In addition to the scientific community, rangers are posted on Macquarie Island for tours of 4 to 6 months each.  When I arrived, there were two rangers living there, though I’m not sure if there are typically more than this.  They observed strict Covid 19 protocols while in our presence, wearing masks and maintaining a distance from all of us while we chatted on the beach outside of the station.  This made perfect sense to me, as the options for getting emergency medical attention on an island that remote were quite limited.

During their assignment on Macquarie, the rangers are responsible for managing and protecting the island’s natural resources, monitoring the wildlife, conducting surveys, and enforcing conservation regulations (especially with visitors such as us).  The isolation, terrain, and inclement weather often make this a dangerous job, and small field huts and outposts are scattered along the length of the island in case a ranger or researcher is injured or stranded in a storm and requires supplies or shelter. All of the huts are accessible only by boat or footpath, and are resupplied with food, fuel, and medicine by helicopter every few months.

I regretfully did not capture portraits of the two rangers that I met, though I had a nice conversation with them about their work.