits we have other duties to attend to. These include maintenance jobs, sending postcards from the post office, checking conditions on the historical items in the museum and monitoring the penguin colonies and other wildlife.
Hannah spends much time stamping people's postcard, which makes her happy to think of the joy over 70, 000 people per year get when they receive a postcard from Antarctica, and the most southerly post office in the world! For Sophie, the most amazing thing about my job is being able to live and work with my feathery friends, the penguins. Sophie says they have to make sure the penguins are not disturbed when they are resting or waddling their way back to their nests. They mark specific routes for visitors to walk on so that they don't use the penguins' highways. Part of their job is also to count the penguin colony when after they've laid their eggs, then again when the chicks are born and when the chicks are old enough to venture beyond the nest. The information collected will help scientists know if the breeding season has been a successful one or not.
